Day 18:Milan.
Today has been a bit of limbo day.
After a bit of a lie in this morning I finally repacked my suitcase (for the millionth time) to leave Switzerland. I decided to get a later train to Milan (as for some reason if you didn't get a direct one the 3 hour journey would take 6 hours) so me and Beau headed into Lausanne to have a look around before I had to leave. One thing that's fairly obvious about Switzerland is that it is ridiculously expensive. Walking through streets lined with designer shops and expensive restaurants gets a bit depressing after a while. Somehow I managed to find a souvenir shop within all the lavishness and bought my Swiss shot glass to add to my ever increasing collection (that is now starting to weigh my suitcase down a bit). After a quick ice cream treat it was time to head back to the station, to say goodbye to Beau and get on yet another train. Unfortunately, now that I am heading into Italy I have to pay supplement fees on top of my interrail pass (damn Italians!) so this journey cost me an extra 20€. After just over three hours I got off the train in (boiling) Milan. Thanks to google maps I managed to find my hostel in record time (even though there are no signs outside it to tell you its a hostel. The appropriately named "Monastery Hostel" is right next door to a monastery (funny that). I was greeted by the very friendly "Manuel" (cue the Fawlty Towers clips) who checked me in and showed me on a map all the nearby sights. After dropping my suitcase off in my, for the moment, private twin room, I headed out for a quick dinner. Manuel directed me to a local restaurant where I had, the first of many, pasta dishes (and some really nice Italian wine). After dinner it was back to the hostel to get ready for a big day of sightseeing tomorrow.
So there you have my limbo day between Lausanne and Milan. Tomorrow it's back to what I do best, sightseeing!
Watch this space.
Lois x