Day 1, Canberra to Milano via Sydney and Singapore

 First leg - Murray's Coach from Canberra to SYD international terminal. A relatively early start with the coach leaving at 08:00 but that then includes a reasonable buffer for eventualities such as traffic delays.

Turns out that the bus arrived early and I had absolutely minimal delay for checkin and border security.

Wet in Sydney...

A 15:00 departure from Sydney then a two hour layover in Singapore. 

Finally a 6:30 arrival at Malpensa. The express train to Cardona was crowded but painless. Dropped my luggage at the hotel and went walking: a beautiful day for it. Plenty of crowds even before shop opening time.

Bumped into K&J on the steps of the Duomo!

After walking for a couple of hours I went back to the hotel, cleaned up and rested.  In the early evening we had dinner together at an enoteca in the canal area which is a dining hotspot, as you can probably deduce from the photo below. Very nice.

The canal which links to Fiume Ticino was originally constructed (taking about 100 years from 1177) for irrigation and then to move produce. It was extended in the 1300's to move the huge quantity of stone needed to build the Duomo.

Our flight to Cagliari the next day is at 13:10, so I can sleep in!