After months of planning.........we're outta here!

We'd planned this trip for over a year, and it seemed in the planning stage that our departure day would never arrive, but it did, and so we left a sunny and warm Wenatchee  on the 29th of August.  After 5 flights, lost luggage, found luggage, a quick rest overnight in Milan, an Italian train ride (with a two minute switch to a connecting train) and an hour and a half bus ride, the driver stopped the bus and deposited us and our "found" luggage on the curb outside Bar Roma in the tiny town of Tremezzo on Lake Como.
We walked the 300 yards to Hotel Villa Marie.  What a treat!   The hotel was just across the two-lane road from the lake, and it had a magnificent view of both the lake and the mountains behind us.  We were given a lake front room that was beautiful and furnished in a very "villa" way!  We unpacked and decided to sit near the pool and read and rest and celebrate our first day in Italy and our success at navigating all the transportation modes to arrive at this very romantic location!

That afternoon, looking for a light, early dinner we stopped to check a lake ferry schedule and a very nice lady told us that she had eaten at a pizza place for 2 days in a row and we should try it.  Well we did, and we had the best pizza on earth!  The owner made a pizza with tomato, courgette(zucchini) and aubergine (eggplant), all picked from his garden that we sat next to during our meal.  Pizza perfection!  The walk back to the hotel was pleasant and picturesque and we poked our heads around fences and through gates to view some lovely homes.  That night we slept like babies while listening to the gentle sounds of waves lapping the sides of the moored sailboats outside our window.  Absolute heaven.  Oh, and God gave us a beautiful full moon to shine over the lake!  The perfect romantic place to celebrate 25 years. 

In the morning, we were awakened by church bells at 7am.  What a lovely way to start the day.  We decided to walk to Villa Carlotta -  it is a lovely old villa built in the late 1600's and the gardens are very beautiful and the view over the lake is breathtaking.  After visiting the villa and gardens we hopped on the lake ferry boat and zipped across the lake to Bellagio.   Bellagio is a shopper's paradise and is quaint, and lovely from the waterside.  A bit too touristy for us, so we found a waterside bench and I bought freshly made fruit ice bars - melon and blackberry (a burst of  summer on your tongue) and we people-watched.  We did a little shopping, then jumped onto the ferry boat again and rode to Varenna.  Much less crowded here and over our second glass of wine, the decision was made to stay another day at Como.  We canceled our Milan hotel and our hosts arranged another room for us, smaller, but just as nice.   

Our stay at the hotel ended too quickly, and the bus ride back into Como to catch the train, was just a treat of masterful driving skills, ever thankful we weren't the ones doing the driving!  On arrival in the town/city of Como, we had some time before our train departed, so we walked to the Duomo in town and shortly after walking inside, we were rewarded with a short a capella concert by a men's group from Germany.  It felt like our own private concert, shared of course with many other people!  We said goodbye to Como and vowed to come back. 

We trained back to Malpensa airport and checked into our hotel and got ready for an early morning flight to Dubrovnik.  Look out Croatia, here we come! 

Ciao!  &  a presto (see you soon!)
Jon and Joyce