Work trip to Milan, Italy - 3rd to 5th April 2006

A trip to Milan (for a couple of days work), and Turin (for the Arsenal game), was a good opportunity to eat some nice Italian food, and marvel at their complete chaos! Arriving at Linate airport in Milan, I was plunged straight into the chaos part! Not a modern airport by any means, the outside is more like a railway station than a modern transport facility.

A good few days work, punctuated by much excellent food. On one evening, going out for dinner, the restaurant deluged us with more ham, salami and mortadella than anybody could possibly have eaten - then piled lots of pasta in afterwards. Very fat indeed, and when I wasn't eating ham, pasta and salami, it was steak, pizza and pannacotta instead. Some very good food all round.

Walking around Milan, some of the architecture there is incredible - when I went before (to see Arsenal play Inter), I was distincly unimpressed by the city in general - although the pouring rain and the preoccupation with other things may have contributed to that.

My office in Milan is next to an absolutely amazing building, what it is I have no idea, but there are many very ornate buildings all around the city. The old city centre is full of squares with what look like Roman remains - I had a guide this time to help find them. To the casual visitor, Milan looks like an unremarkable city, but if you know where to look, there appear to be excellent shops and restaurants, and some amazing architecture.