Chaos and Trepidation Begin

After becoming accustomed to being led by professional guides and seeing much of the most beautiful art in the world, the tour officially ended at the Malpensa Airport and we then spent a day on our own in Milan, with the goal of placing making Leonardo DaVinci's"Last Supper" as our capstone event.

We fumbled unsuccessfully to crack the code to operate the pay phone to call our B and B for a ride from the airport. We were on a deadline to arrive in Milan by 2:00 for a tour through the worlds third largest church and to DaVinci's masterpiece, "The Last Supper". (We'd lost our cell phone in Rome.) We finally hailed a taxi, who thought the trip was too minimal for him and HE called the B and B host, who came and got us. Using the B and B's host's instructions into Milan, we navigated to the train station, 26 miles from Milan but almost took a train going the wrong way. We were saved at the last minute by a frail Italian boy whose dream was to come to America and work as a taxi driver. "I love America", he repeated over and over again. Taking the taxi from Garabaldi Station to the Duomo, we joined our three hour walking tour at the last minute in the drenching cold rain. We were already going in hyperthermia and George was feeling rotten.

This adventure felt like one of our famous canoe trips where I (Joanne) feel in danger of being perpetually lost. The walking tour was a torture. With all that said, we wouldn't trade comfort for this experience.