By the Naviglio Grande in Milan, where the canal felt as much like the River Tyne with black and white flags decorating its bridges and 3,000 tenors chorusing about Sandro Tonali, you will find 'the world's smallest bar' tucked amid the stone walls.
There are just four seats at Backdoor 43. In the cobbled streets outside, meanwhile, that mass of would-be punters. The juxtaposition served as illustration of the excitement around Newcastle's return to the Champions League after 20 years away – for the scramble for match tickets has been as frenzied as the fight for one of those barstools.
Just as sparse here are taxis. A rail strike coupled with an electric storm and the bedlam of fashion week means that foot has often been the sole mode of transport. The Toon Army, though, will gladly march the five miles from the city centre to the San Siro should the travel chaos pervade today.
In 2003, when they last played away from home in this competition, it was here. There were 12,000 visiting fans for a 2-2 draw with Inter, in which Alan Shearer scored twice.
It was an iconic night in the club's history and stories from then were being retold in the bars flanking the canal on Monday night. Once, that is, they had stopped sliding bare bellied across flooded pavements.
'There was an alcohol ban that day, so we all gathered in a square near the station, where some 'local entrepreneurs' were chucking crates of beer from the back of a van,' recalled Chris Johnson, 38. 'We were kicking footballs about and it was great fun, no trouble at all.
'That was different when we got inside the San Siro. I had a terrible view so moved to some free seats behind the goal, wondering why they were spare. We soon realised. Within a few minutes, coins,
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