Bella Bellagio

Beautiful Bellagio on Lake Como
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Mom, Pop and Eric arrived in Bellagio on Friday, July 6, by train from Milan and by ferry from Verenna. This gorgeous town is located on Lake Como just north of Milan. It’s actually in the foothills of the Italian Alps. Fortunately, for Bud and Kathy, this was Eric’s day off from his opera rehearsals. He decided to come along to be our personal translator and make sure the old folks get a proper tour of the place.

Think of Lake Como as an upside down “Y.” The left and right forks form a triangular peninsula, and at the very apex of the triangle is located Bellagio.

Kathy having breakfast with a view of Lake Como
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The lake is clean and cold, since it’s fed from the ever melting snows off of the Alps. It has few usable beaches for swimming purposes but provides lake views that are among the very best in Europe. Ferry travel, for both cars and people is the usual way to get around once you are here. What brought us here was the several days wait we have until Eric is through with his performances (one of which we will see in Milan on July 9). After that, he is finished with his opera program and we can begin to travel together.

We hiked up to the chapel of San Martino, perched on this mountain.
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Our fear was that the weather would be its usual hot and muggy self for Italy in July. But we were pleasantly surprised to experience warm but pleasant temperatures with gentle breezes—just about the best you could possibly expect for this part of the world. But, unlike Phoenix, that can change from day to day. We stayed at a hotel called the Perlo Panorama, set on a hill behind Bellagio and commanding one of the most astounding views I have ever seen in Europe. And you get these views while eating your breakfast on the hotel patio. Wow! The only drawback is that the hotel is about three miles uphill from the town and accessible only by local bus or occasional shuttle service from the hotel. Since both of those cease early in the evening they have made an arrangement that if you eat dinner at certain hotels they will provide a free taxi service back to your hotel. We tried that on our first night at the Baba Yaga Restaurant and found that when we were finished with our meal the waitress’s father came to our table to announce that his car was waiting to take us back to our lodging place. Oh, and did I happen to mention that her father was the owner of the Restaurant? Ah yes, just one more reason why I love Italians for being Italian.

When we return to Milan in a couple of days we will stay at the same hotel we stayed at when we first arrived—Hotel Serena. When we arrived in Italy British Airways lost Bud’s suitcase in London and said they would bring it to us if we could give them an address. So fortunately, if they have found it, the hotel will have it waiting for us when we return. This is the fourth time Bud has experienced lost luggage—the third time on an international trip. One thing that has come out of that experience is that he has now discovered how to survive and have a good time with just the clothes on his back and nothing else.