The train journey to Milan was fairly chilled and I found a buffet car where I ordered a cup of tea. Most of my time was spent copy typing blogposts on to the blog proper and then doing not much else. Unfortunately, while I had a 'window seat', the 'window' was, in fact, a grey pillar, making looking out of it a bit problematic.
As the train drew closer to Milan it began to fill up, but my seat wasn't taken until the very end of the journey. The woman that sat next to me spent her time reading WhatsApps and watching a video about bears interacting with humans and being chased away by dogs.
I decided to pay a visit to the Bistrot again except that on this occasion I would go to the back of the place where it was possible to sit down at a proper table to eat. Not that it was much different from the front part of the place where people had to use computer terminals, like those in McDonald's, to order, yes, you guessed it, variations on a cheese and ham roll and all very unhealthy in the greater scheme of things. This time, however, things were different. The food was of a higher quality and involved actual vegetables, which I hadn't seen for a few days. I ordered chicken escalope with green beans and roasted potatoes, which were great but could have been a little warmer. I foolishly bought a bottle of Coke (I never drink Coke) and ended up putting it in my pocket to consume later.
Sufficiently chilled, if that's the word, I decided to wander around the busy concourse having bought my ticket to Malpensa airport. I decided to get on the next available train, which was leaving from platform one as the ticket didn't specify a particular train. I was on the 1655 and it was crowded. The journey took around one hour and when I reached the airport I went through security, drinking that bottle of Coke, or most of it, as my suitcase sat on the security conveyor. Once on the other side I wandered a little and was pleased to note that I could sit down without having to buy anything. I sub-edited my initial blogpost about being on the train from Milan to Udine and then found a Pret where I bought a bottle of sparkling mineral water and the first decent cup of English Breakfast tea. After drinking the water I hoofed it to Gate E28, which somehow changed to E26 where I queued for the plane.
The flight was fine. I was in seat 1C, an aisle seat, but it was all good and the skies were clear. Coming into Gatwick was a bit choppy but we landed safely and soon I did the usual baggage reclaim bit before taking a cab home. I was home around 2300hrs.
