"Mussolini said, "Right, we're all fascists!" but most Italian people are always on scooters going, "Ciao!" And they're into football and life...

"...and they're not fascists. He said, "We're all fascists!" "Uh....All right, ciao!" No helmet on. All those 50's films like Roman Holiday. Everyone's just cool and hangs out" "

The weekend before last Andrew and I went to Milan so that Andrew could do this James Bond 007 Goldeye bungee jump off a dam. I wasn't too thrilled to have to witness this but you do what you've got to. We took an early flight Friday to Milan, after scouting out our hotel we went into the city to explore since it was our only full day there.

There isn't too much to Milan, a castle, a big church and an old shopping arcade....that's about it so it didn't take us long to see it all.

The church

The castle

The church again

Saturday we headed to the train station to hop a train to Switzerland for the jump. The station was incredibly packed with lines everywhere. We finally talk to an agent and found out that the earliest train we could take would be at 3pm arriving a little after 5, every other one was booked up. Since Andrew's jump was supposed to take place at 3 we realized it was a lost cause. Since we had already seen all Milan had to offer we decided to hop a local train somewhere. We chose the town of Como which is one of the three major lakes in Italy's lake district, it also happens to be the second stop on my backpacking trip so this was a nice preview.

The town is absolutely beautiful, a large lake in the middle of a valley. We spent most of the time walking around, had a lovely lunch along the lakeside. Andrew had lasagna and I had a meat tortellini in cream sauce, no idea what meat it was or what spices they added to the sauce but Andrew and I both agreed it was the best we've had. We even splurged and got some tiramisu which ended the meal perfectly. After some more wandering we hopped on a train back to Milan absolutely exhausted.

Me happy because Andrew isn't putting his life in danger

Andrew being sad because he isn't throwing himself to his death

Lake Como

Our delicious lunch

Another church, this one in Como

This incredibly old tower that is part of the old wall of the city of Como, a large street market is on the other side following along the old wall

Sunday we got a late check out so after breakfast we relaxed before checking out and heading to the station to go home. On the way to the station Andrew managed to drop his leather jacket with his ipod in the pocket with neither of us noticing until it was too late. He was understandable upset to lose two such prize possessions, although his company decided to buy him a new ipod touch for his going away gift which he absolutely loves. Once we arrived in London our luggage got lost between the plane and the baggage carousel, along with about 15 other peoples they managed to misplace them somewhere in the airport so we went home empty-handed. Luckily they delivered the bag early the next morning.

This past Friday Andrew's workmates took us out for drinks once they were done for the day. It was my first time meeting them and they were all very nice and fun to be around.

Saturday we got up and took a train down to the coast to Brighton for the day. I'd been there once before but it was during the really cold months so yesterday was much better. It was sunny and warm with bright blue skies. We met up with my old flatmate James who lives outside the city for lunch and a bit of shopping (I managed to get a £5 bikini for my backpacking, yay!). Good day indeed.