Staring at the ceiling, Milan.

Well, I made it, just. Today was both tedious and high stress. Tedious bc it took me almost 12 hours to get to Milan and high stress bc I had to get my disassembled bike into the luggage rack on two trains, schlep it across Paris on the Metro, and have an argument in two mutually unintelligible languages with some idiot who thought it was a good idea to put a large heavy case on top of my bike. Idiot. So, I got the Eurostar to Paris, then queued for 15 minutes for euros, queued another 15 for a Metro ticket while some Spanish girl just stood there and looked at the machine like that would make it do something. Crammed my bags and my luggage onto a crowded Metro train with the always polite Parisians, then got to take the TGV 7 hours to Milan. Turns out the gran vitesse part of the name only really applies in France. In Italy, well, manana, you know... ;-) Getting to Milan, I spent  40 minutes on the platform putting my bike back together, then set off, in the dark, in heavy rain, through road construction, and with helpful Italian drivers, towards the hotel, which was actually in another direction. Yeah. So, finally, exhausted and soaked, I find the hotel. It's through the courtyard of this apartment building and all on the same floor, extending down from the reception. The floor is tiled too, and one can hear everything. Great. My room is sort of dorm size, with a single bed, a tv on s small desk, tiny closet, and an exposed shower and sink. Toilet is down the hall, accessible by key. It was cheap. Possibly too cheap. Not sure about the toilet down the hall. I would certainly never pee in the sink though, as that's low class. :-D Hmm. Oh yeah, no English TV either. I mean really, TV only in their own language? Shocking indeed! Anyway, I should try to get some sleep, hopefully. Tomorrow is my day to explore Milan, and see friends. Then off towards the mountains!