Day 5 continued after our nap with plans for dinner. We ended up at a sidewalk café where there was free wi-fi, and met a charming server by the name of “Helvis.” Friendly guy. Then off to dinner at probably the best meal we have had so far. The restaurant was where a lot of the locals go, and in fact, as you listened to the conversations, no one was speaking in English. That was a good sign. The owner of the restaurant has been running this family restaurant for 30 plus years, and he was like the 3rd generation. Amazing . Makes you wonder what it would be like to live like that? His daughter and his granddaughter were servers. We had a delicious pasta, followed by a veal with tomatoes and arugala. Yay. Good food! After dinner, he took us on a tour of his whole restaurant, along with his wine cellar. We enjoyed this so much that we made plans to come here tomorrow for dinner.
Day 6-Friday. Today was a lovely day. I finally got a decent night’s sleep, and after breakfast, made plans to go to Brunate. We took the funiculare up the mountain to go to this sleepy little mountain town. I absolutely love the steep climb up the mountain of at least a couple of thousand feet. Even thought it was sort of a cloudy day, the view of the lake was spectacular! After many inquiries for a good place to go for lunch, we ended up in a charming little restaurant owned by a man and his son. The interesting thing is, we had to go down at least 100 steps to get to his restaurant, which was on a hill, that we had to climb up to. The place looked deserted, and the menu on the outside said that they were closed until September 3, which was today. So, my bold and daring husband, said, “come on, let’s go inside.” I was so uncomfortable, because it felt like we were walking into someone’s home. When we entered, there were four men sitting at a table, and one of them got up to greet us, and showed us to a table. We were the only other people in the restaurant.
The young man who seated us spoke very little English, and we were subject to difficult interpretation at best. We didn’t get a menu, he just told us 2 options for each course. And then in the interpretation of what the options were, we didn’t exactly get what we wanted. First was a platter of meat and vegetables, which is mostly salami and prosciutto, with marinated mushrooms and zucchini. This was surprisingly wonderful. The next course, while I wanted to order the ravioli, Jeff wanted tortellini. This was delicious with a brown sauce and mushrooms. After that we had beef with mushroom gravy, and while this was also outstanding, I think it was too much, and too rich. Again, I sort of thought we were ordering a steak or something, so it was much richer than I expected.
But the best part was the charm of this little restaurant. The owner played electric guitar for fun, and had a whole set up, with an amplifier, and other musical instruments on the walls. You could see that maybe during the evening, this might be a place where people would come to hand out and listen to music. We talked him into playing some music for us, and he was absolutely amazing. He had a setup with his computer that gave him the backup tracks, while he played the main guitar part. Kind of like karaoke for guitar. Truly a special thing to see. Jeff took a video of him playing, and the cute little restaurant that was like a mountain cabin with antiques. Absolutely charming. Funiculare back down the mountain to the room for a nap. We seem to be doing that a lot here…napping. Maybe that’s why I can’t sleep at night?
Since we knew we would be travelling a good part of tomorrow, we decided to have a “birthday dinner” at the same restaurant that we had last night. But, before we went to dinner, we had a drink at the street café with Helvis. We enjoyed his personality so much. We discovered that he was from Albania. He went to the university to study graphic design, and then changed to interior design. He worked while he was going to school, and the owner of the café liked him so much, he wanted him to stay. He must have paid him quite well, because he never got a jog in interior design or graphic design, but instead moved his whoe family, mother, father and I think his sister out of Albania to Como. Great story. We exchanged email address, facebook, and took a picture with him. He brought me a tiramisu for my birthday which was probably the best I’ve ever had! But I couldn’t eat too much, because we still had plans for dinner!!
We got to the restaurant, and the owner had put a “riservado” sign on our table. Very sweet. The place was packed with people, and we felt like we were at home. Had an incredible dinner of Pasta Carbonera which is a white sauce with bacon, and Jeff had the Osso Bucco, unbelievable! We also had a great bottle of wine, which is probably the first good wine we’ve had since we first made our trip.
Day 7 – Saturday. Up early, packed and to the train. We decided to walk, since it wasn’t really that far. But, with luggage and back packs, it can be a bit of a hike. I was just worried about the wheels on the luggage on the cobblestone roads. But they and we survived. We did have about 45-50 stairs to climb with the luggage, but I packed light this time, so I was able to make it fairly easily. There was a landing after about 15 stairs, so we could readjust. At the train station, we had a cappuccino, while we waited and got a lovely birthday call from Justin. Couldn’t talk long, since it was an international call, but it was so good to hear his voice! Took the train to Milan, then we had to change in Milan to Lausanne.
When we got off the train in Milan, we soon found out that two trains were unloading full trains of passengers at the same time, and more people were trying to get onto both trains. It took us a full 20 minutes to get off the platform and back into the train area to figure out where our next train was. I have never seen so many people in one place at one time. There were some people who were pushing their way through, because they had another train to catch. And there was a crazy hound dog barking while we were trying to get through the throngs of people. Have I mentioned that particularly in Italy, people take their dogs everywhere? But this was the first hound dog, and when there are literally thousands of people trying to pass through each other, and all you can hear is the annoying bark. It just added to the comedy of the event!
Took the train into Switzerland, which was about 3 hours or so. Not too bad, really. Slept a bit off and on. The train stopped about 5 different times, and each time, they had to come through and check our tickets, so we didn’t really sleep too much. Took a taxi to the hotel, which was driven by an older lady. I don’t know how old really, but she seemed like she shouldn’t be driving a taxi. And you know how taxi drivers always load your luggage into the car? Well, it felt funny that she should be loading our luggage. So Jeff loaded his particularly, I think that because he felt bad. Haha!
We found our hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland, which is absolutely beautiful. It overlooks the lake, but is not on the lake. We were told that the population in the city of Lausanne was probably about 2,000 people, and that most everyone in Switzerland spoke English. Well both of these were incorrect. The city is huge, and is like an older version of San Francisco. There are hills everywhere, and all the streets are paved cobblestones, like most older European cities. This is a huge city that sort of feels like New York in a way with the blending of all of the different cultures. We went to 2 different places where the bartenders or attendants only spoke Spanish. We had dinner at an Argentinian Steak House. Very much melting pot here. As we walked around, it felt more like we were in France than Switzerland, although I didn’t know what Switzerland was supposed to feel like. As it turns out, and as we did a little more research, we did discover that this territory has a decidedly French influence, and in fact most people here speak French. Hmmm.
The thing that felt the most wrong, and yet was probably the best thing about the day, was that there was a Starbucks in the heart of the city. I didn’t order coffee, but we had free wi-fi. Perfect.
Got a lovely birthday phone call from Krysten and left to enjoy the city night life. A very busy night life here, and mostly for the young. Great and wonderfully birthday with lots of adventures!
Day 8 – Sunday. Slept in late. The beds here are wonderful, and I feel like we are finally in a hotel that is putting all the right touches on the room, etc. Getting ready to go out today into a couple of little spots where there is supposed to be a palace, and other stuff. Looking forward to a great day to spend for our Anniversary!!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Days 4 & 5
Day 4 – Wednesday, continues…We make plans to go to a small little town on the lake called Venare. Seems quaint, and there is a river that seems to start and stop without any source, so we wanted to check it out. We decide not to take the boat, for a 2 hour boat ride, but instead take the bus for a 1 hour ride. The plan was to take the bus to Tremezza and then a boat to Venara.
I was hoping to see more of the countryside on the drive, but was sort of taken up in the fact that these 2 lane roads are accommodating this much traffic. If you could have seen the giant trucks, buses, and other over sized vehicle making the turns to get through, you would have died. The bus driver was constantly honking his horn to alert people around the corner that he was there. This brought us to a major snare on the road. We came to a dead stop for about 20 minutes, while a truck was trying to clear a wall, and a parked car. After much effort, and someone getting out and directing traffic, we finally cleared the rest of the path, which took us about 15 more minutes.
When we got off the bus, we realized that we should have gone a bit farther, in order to take the boat to Venare. So, we decided to just stay there, eat lunch, and take the bus back. While eating lunch, we met a lovely Irish couple that were on their last day of their vacation. They loved the lake, and had a wonderful experience. We chatted about the fact that it only takes them 2 hours to get here from their home, can you imagine? We loved talking to them with their charming Irish accents.
One thing that I didn’t anticipate is that lunch (caprese salad) with wine, combined with a long bus ride back makes for a very uncomfortable ride home. I really thought I was going to be sick. I felt just awful. Finally, I made Jeff get off about 10 minutes before we should have, and we just walked the rest of the way back. I guess I had more wine than I realized. But I had a great nap when we got back. Late dinner again, but I didn’t eat. Surprise!
Day 5-Thursday. Made arrangements to meet the couple we met in Bellagio on Tuesday. They were going to take the boat to Como, but we decided to go up to their little town instead. We were going to take the train from Como to Lecco, then train to Venare. But we found out this would most likely take us more time than less, so we took the hydrofoil to the town that they were staying , Menaggio. It took us about 1 hour, compared to 2 hours on the other one! The plan was to take the boat to Venare and have lunch there. Well, plans never seem to work out the way they should, and we’ll probably never get to see Venare. Had a wonderful lunch with Ryan and Des, and then went to another pub for a splash of wine (splash, literally, since I didn’t want a repeat of last night!) Took the speed boat back to Como. All in all, a lovely day. I think we’ll have an early dinner so we can go to bed early. I need sleep!!
I was hoping to see more of the countryside on the drive, but was sort of taken up in the fact that these 2 lane roads are accommodating this much traffic. If you could have seen the giant trucks, buses, and other over sized vehicle making the turns to get through, you would have died. The bus driver was constantly honking his horn to alert people around the corner that he was there. This brought us to a major snare on the road. We came to a dead stop for about 20 minutes, while a truck was trying to clear a wall, and a parked car. After much effort, and someone getting out and directing traffic, we finally cleared the rest of the path, which took us about 15 more minutes.
When we got off the bus, we realized that we should have gone a bit farther, in order to take the boat to Venare. So, we decided to just stay there, eat lunch, and take the bus back. While eating lunch, we met a lovely Irish couple that were on their last day of their vacation. They loved the lake, and had a wonderful experience. We chatted about the fact that it only takes them 2 hours to get here from their home, can you imagine? We loved talking to them with their charming Irish accents.
One thing that I didn’t anticipate is that lunch (caprese salad) with wine, combined with a long bus ride back makes for a very uncomfortable ride home. I really thought I was going to be sick. I felt just awful. Finally, I made Jeff get off about 10 minutes before we should have, and we just walked the rest of the way back. I guess I had more wine than I realized. But I had a great nap when we got back. Late dinner again, but I didn’t eat. Surprise!
Day 5-Thursday. Made arrangements to meet the couple we met in Bellagio on Tuesday. They were going to take the boat to Como, but we decided to go up to their little town instead. We were going to take the train from Como to Lecco, then train to Venare. But we found out this would most likely take us more time than less, so we took the hydrofoil to the town that they were staying , Menaggio. It took us about 1 hour, compared to 2 hours on the other one! The plan was to take the boat to Venare and have lunch there. Well, plans never seem to work out the way they should, and we’ll probably never get to see Venare. Had a wonderful lunch with Ryan and Des, and then went to another pub for a splash of wine (splash, literally, since I didn’t want a repeat of last night!) Took the speed boat back to Como. All in all, a lovely day. I think we’ll have an early dinner so we can go to bed early. I need sleep!!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
The Journey begins...
Well, here we are travelling again in Europe. Something I always complain about before I leave, but absolutely fall in love with when I am here.
Day 1 of our Trip consisted of flying for numerous hours (14 or so, I believe…) so not much to report other than a few rough patches at night when we were trying to sleep. Honestly, even a sleeping pill couldn’t help with the turbulence. But it was never anything too extreme, so we made it through just fine. And a day of travelling can only lead us to…
Day 2-Monday. We arrived in Milan, and found that we had more than 2 hours to wait to catch our train. So, of course, being the impatient sort that we are, we decided to catch an earlier train. Luckily, I was prepared this year with very manageable luggage. Even though hubby was not keen on the fact that I bought new luggage, I finally have what I needed to travel appropriately, especially since we were planning on using the train a lot. So, as I said, we decided to catch the earlier train and load everything up. We meet a nice Swiss lady and sort of make conversation with her about the train, and getting an earlier one than the one that we were supposed to take. Jeff takes his backpack down to go over some of our travel plans, deals with the conductor, who is not happy about the change of schedule and wants to charge us more money. We played innocent and naïve, and somehow manage to get by. 20 minutes later we are at our destination of Como. We say goodbye to the lovely Swiss lady, get our bags and depart the train, only to discover about 2 minutes after it takes off, that I left my backpack on the train.
Yes, I am an idiot! I cannot believe I did this, and feel sick to my stomach. Inside of my backpack was my new IPad, and a few other things. We report the item to the Italian police, and after much foreign discussion (us trying to communicate with them, they with us, etc .) we found out that the staff had switched over to the Swiss staff. Yep, this train was on it’s way to Zurich! Awesome… The police advised us that we had to take the train into Chiasso, Switzerland, which is only one stop away from where we are, but a whole new country. So, on we go, getting on the train to Switzerland. And we haven’t even made it to our hotel in Como yet! My mind always starts wondering, if we hadn’t changed the plan for the train, would this have happened? I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me, not wanting to take full responsibility, or trying to find an excuse for stupidity.
We make it to Switzerland, and deal with a very nice man at the desk who helps us, and tries to reach the conductor. He tries, multiple times, but he conductor doesn’t pick up the phone. Finally, after about 15 minutes or so, he reaches him and explains the situation. We told him where we were sitting, and where that bag was. We asked the man at the desk what happens to bags left on the train, and he indicated that lost and found was taken to Bern! Not sure exactly where that is, but it sounds much farther than Zurich. Ugh. So we hoped that they would find the backpack, but rather figured the chances were nil, especially being returned with all of the contents!
We take the bus back to Como (everyone said it was easier than the train because the next train would have been like an hour or so) and proceed to load our luggage on the city bus. Well, while I love my new luggage with the “spinner” wheels, I gotta tell you, they are not meant for bus driving. Every hill, stop, start or bump, and my bag was all over the place. The bus slowed down, and my bag went forward, the bus went up a hill, and the bag was rolling toward the back of the bus. You should have seen it. I couldn’t put the bag in front of me, because we were on raised seats with a partition in front, and there was nowhere for the bag to go except in the aisle, where I held onto it for dear life!
We finally arrive in Como, and the bus driver drops us at our hotel. Now maybe it’s because of our adventures, or maybe it’s because we have been to other places, but we are not completely in love with Como, yet. The city is sort of newer compared to the other medieval towns that we have either seen or stayed in, so it feels like we need to adjust. We settle into our hotel, unpack our bags, and begin the journey back to Switzerland to see if they found my backpack. As we go to the lobby, the desk clerk was writing a note to us that they received a call from the Swiss train people, saying that they had the bag! Hallelujah! Things are starting to look up!
We take the train back to Chiasso, and thank the man profusely. The people here have been wonderful. And, when I check out the contents of my pack EVERYTHING is there, including my IPad! Yay!!
We end the day with a lovely pizza dinner a great little café in one of the plazas. This trip is starting to look up!
Day 3 (Tuesday) we decide to take a boat to Bellagio, which is sort of at the tip of the far end of the City. It turns out that Lake Como is a huge lake, and there are multiple little towns along the way. The way the houses are nestled in among the mountains, it feels very much like Cinqua Terra, except that there are houses along the entire perimeter, not just in little towns. The boat ride is a 2 hour ride to get to Bellagio, but mostly because it made about 10 stops before we got there. We really didn’t know what to expect, but the scenery was beautiful. But of course, it was freezing because of the wind.
I sort of expect it to be chilly, so I brought a jacket. But honestly it was not comfortable, so I borrowed Jeff’s sweatshirt, and wore it the whole time. We met a man on the boat who befriended Jeff by the name of Barry. Barry, it turns out, is a sports fan, and also an attorney. So they both chatted a good portion of the boat ride. He was travelling alone today because his wife didn’t feel like going with him on the day journey. Don’t know if she was sick or what, but Barry was, and as we are departing, he told us that we may not want to shake hand because of his cold, but Jeff did anyway! Ugh! I hate germs.
After we got off the boat, we met up with a young couple, who were trying to determine the lay of the land, like we were. Turns out this couple was on their honeymoon. And guess what? He was an attorney also! Geez. What are the chances? We ended up hanging out with them for most of the day, and wandered our way through Bellagio. Not much to see except for cute shops, and restaurants. Of course the day consisted of wine and lunch, before taking the boat back around 6.
Too much wine, means a late nap was in order. Jeff slept for at least a couple of hours. We weren’t ready to eat dinner right away. In fact, I could have skipped the meal altogether, except Mr. man wanted to get “gelato.” It was 10:30 and our hunt for gelato brought us back to the little pizzeria that we were at the night before, and had pizza and wine at 11:00. Ugh! Not good for the stomach. But it was a lovely day and a lovely evening.
Day 4 I am catching up on my journal, and Jeff is out for a run. I believe that we are going to take the bus to a couple of other towns on the lake. We were told we could get there in 20 minutes, not an hour. Sounds good to me! I’ll keep things up to date within the next couple of days….Ciao!
Day 1 of our Trip consisted of flying for numerous hours (14 or so, I believe…) so not much to report other than a few rough patches at night when we were trying to sleep. Honestly, even a sleeping pill couldn’t help with the turbulence. But it was never anything too extreme, so we made it through just fine. And a day of travelling can only lead us to…
Day 2-Monday. We arrived in Milan, and found that we had more than 2 hours to wait to catch our train. So, of course, being the impatient sort that we are, we decided to catch an earlier train. Luckily, I was prepared this year with very manageable luggage. Even though hubby was not keen on the fact that I bought new luggage, I finally have what I needed to travel appropriately, especially since we were planning on using the train a lot. So, as I said, we decided to catch the earlier train and load everything up. We meet a nice Swiss lady and sort of make conversation with her about the train, and getting an earlier one than the one that we were supposed to take. Jeff takes his backpack down to go over some of our travel plans, deals with the conductor, who is not happy about the change of schedule and wants to charge us more money. We played innocent and naïve, and somehow manage to get by. 20 minutes later we are at our destination of Como. We say goodbye to the lovely Swiss lady, get our bags and depart the train, only to discover about 2 minutes after it takes off, that I left my backpack on the train.
Yes, I am an idiot! I cannot believe I did this, and feel sick to my stomach. Inside of my backpack was my new IPad, and a few other things. We report the item to the Italian police, and after much foreign discussion (us trying to communicate with them, they with us, etc .) we found out that the staff had switched over to the Swiss staff. Yep, this train was on it’s way to Zurich! Awesome… The police advised us that we had to take the train into Chiasso, Switzerland, which is only one stop away from where we are, but a whole new country. So, on we go, getting on the train to Switzerland. And we haven’t even made it to our hotel in Como yet! My mind always starts wondering, if we hadn’t changed the plan for the train, would this have happened? I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me, not wanting to take full responsibility, or trying to find an excuse for stupidity.
We make it to Switzerland, and deal with a very nice man at the desk who helps us, and tries to reach the conductor. He tries, multiple times, but he conductor doesn’t pick up the phone. Finally, after about 15 minutes or so, he reaches him and explains the situation. We told him where we were sitting, and where that bag was. We asked the man at the desk what happens to bags left on the train, and he indicated that lost and found was taken to Bern! Not sure exactly where that is, but it sounds much farther than Zurich. Ugh. So we hoped that they would find the backpack, but rather figured the chances were nil, especially being returned with all of the contents!
We take the bus back to Como (everyone said it was easier than the train because the next train would have been like an hour or so) and proceed to load our luggage on the city bus. Well, while I love my new luggage with the “spinner” wheels, I gotta tell you, they are not meant for bus driving. Every hill, stop, start or bump, and my bag was all over the place. The bus slowed down, and my bag went forward, the bus went up a hill, and the bag was rolling toward the back of the bus. You should have seen it. I couldn’t put the bag in front of me, because we were on raised seats with a partition in front, and there was nowhere for the bag to go except in the aisle, where I held onto it for dear life!
We finally arrive in Como, and the bus driver drops us at our hotel. Now maybe it’s because of our adventures, or maybe it’s because we have been to other places, but we are not completely in love with Como, yet. The city is sort of newer compared to the other medieval towns that we have either seen or stayed in, so it feels like we need to adjust. We settle into our hotel, unpack our bags, and begin the journey back to Switzerland to see if they found my backpack. As we go to the lobby, the desk clerk was writing a note to us that they received a call from the Swiss train people, saying that they had the bag! Hallelujah! Things are starting to look up!
We take the train back to Chiasso, and thank the man profusely. The people here have been wonderful. And, when I check out the contents of my pack EVERYTHING is there, including my IPad! Yay!!
We end the day with a lovely pizza dinner a great little café in one of the plazas. This trip is starting to look up!
Day 3 (Tuesday) we decide to take a boat to Bellagio, which is sort of at the tip of the far end of the City. It turns out that Lake Como is a huge lake, and there are multiple little towns along the way. The way the houses are nestled in among the mountains, it feels very much like Cinqua Terra, except that there are houses along the entire perimeter, not just in little towns. The boat ride is a 2 hour ride to get to Bellagio, but mostly because it made about 10 stops before we got there. We really didn’t know what to expect, but the scenery was beautiful. But of course, it was freezing because of the wind.
I sort of expect it to be chilly, so I brought a jacket. But honestly it was not comfortable, so I borrowed Jeff’s sweatshirt, and wore it the whole time. We met a man on the boat who befriended Jeff by the name of Barry. Barry, it turns out, is a sports fan, and also an attorney. So they both chatted a good portion of the boat ride. He was travelling alone today because his wife didn’t feel like going with him on the day journey. Don’t know if she was sick or what, but Barry was, and as we are departing, he told us that we may not want to shake hand because of his cold, but Jeff did anyway! Ugh! I hate germs.
After we got off the boat, we met up with a young couple, who were trying to determine the lay of the land, like we were. Turns out this couple was on their honeymoon. And guess what? He was an attorney also! Geez. What are the chances? We ended up hanging out with them for most of the day, and wandered our way through Bellagio. Not much to see except for cute shops, and restaurants. Of course the day consisted of wine and lunch, before taking the boat back around 6.
Too much wine, means a late nap was in order. Jeff slept for at least a couple of hours. We weren’t ready to eat dinner right away. In fact, I could have skipped the meal altogether, except Mr. man wanted to get “gelato.” It was 10:30 and our hunt for gelato brought us back to the little pizzeria that we were at the night before, and had pizza and wine at 11:00. Ugh! Not good for the stomach. But it was a lovely day and a lovely evening.
Day 4 I am catching up on my journal, and Jeff is out for a run. I believe that we are going to take the bus to a couple of other towns on the lake. We were told we could get there in 20 minutes, not an hour. Sounds good to me! I’ll keep things up to date within the next couple of days….Ciao!
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