Well in short Milan was fantastic! Thanks almost entirely to a certain Seba and his friends that showed us round the city and looked after us for the 2 days and 3 nights we were there!

It all started when we arrived (as you would know if you read our previous blog) at Milan Central Station at around 9pm at the end of a 50-odd hour journey from Greece. This was definitely the easiest part of the trip, as we emerged from platform 11 we were greeted with arms wide open by none other than the one Sebastiano (Seba). After kisses and hugs of welcome we headed for the car where he drove us to a fountain near his place where he and his friends always hang out (driving in a car was somewhat of a novelty as we hadnt done it since we have been on the continent!)! We chilled there for a while and when one of Sebas best mates, Mathieu, rocked up they took us to the hostel to drop our stuff (carrying our bags for us). Then we all went out and got a bite to eat and a drink and met a few more of Seba/Mathieus friends (including a Perth girl, Laura, who has been over there about a year - deadset fluent in Italian). They then dropped us home and we arranged to catch up the next day for a Seba/Laura led tour of Milan! It was the start of a great few days.

Next morning (after a surpirsingly good breakie at the hostel - coffee machine and all) Seba and Laura picked us up (Seba he told us he would be our Taxi in Milan, and he certainly lived up to it!) and took us into the city centre. The four of us wandered through the city centre (the two locals obviously leading the way) and showed us all around the heart of Milan, around the Duomo, etc (you can also see a video of us spinning on a bull that is meant to bring good luck to you when we manage to load it onto the page, we look like the biggest clutz's in the world!) We then moved through a park, where Seba and I had a "how high can you swing" comp and Seba smashed me and then moved through the shopping district, etc. We then popped over to Mathieus and spent the afternoon chilling with him there (Tom beat Seba in Chess, Tom 1 - Seba 1). Before heading back to the hostel to get ready for dinner (Seba organised dinner with a bunch of his friends and us which was really nice). Dinner was great (you can see what Tom had when the photos get up - Eli was boring and had pasta...)

After dinner we went out to Colon which is like the central meeting point for young people to go. There were so many people there (even though Seba and co insisted it was empty) and is the kind of place that you go and can catch up with other friends and organise to go places. Even though we couldnt really understand much of what was going on, we were introduced to Sebas other best mate and also had a really nice time trying to interact in our dodgy Italian and getting lessons, etc! The whole atmosphere there was like nothing we have ever seen (or expect to see) inAustralia - it was really cool! It was quite helpful for us that all Laura, Seba and Sebas 2 best mates (later two also exchanged to Australia like Seba) could all speak English very well, (and most of their friends were not that bad either) so it was all pretty good! Plus it gave us yet another oppourtunity to fine tune our rather poor Italian!

Finally on the last night, Seba organised for Eli and I to have a romantic dinner for two at a really nice (and reasonable) resturant. It was lovely, both in food, the place, everything (we ate very well). We then again went out with all Sebas mates and had a great last night!

And that was the end of a fantastic few days in Milano! It was great to be able to catch up with Seba again and also awesome to meet his friends and hang round with him in his city (vs getting to know him in Canberra). The next morning we were off to Lake Como, and then out of Italy, but this trip to Milan will definitely be a highlight of our European tour!

Thankyou Seba and friends!!!

Okay we best be off, but we hope you are all tops. We miss you lots!!! (haha, even rhyming!) Love Tom and Eli