In Milan

Flying is never really "fun" although it can at times seem miraculous.

Leaving Houston at 10:00 AM from your house and landing in Milan at 8:30 the next morning (1:30 am body clock time) seems to be something we really take fro granted.

Especially when you wake up and see things like this out the window:

We were met by a driver from the apartment we rented, who had our name down as "Dorsen". Not sure where that came from, but it worked.

The place is nice, large and very quiet. The owner upgraded us because hi didn't have the bigger place rented out. There are a few problems. which I may expound upon later.

We are close to the historic center of Milan, though. You can walk to the Duomo and surrounding area in under 15 minutes.

We had a nice simple lunch at a little bakery on the way. Great quiche and salad.

And you can see the Duomo peeking around the corner.

and then right in front of you. It took 400 years to build this wedding cake!

The Vittorio Emanuel Galleria is right around the corner:

and the Carabinieri were there showing off their old cars:

We did make it to the Sforza castle

 Before we came back to our own courtyard:

Our courtyard has its own tortoise.

She runs up to see you as soon as you open the door. It is sort of cute:

Google loves to make little movies. Here's one: