Well then we spent three nights in Milan and then headed to Venice by train. I dragged Charmaine to see the Duomo, the one space Milan is known for (other than shopping)The whole time she complained "I can't belive you are taking me to see a dome!" When we arrived in the piazza where the Duomo was (its actually a church by the way and it was beautiful)

　　we were greeted by this black African man who was offering us a 'gift' of a braclet. I asked how much and he said it was a gift so I said it was ok. He said how beautiful Charmaine was, how he loved her and I told him in Italian she was far too young for him, he asked how old and said coz he knew I was old

　　but not her!!!!!! When I told him she was 16yrs he said "Oh, I am 29" I told him "See much too young for you" We got to go to the top of the Duomo and the views were

　　"Awes" as Charmaine has now taught me. The gift by the way was free but at the end he said could you give me money for Africa!!!

　　We went to Venice and it was much much colder than Milan, but then again it is a by the sea. I really like Venice and previously thought I could live there but now that I have been there in Autumn I am not so sure. The travel by waterboat (their buses) was so so so long and Charmaine was feeling

　　It took one and a half hours to get to the island of Murano where they make all the glass things and so both Charmaine and I were pretty

　　coz a lot of our day was wasted this way. We bought presents for others and jewlery and stuff for ourselves

　　of course. We ended up not having lunch until about 5pm when we arrived back at one of the stops. We sat and ate and when we were about to pay the bill a whole lot of people came into the cafe. It was apparently the stop for all the bus drivers (you know the waterboat buses) where they change over\start or finish their shifts. One guy came over near our table while he ate a cornetto (its not an icecream its like a crossont, sweet thingy)

　　His mate was buying him a coffee and he heard Charmaine say to me that she actually wanted another coke. He then asked if we were Australian. He had recognised our accent and then started chatting. He was really nice. He has been to Australia twice for studies, history I think and in particular Aboriginal history. We had great discussion about our beautiful country as well as our shaded history (when it comes to Aboriginal treatment) He talked about wanting to come and live in Australia but that it was difficult to come over legally. He was certainly attractive and spoke English really well. In the end he had to go to work and wished us well and I said maybe we would see each other again in Australia, he said you can never say never, though I think it would be an absolute miracle considering we didn't exchange phone numbers or email addresses, D'OH!!!!!!!!!!

　　We had to leave Venice the very next day so I was spewin!!! Note to self always carry paper and pen or cards with your details on it!!!!

　　Back to Rome