Saturday - Lake Como

Hello again all. Thanks for being patient with the delay between posts. All has been well since we returned, but you know how it is when you get back from a big vacation.. it takes a while to settle down. That was compounded by the sheer number of pictures Cara and I took in Lake Como. It was truly beautiful there, and we took almost a thousand pictures.... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

You may remember we wrapped up our stay in Verona with a quick day trip to Venice, and we were ready for cooler climates. Thankfully, getting the car out of the hotel's parking deck, was much less of an ordeal than putting it in, and didn't require as much clenching and sweat. :) Most of the journey to Como was highway, but everyone else had the same idea, and the traffic was stopped in spots. After about an hour, we started to see the Alps again (which were a welcome sight!) It only took us about another hour to get to Como, where the streets narrowed and we head into the small town.

We made our way through snaky streets (and even the wrong way down a 1-way street - OOPS!) Luckily we only got honked at once. Finally, I recognized the street from Google maps (Google Streets) and knew we were in the right place with tree-lined streets on the lake and hotels.

View Larger Map

Our hotel, the Albergo Terminus, was even more beautiful than I'd read about, and as we pulled into the parking lot, I knew we were in for a treat. There were three Ferrari's in the deck (2 430's and a 599), along with a Porsche and Range Rover. The staff were very kind and helped us with our luggage to the room. The room ranked as probably my favorite room in any hotel, and I was immediately sorry we weren't staying for longer than a day. The elderly gentleman belhop couldn't speak any English, but went and opened the window, and the lake breeze and views spilled into the room. We overlooked a plaza, diner and the lake and were literally across from the ferry port. It was magnificent.



What a bathroom!



The view out the window...



We unpacked, and put on our linen shorts and a comfortable shirt, walked over to buy our ferry tickets, We asked what they recommended, and told we should take the slow (two hour) cruise to Bellagio (the town at the center of the lake). Lake Como is shaped kind of like an upside down "Y" and is surrounded by mountains, and Bellagio is seated at the intersection of the Y. We got a picnic lunch from the diner under the hotel and waited for the boat to arrive.

Most everyone grabbed a deck chair early, and seated themselves at the front for a grand view. Cara and I kept to the the middle, away from them, mainly because it was in the sun, (and we'd had enough sun in Venice).



Cara and I moved our "deck" chairs around a lot, as the light changed, often staying to ourselves.. relaxing and snapping pictures.



I struck up conversation with a kind English gentleman named Colin (also sporting a Canon 40d) and we enjoyed chatting about our hobby. He and the "Mrs" were on a bus/train tour of the Alps, and he regaled about the road over the mountains to the lake. I smiled knowing how much I was looking forward to the next day of driving :) (Colin, if you're reading, I look forward to seeing your pictures. ) He was generous enough to take this picture of us (one of our few together!)



All of the towns had so much color and attractiveness, you wanted to stop at each and explore.



As I was sitting in my seat as we were porting at one town, I thought the city looked framed like a picture.



You may remember this villa from two films. One, Star Wars Attack of the Clones - Padme and Anakin scene, "I like it here, there's no sand, it's rough and irritating, and gets everywhere. Not like you, You're soft and smooth". (Has to be one of the worst lines in film since "Nobody puts Baby in the corner"). Also, this was used as the sanatorium for James Bond (Daniel Craig) after his torturous encounter in Casino Royale (where he and Vesper start their love affair). It was very picturesque, and I took dozens of pictures which I'll spare you, but here's one of the better ones... The amazing thing was there were hundreds of villas like this one, some even grander and more beautiful. It was hard imagining being able to just drive down to your palace on the lake for the weekend. (Or fly in George Clooney's case)



The lake was lined with amazing mountains and geographical oddities, which I thought rivaled the Napali coast in Kauai. We thoroughly enjoyed the "sail", cool breeze and sites. We dreamed of coming back, and made a failed attempt to call my parents and Grace. Unfortunately there was too much wind, and it was hard to talk.



Here's one of the many cities/towns on the edge of the lake, each having it's own character and beauty. The lake was much larger than I had anticipated, and it was hard to imagine that we were only seeing one section of the "Y".



After two hours, we arrived in Bellagio as the sun was starting to wane. We wandered around the steep sidewalks, and happened on a crazily narrow road with cars. There were beautiful shops, including a gelateria which of course we stopped for. Cara and I found a beautiful little soap shop and wooden toy store where we bought gifts (not really knowing how we'd get them home).



The town was filled with restaurants, magnificent hotels and beautiful people. So much so, that I didn't think we were appropriately dressed for dinner and decided to make our way back to Como. On a side street, we even spotted an Italian family sitting at the dinner table outside on their back lawn facing the lake. What a place to live.

The ride back to the hotel was much faster, (less than an hour) and Cara and I dozed some on the way.



After we returned, we were both pretty zonked, and hoped we could eat at the hotel's acclaimed restaurant, which was literally down the hall from our room. As we stepped into the restaurant, the maitre de came up and asked if we had reservations. We sheepishly responded no (since we decided not to eat in Bellagio). He huffed a bit, and said he'd try to find something. We were surprised since there were only about four couples in the entire restaurant. Thankfully, he ended up seating us, the food was very good. The cool lake breeze was terrific.

About a half hour into the meal, we realized his discomfort with seating us. A crowd of the Italian rich and famous seeped in. One man in particular, in his late thirties, with long curly hair, well tanned and shirt unbuttoned was greeted by everyone. Literally, all the women and men came and gave him a kiss, or hug. Italians typically dress extremely well and are good looking, but these people were something to behold. Cara and I joked the man had to have a Ferrari. It was very entertaining to watch them eat, talk and be together, and we were thankful for the experience. As we finished our meal, we strolled out into the parking lot on our way to the square, to our amazement, there were three more Ferrari 430's out there. (two red, one with stripes, and a navy Modena convertible). We met another couple from Australia also gawking at the cars, and learned they were at dinner too! They agreed how entertaining the people had been.



After dinner, we got some cash, since I was a bit worried about being able to get gas on a Sunday. I was told that although most places take credit cards, American cards don't always work! So we definitely got prepared. We wandered around the square, where a band was playing, people were milling about, and enjoyed the lake.



As we walked back to our room to get some rest, we passed a beautiful sitting room, which we sadly never got to use...



Como was a wonderful experience for us, and again, it was difficult to leave it so quickly, vowing to return... Some how I was able to tear myself away knowing the drive we had to come the next day. :)

Friday - Venice

We're all home safely now (and glad to be back with Grace), but I thought you would like to hear about the last few days of our trip, which were just as exciting. :)

Friday morning we got up, had a little breakfast and took a taxi to the train station to catch the train to Venice. It was a Eurostar train which covered what would've taken us two hours in the car in one hour. The scenery was beautiful, but there's just something about riding on a train that knocks me right out, so I slept most of the way unfortunately.

The train drops you off at the Grand Canal the central waterway for Venice. It is like Grand Central in NY, but on the water. It was pretty amazing. The vaporetto (water bus) was easy to take, and we bought an all day ticket. We'd planned to do some sight seeing before going to our lunch, but unfortunately we underestimated the time it took to get to our destination (and we went the long way round) It ended up being a neat trip around the Grand Canal, but sadly we missed out seeing the Market which Cara was looking forward to.

We got off at our stop for the restaurant my music minister had recommended; "Vini da Gigio". The staff were very kind and helpful and the food was terrific. Cara ordered the "Black Spaghetti" which is a squid spaghetti, colored and flavored with black squid ink. It was very different than anything I've ever had before, but quite good! I recommend trying it and Venice is famous for it. Though it leaves your teeth a little colored for the day. :)


Following lunch, we went to the famous Rialto bridge, and meandered through the shops. There were all kinds of interesting and expensive things to buy, and we enjoyed walking through the colored glass shops in particular. Even though Venice was breezier than Verona, it was every bit as hot. So, we stopped at a little gelato place and sat in an alleyway and cooled off.

Venice is very picturesque, and I really enjoyed my photography there. Lots of interesting people, boats and buildings.

A square near Vini da Gigios

There were beautiful little nooks and crannies like this one.

Look at these massive jars of Nutella! These could last me at least a day or two.

Can you imagine living here?

Backless dress fail

All kinds of pretty views...

We were starting to get tired, so we decided to hurry up and go to the Piazza San Marco before heading back. We took the vaporetto again and it dropped of us a block away. The square was slammed with what seemed like thousands of people, and was remarkable. It is so grand, that it was hard to capture a picture that did it justice. We walked through the square, and before going in the cathedral, sat down in the square at a cafe to get a drink. When they brought the menus, drinks were 12 euro ($17) and the appetizers were off the charts. We declined, and scurried away to try and hold off till dinner.

The line for Cathedral San Marco was out the door, but moved quickly. Although it was out in the brutal sun, it was nice to really see the details of the building. The beautiful gold leaf on the outside was only a preview for what was to come inside. They don't allow photos on the inside, but I took one before I realized you shouldn't... It's something you'll have to go check out yourself, and was truly unbelievable and beautiful. Also, they claim to have part of the "true" cross there, and forgive me for being skeptical.. but... They were actually charging to see some of the indulgences they had, and we weren't about to pay.. No disrespect to my Catholic friends, but it reminded me of the fair, where you pay money to go see the bearded lady, or two headed goat and find out it's some optical illusion. I actually respected them not allowing photography since it is a place of worship, but then they were selling souvenirs, and other "blessed" items as you walked out the door. I guess they have to pay for heavy security and staff to handle all of those people in a day, but still - Jesus didn't kick the photographers out of the temple... :)





After that, we walked through the shops in the square, and I found a pretty tie (which was reasonably priced) and was the only souvenir I bought myself on the trip. Cara kept reminding me I did get a car as a souvenir. We got back on the boat to the train station and tried to take the earliest train back. We had timed it poorly, and the next train was an hour and a half wait for the two hour ride. Cara bought me some water, and we sat in the smoky station and waited. The train finally arrived, and we were some of the first on board, grabbing a decent seat, and it seemed cooler once we were out of the sun. However, the train soon filled up, and we sat across from an elderly Italian couple that talked the ENTIRE way back, all two hours (as we tried to nap) They must've cut off the air too, because it got hotter and hotter as the trip went on. The little display screen said it was 90° inside the train and it was every bit of that. Finally at one stop, some people got off, so we moved to another seat for the remainder of the trip, and at least it was quiet, but still miserably hot.

We took a cab back to the hotel, and it was awesome because the cab had the air conditioning on, and was playing Abba. We smiled the whole way back. After grabbing a quick shower and changing clothes, we walked to a nearby cafe in an alleyway, and had a wonderful dinner. We strolled back to the nearby square, and sat on one of the monuments to people watch, but the monument was still radiating heat from the day's sun, so we decided to just go back to the hotel and pack up and get some sleep before heading to Como the next day.

Thursday - Verona and the Opera

On Thursday, Cara and I slept in a bit, hoping to get some rest in Verona. Our excessive meal the night before was still weighing heavily on us, so honestly, I don't remember eating breakfast. We meandered around the city, seeing various plazas and the arena. Verona is very beautiful and reminded us of Florence, but more spread out.

It got terribly hot, and we stopped in for lunch at a cute little cafe around 1145. Unfortunately they didn't open until noon, but the obliged by giving us a table and we sat and enjoyed the shade and breeze. We ordered a prosciutto and melon again (we did every meal) as a starter, because we thought it would cool us off before the main meal. The table was in a doorway, and what we thought would be a great view of the piazza (and cool breeze) turned us into a display, which everyone came by and looked. Although it was cute in theory, it got kind of annoying. While we ate, a little boy fiddled on the violin nearby and provided a bit of entertainment. What we ordered for the main course was unconventionally large and we were so stuffed that we couldn't eat most of it. Although we felt badly, we had to leave it. I think we were still recovering from the night before.



We continued to walk around the town, and stopped in front of the arena for a gelato, bottle of water and sat on the grass in the park. It was much cooler, and we enjoyed the people watching, as there were hundreds milling around. I had to go the bathroom, and luckily they had "pay" toilets nearby, which was an interesting new experience. Glad I had some change on me. We walked to the Castlevecchio and across the nearby brick bridge. Both were interesting and beautiful. It was hard to really enjoy it in the heat. We stopped off for a bit in the shade to call Grace, and it was good to hear her voice.



We went back to the hotel early, and caught a nice hour long nap before going to dinner and the opera. We grabbed a shower and put on our "fancy" outfits for a night on the town. For dinner, we wanted something light, so we walked back to the arena to pick up our tickets ahead of the show. There were even more people there than when we visited earlier in the day and we saw some interesting outfits, including one guy in shiny silver shoes and plaid pants. We grabbed a seat at a cafe in the piazza, and had a the obligatory prosciutto and melon, and both had awesome pizza. It was so fresh. On both sides of us were German couples, and as one left, a French man sat down and ordered TWO prosciutto and melons. It was awesome, and I was glad we weren't the only one's that were addicted. The tiramisu we ordered was terrific and different from the night before. Cara and I decided that it's better here in Italy because it's not overdone. Most restaurants in the US put too much coffee/chocolate powder on top, or douse it in too much rum. Here it's perfect!






The opera started at 9, so we finished up dinner early and went and got our seats. The arena was mostly empty at that point and we had a ball watching the Italians work there way in, all dressed in their posh outfits. We had pretty good seats, but thankfully far enough away that it didn't warrant a suit. As it darkened around 9pm, a wonderful cool breeze kept us comfortable and was so refreshing after such a hot day. We bought seat cushions and read-along translation guides which were helpful to scan during the intermissions (all 3). The music from the orchestra and the singers was astonishing, and we closed our eyes several times to soak it all in. It was truly one of my favorite things I've experienced, and it gave me goosebumps to hear some of the music we've all heard sung properly. Carmen is an interesting show, and Cara and I were still discussing the story and moral a couple days later. We had no idea the show would last for 4 hours (with 3 - 20 minute breaks), so we were very grateful for the previous nap and walked straight back to the hotel at 1am after it was over, both acknowledged what a wonderful time we had.



We had to get up early the next day for the train to Venice, so we went straight to bed. More on Venice tomorrow. :) G'night!

Wednesday over the Alps into Verona

After such a full day on Tuesday, Cara and I slept in a bit, and returned to the pasty shop to get another "Oh My Stars" kroeler. We knew it was going to be a long drive to Verona (Google Maps said 4 hours). We checked out of the Marriott in Munich and got on the road.

Getting out of Munich wasn't too bad with the nav leading the way and it was interesting to see the city from the road. Once on the Autobahn again, it was smooth and fast just as I thought. There were frequent slowdowns for either small construction or congested areas, but it was very fast and required full concentration. There were numerous tunnels, and I'd roll down the windows and rev the engine. What a glorious sound it makes!

We passed into Switzerland as we got into the Alps and it got progressively more beautiful as we started passing snow capped mountains. Although the speed limit dropped to ~120km/hr (80), people were generally cruising at 100mph or more. The Alpine scenery was emerald green as you can imagine and Cara and I loaded up "The Sound of Music" on the ipod. I know it sounds cheesy, and it was :) But we had a great time singing along. The views were terrific but we passed a beautiful church and village on the right, and I asked "I wonder how you get there?". As fate would have it, an exit popped up that had to lead there. We turned on and found our way to the church. The village was fairly empty since we imagine everyone was at work. It was a fantastic stroll around the village and we got our fill of walking and pictures, and were back on our way.





About noon, we passed the Alps and passed the Italian border. This started the Dolomite mountains which were very different in topography. (very "lord of the rings"-y). It was amazing, curvy and fast, much like driving past Asheville, NC on I-40, but much smoother, and better drivers. I drove pretty hard until about 1pm, and we were both starving. We stopped for lunch at a gas station and ordered a couple of proscuitto and mozarella sandwiches. (Amazing what you can get at a gas station) While they were being toasted, Cara and I stepped back to get a couple bottles of water. Out of the corner of my eye, a man walked up to the counter and asked (in Italian) for one of the sandwiches (when there were other types to choose from) From context, I heard the attendant politely tell him they were spoken for. The guy broadened his shoulders and pointed at him and (again from context) said "Give it to me now". The attendant was obviously intimadated and reluctantly obliged, to Cara's and my disbelief. I got pretty angry, and expressed my discontent, but the man ignored me and walked out the door. The attendent apologized profusely, saying he would fix us another, but I just picked something else off the counter since I was starving. I cooled down and decided not to make a big deal out of it since the man was probably a local which had either some sway or power that the attendant was too scared to go against. It was a very strange experience.

I talked Cara into driving at that point, and although she was nervous at first, she did a wonderful job. As fun as it is driving there, the roads in Italy are much tighter than the Autobahn and very close in the construction zones. (Still going 80-100). The scenery continued and it was nice to have a breather and be able to really look as you can't pay any attention while driving. About an hour from Verona, I took over again, and we dropped out of the mountains and things really flattened out.




As we arrived in Verona, the road got very tight and busy. It was pretty intimidating navigating the tiny streets, but passing over the river and into the old city was beautiful. We got finally found our hotel, the Hotel Victoria and parked on the little street outside. As we got checked in, luckily the parking deck had availability and they said they would help us get parked. We had no idea what we were in store for. Two bus boys came out to help us, and had to navigate a labyrinth of steep inclines and right angle turns which teh car barely fit through. It was very unnerving, espcially since I wasn't used to the new transmission and we had to make several 10-point turns to make it around several corners. I don't think Cara and I breathed the whole time. We were both amazed that we pulled through without scratching the car.

The hotel room was gorgeous, and very spacious, and by European standards massive. The walls were covered in beautiful fabric, with heavy curtains. The bathroom was all marble, and had a huge jacuzzi and seperate glass shower. We were really glad to call it home for a few days.



It was pretty late, so we got cleaned up and walked straight to dinner using my Blackberry's Google map GPS, which took us right there. My colleague at work had recommended the Risterante Cenacollo, and I had booked it in advance. They offered a tasting menu, which I thought would be a great idea. In a very Italian style, they brought us food off the start... a wonder proscuitto and melon. We again, had no idea what we were in for. They brought us plate after plate of amazing food,literally eight courses consisting of:
- Prosciutto and Melon & bruschetta
- roasted zucchinni, tomato, endive and stuffed mushroom
- polenta with gorgonzola
- fried mozzerella with tomato and basil (& roasted peppers)
- Eggplant parmesan
- mushroom risotto with tortellini
- Mixed grill meats with lamb and potatoes
- Tirmasu & Peaches
- Biscotti & Lemoncello

We literally started joking that they were trying to kill us with food. At that point, they brought us this incredibly large plate of meats, and just before we started thinking about eating it, they brought a whole other dish of lamb and potatoes. It was rediculous and we knew they were trying to kill us. I cannot describe to you how much food it was. If you think you've gotten full at Maggiano's, I tell you it was nothing compared to this. This was two Thanksgiving dinner's worth. The tiramasu they brought for dessert was incredibly good, probably the best I've ever had, and I joked to Cara that they would bring us something else. Sure enough, they didn't disappoint, and brought by these wonderful biscotti. At that point, we had to be wheeled out and shock-paddled back to life. We had to run for our lives, or they would've kept trying to feed us until we died. Seriously tho, the most unbelievable part was the check. It was only 80 euro, and for the feast of a lifetime, was unbelievably cheap. I didn't think it was right, and the guy assured me it was. We decided to leave them a heavy tip and got out of there with our lives intact.

We tried to walk it off, by walking to a nearby piazza, (which was beautiful) filled with "20 somethings" hanging out. We had a good time people watching for a few minutes, and headed back to the hotel for a good night's rest.