We had a lovely room (my view wasn't shared by Graham), it was on the top (5th) floor next to stairs overlooking the inner courtyard. Not the best view, but as the hotel was surrounded by tram lines, we were the furthest away from the rumbles which could be heard throughout the night. I took my cards and presents down to breakfast, where the gift bags proved useful in carrying away a sausage buttie and a pain au chocolate. Outside the shining sun and azure sky belied the actual temperature of minus three! After buying a tram ticket from the local cafe, we stood waiting in the freezing cold for the No 3 tram which we hoped would take us to Milan's Duomo. Unfortunately, after almost an hour on this cold uncomfortable contraption we were turfed off (along with everyone else) on the edge of Milan, miles from anywhere and expected to somehow find our way to our destination. We followed everyone else and stood in a silent queue on the side of a tram line. We had a map, but were so far out, we were off the map! In desperation I asked the old chap next to me whether the line went to the Duomo, I say 'asked', but as my Italian is so limited, I used the one word approach which didn't elicit much of a reply as he was deaf...but he did gesticulate that we were waiting on the wrong side of the track. Once across, I approached a younger chap who I hoped would understand English (they all did in Rome, last year), but no, no English, but he helpfully pointed to the metro entrance which was now clearly visible. Our tickets were almost at their 75 minute expiry time, but just lasted until we boarded a train from Abbiategrasso, which we re-christened 'End of the Earth' stop!!
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