My Sparkly, Twinkly Adventures....

Hello again!!!Just thought I would give you all a rundown of the festive season!!!Well, celebrated my birthday last month!!!23, Oh My God, Im almost 30!!!!!Had 2 celebrations...a great night out with the girls down on Brick Lane where we went to '93 Feet East' followed by a bizarre olde worlde 'old man's pub' as reccomended by Aymie!Then I headed up north to Newcastle to spend Christmas with the family!

Went out once again, in Newcastle, for my birthday which was fun, lots of Cosmos and drunken escapades!The night was rounded off with us all buying way too much food from the good old 'Toon Takeaway' and turning up at Tim and Kelly's house at about 4 in the morning!!!
Below are a few of the photos for the night out!

Below is just a range of random pictures from the christmas period...including Chris caressing the pizza, me with some random charva (yes, thats what happens when you go out with Helen!!!)hmmmm 'The Street' covered in snow........

Mam with Huge Ice Creams!!!!!

Last night was spent back in the Historic centre enjoying Italian ice cream and strolling around the market again and saying farewell to the Duomo!

This morning we spent sometime walking around the fashion district which was really cool, every shop you could ever think of...Dolce and Gabbana, Armani, Moschino, I loved it!!!!Then before we knew what, we had to head back to Bergamo to fly home!!!! Cant believe the trip is over but it was amazing and Im even more in love with Italy since my Rome trip last year! Milan is wonderful, the food, the places, the things to see...and to round it all off we had the most speactacular views of the Alps as our plane flew home!!!!

Today was our last full day in Milan and there is so much to see so today was expected to be hardcore in an attempt to fit in everything that we wanted to see! We began this morning heading to the Castello Sforzesco which was really amazing!Beautiful buldings and a really interesting place! We got to see the dancing fountains before heading to Parc Sempione and the Arco Della Pace!

Our next visit was to the Basilica De Saint Ambrogio which was very impressive! Imagine my suprise when sneaking down into the darkened Crypts to see the mummified corpse, fully dressed in red robes, of Saint Ambrogio himself!It knocked me for six, didnt expect to see that...when the guide book said mortal remains I imagined the standard whizend finger of a few bones that you usually see in these European Catholic churches so I wasnt anticipating the full on body complete with face!I didnt like it! After a brief stop in a lovely little panini place I came across a fabulous ribbon shock where I stocked up on really cute ribbons and trimmings with little cherries and red riding hood on!!!!Imagine the delights that will transpire from them!!!!

Our next stop was once again at the Duomo but this was our first experience of it by daylight so we got the full affect and its such an impressive structure! We ventured inside to be awestruck by the beautiful stained glass windows which were simply amazing....

and I loved the rainbows on the wall from the windows so yet another photograph was called for!

We then headed to the top of the Duomo which was incredible! The arcitecture is amazing, so intricate and ornate! Also there are fantastic views over the city....

View of Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle from the top of the Duomo...

The inside of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle was beautiful, hight glass ceilings, paintings, really pretty....

We then went onto have a look at the Piazza La Scala...

The next destination was the Cimetero Monumental in North Eastern Milan. My fixation with cemeteries around the world just meant I had to squeeze this final place in!!! It was totally worthwhile, I would have been upset to miss it!

It was one of the most spectacular and ornate cemeteries that I have ever visited...huge, towering monuments, sculptures carved into stone, personally designed headstones....

Also there was hundreds of catacombs and memorial plaques, some even had war medals inlaid into them which was really interesting...

Woke up bright and early in anticipation for our journey to Lake Como! After dealing with the madness and mayhem of Stazioni Centrale and an encounter with the most vile toilet I have ever experienced we boarded our train and headed for the famous Northern Italian Lakes!

We began by taking a stroll though Como Village itself taking in cute little bakeries and checking out the Duomo there and exploring the beautiful side streets.

Colourful Fruit Market!

We also stumbled upon a really pretty garden full of cloisters, memorial plaques and a really ornate grave.....

We then walked to actually see the lake which was breathtaking. You could see the snow capped Alps in the background and the sun was shining a the same time, it was really beautiful! We found a fantastic little restaurant which was kind of in a big glass conservatory type building which was over looking the lake, it was the most amazing view!

We then decided to Venture up to the top on the hill into the small town of Brunate by Funicular. When we reached the top we could see right across Como and see the Alps for miles and miles!

We rounded off our trip by visiting the beautiful church in Brunate before heading back to the train station....

When we arrived back into Milano we went for a stroll around the Historic Centre and came across a huge market selling everything from antiques, to Italian Pastries to rainbow coloured dried fruits! Its was dark by this point and the whole area was lit up and bustling and we enjoyed delicious Italian coffee over looking the market place!

A trip was then made to the local supermarket to stock up on some yummy gorgonzola and I also stumbled across the biggest treat ever which Im still laughing at now! Following Nicola's discovery and ongoing obsession with a little chocolate bar called a 'Tronky' whilst in Thailand, imagine my hysteria when I came across a pack of them in this tiny little supermarket!!!!So Nicola this photo is especially for you and be expecting a little suprise prezzie all the way in Australia very soon........

We headed back to the hotel where I modelled by new hat and scarf set that I bought today (very cute!!!) and Mam allowed to partake in my obsession with cheezy, contrived photography!!!!!

Buon giorno!!!Arrived in at Bergamo in the early evening and set off by bus into Milan! Ditched the bags and headed straight off for a walk to explore the delights of the city! Took a stroll through La Brera area and eventually arrived at the historic centre where we got to see our first glimpses of the Duomo which was really impressive!

There was so many tiny streets which were so pretty as they were still covered in twinkly fairy lights for Christmas! The wethaer is absolutley freezing, I didnt expect it to be so cold, in fact it is possibly as cold as back home, however everything looks really beautiful covered in snow and you seem to forget about the cold when you are getting to see so many amazing things!