Beautiful Lake Como

We after our morning jaunt to the Field of Miracles we set out for Lake Como and a little R&R.  The drive was uneventful, minus the Milan traffic we waded through.  But once past that we drove up into the mountains and circled the lake.  It was beautiful and the sun had come out after some rain showers along the drive.  We drove along the winding roads around the lake until we found the same village of Varenna which is where we were going to be spending the night. Our hotel was just up the hill from the city and after turned around and found the right drive way up the hill to the parking area.  We stayed at Hotel Eremo Gaudio which was amazingly beautiful.  We checked in and found out that our room was in the upper building which was originally a monastery and hermitage.  After getting our keys the receptionist showed us to the first of two glass funiculars and told us a boy would meet us to show us to our room.  So we packed ourselves and luggage into the funicular and went up several stories to the first patio area where we were met by a young guy who grabbed my suitcase and took us to the next funicular.  We went up another couple of stories in the second funicular and got out on a larger patio in front of the building.  He showed us to the indoor elevator and we went up to the top floor were are room was located.  The guy dropped us off in our room and we dropped everything and went straight to the window and balcony to see the view.  I was amazing!!!  We had a view of the downtown of Varenna, the lake, and the cities across the lake.  It was all so beautiful and peaceful and cold.  When we arrived we could snow on the top of the mountains and the clouds were starting to roll in again.

We settled in a bit then decided to walk down through the city before the rain started.  Before leaving we checked the hotel restaurant menu so see if it looked good and it did.  We walked down the hill to the main drag and took that into the city.  We walked around a bit and then the rain started.  We continued to wander in the rain as we all had umbrellas and jackets but when the sun started going down and it started getting dark we walked back to the hotel up the hill.  After a few minutes in the room drying off (I was trying to dry my socks with the blow dryer) we headed down stairs to the restaurant.  We got a front row table behind the glass french doors as the terrace was off limits due to the rain.  We ate and the food was great.  I can't remember exactly what we all ate but I remember I had a type of pasta and it was really good. We sprung for dessert and I had a vanilla ice cream type thing with raspberry sauce.  Raspberries are not my favorite but the dessert was still very good.  Mom and I have decided that Lake Como would be a wonderful Honeymoon destination.

After dinner we went back to our room and hung out.  Dad beat the pants off Mom in Gin Rummy and I took a nice hot shower.  We watched some CNN and I journaled.  We went to bed pretty early as it had been a long day.

The next morning we got up at a decent hour about 8, I think.  We dressed and packed up again.  Unfortunately we were only scheduled to spend one night Varenna.  We went down and had breakfast at an awesome breakfast buffet.  We packed up the car and checked out then walked down into town.  We took the lake side path and walked all the way to the harbor.  We missed one ferry but bought tickets for the next ferry to Bellagio (yes, like the Las Vegas hotel).  We walked to the other side of the harbor and meandered around before getting back to the dock and catching our ferry.  We sat and talked with a nice American couple that had just moved to the South of France and were on vacation in Lake Como for the week.  The ferry ride was fairly quick and before we new it we were in Bellagio.  We took off walking through the city and doing some serious window shopping.  The stores had everything from nicknacks, antiques, clothes, shoes, and any number of other things.  We walked around up the stairs that run through the downtown area.  Then along the upper shopping street to the church.  We went in the church and took a gander and sat down for a while.  Then found a pastry shop and bought some mini pastries so we could try a couple different ones.  Then headed back down and walked along the water front. After much discussion on whether we were hungry and if we had time we opted not to sit down and snack on anything and headed back to catch the ferry. The ferry ride back was nice and mellow.  We got off and walked along the lake side path again towards the middle of town then walked through and back up the hill to the hotel parking area where we had left the car.  We stopped off for a bathroom break and then piled in the car to drive to Milan for our last couple of days together.

All I have to say about Lake Como is that it is beyond beautiful and if you readers ever get a chance you should go.  I would love to go back and spend some more time there.  It's not the Italy you usually think about visiting.  There are no big museums or artistic masterpieces other then nature's own.  It's the perfect get away from the run around that usually occurs with trips to Europe.  Rest and relaxation is the name of the Varenna game.  Check it out sometime!!