John and Marie-Claire: Girls weekend

While John and some mates took off to Austria for the Nova Rock festival, MC, Rachael and Kelly jetted out to Milan for a far more luxurious weekend (although that wouldn't be hard, the boys were camping in the mud with no showers...).

The girls arrived in Milan on Friday night to a welcome of torrential rain, thunder and lightening, all of which proved too much for Rach's 'luggage' (a TM Lewin carrier bag) which split in the taxi on the way to the hotel and was a source of much amusement for the equally drowned rats MC and Kelly. However, this did give Rach the perfect excuse to buy a new bag in the fashion capital of Europe! Saturday was spent exploring Milan, while on Sunday we took a day-trip to Lake Como before our flight home that evening.

The pretty town of Bellagio on the shores of Lake Como.
We took a train to Varenna on Lake Como (pictured above) from Milan and then...
took a boat ride to Bellagio.
Bellagio from the boat.
The view from the lake-side restaurant where we spent a few hours relaxing in the hot sun.
Yummy pasta and refreshing (or in Kelly's case, highly alcoholic wodka sorbet...) desserts were on the menu for lunch.
Rach and Kelly admiring the view.
Lots of ferraris.
Bellagio.
Villa on Lake Como (maybe George Clooney's??)
And some more pictures of pretty Bellagio.

The majestic entrance to Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II - an elegant shopping arcade.
For Nadine!
The girls on top of the Duomo.
Gargoyles on the Duomo.

Rach and MC outside the Duomo.
The other side of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Unfortunately our budgets didn't extend to the Prada, Gucci and Louis Vuitton on offer! However the city was not all expensive as Milan is home to the 'Aperitivo', like a happy hour where if you buy a drink in many of the bars around the city you get access to the free all-you-can-eat buffet spread!

Meanwhile, the boys were slumming it in their tents (once they finally arrived at the camping ground at 3am via Bratislava and some dodgy taxi drivers) but loving the music on offer (Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Placebo, Chris Cornell, Faith No More, Kaiser Chiefs, The Living End and the list goes on). MC, however, was not loving the smell of John arriving home after 3 nights camping with 4 other guys, lots of mud and no showers...