My mother's birthplace

Amanda and I get up early and take the vaporetto for one more ride through Venice (I thought it would be a neat thing to see at dawn). Unfortunately, the taxi does not ride the full loop at such an early hour. We have breakfast (one of the yummiest of the whole trip) and take the ferry back to mainland.

Amanda is getting better at reading the crazy Italian directions. As soon as we pull into big cities, she runs in to a hotel and asks for directions. This has proven to be quite successful except when some of the streets do not go straight through. We had to drive around a block like three times to get going in the right direction. Roundabouts are fun!

In Milano, we stayed at a Best Western with the snobbiest clerks ever. They were so standoffish and rude! Amanda and I - wise from our many driving misadventures - take the subway to the Duomo. We struggle trying to understand how the Subway works when some people from Holland help us (they say they were just as confused yesterday).

The Duomo is a large building with spires and we think we should be able to see it. Amanda stops and consults the map swearing the building is just ahead of us. Hesitantly, I follow her directions and as we walk a block or two - boom- there it is surrounded by modern skyscrapers that are home to many elite fashion designers. Many of the shops are closed because of the holiday (not that I could have afforded to shop there even if they were open!) Milano is full of street vendors with lots of good bargains and Amanda and I find a World Gifts Festival. While it didn't prove to be a good place to buy souveniers ("Hey look I got you this African tribal doll in Italy!"), it was a lot of fun.

For dinner, we eat at an upscale resturant. At the hotel, we pay to check our email and I discover that my bank fee for withdrawing money from the ATM is about $10! This picture is the view from our hotel. At the hotel, we see an amazing video for a song called "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter. It appears that he is probably British and the video has such a good story. I was hoping to find a good Italian group over here but I think Daniel Powter will suffice. We try to get an appointment to see "The Last Supper" but with the holiday, the hotel clerk tells us that it won't be possible.