We caught an 8:15 ferry to Varenna and just made the 8:40 train to Stazione Centrale. Once there, we found the baggage check and then found the metro to the Duom0 (4 stops down on the M3 yellow line). We came out on to the Piazza del Duomo with the giant Vittorio Emanuele shopping plaza on one side.
The lines to buy a ticket and then to get in to the Duomo were long, but the building is spectacular.
After our tour of the Duomo, we were starved and went over to the Vittorio Emanuele where we found a wealth of fast food options.
We were too hot and tired to do any more sight seeing, so we headed back to the train station, retrieved our bags, and took a train to Malpensa. There we took a cab to our B&B, where we hit our first snag. The place was locked up, with no sign of life. After 30 minutes of waiting, Steve voted we bail, call a cab, and find another hotel. Finally, I called the telephone number on the mail box and within 5 minutes a young woman drove up and told us the rooms were not there but at another location. She drove us several blocks to another location and showed us into our room, which apparently still needed to be cleaned so she took us downstairs and bought us all beers to enjoy while we waited. She assured us that Mauricio would be here to take us to the airport tomorrow at 6 am. Our confidence level was very low at this point. The boys were suspicious we would never see her or our bags again, but she returned telling us our room was ready and assuring us Mauricio would be here in the morning. Never again will I book anything but a first class hotel the night before we fly out.