Milano, Italia

Second day in Italia, currently staying with our friend Tristam in Milano. Milan is a smallish town, with much more graffiti than in the states. There is also more pictoral graffiti tags (although the number of crappy tags is really high). We have dinner with our friend at a great restaurant Osteria …something…Di Daniele. My favorite graffiti tag is TV Boy, who is a little demure character in a hooded jacket. Milan seems to be somewhat “strangiere” un-friendly at first, but after a while it is ok. The streets are incredibly confusing if you are from the states, as the seem to be some sort of grid of non-concentric circles, with streets that blend from one to the other with no clear demarcation of when they change names. The metro is a bit confusing at first as well if you don’t speak Italian, however, our first attempt yesterday was more successful while talking to a woman who spoke no english whatsoever than with some people who actually do speak english. (btw, they aren’t too keen on americans – thanks GW). The trams are pretty easy once you get the hang of it (and apparently, if you don’t sit down, you are pretty ok without your bigliette, but if you sit down without one you are likely to get kicked off and fined). We went to a couple of bars on Friday night (the 11th). The big thing with the kids is going to aperitif, so you can get a beer for 5 euros and a bunch of cheap bar foor for free – although you have to fight a serious crowd. After the bars, we hit a kabob stand and head home.