| One of the huge, gorgeous villas that line the shores of the lake, as seen from the ferry toward Bellagio. Glenn's comment: nice lawn! |
| Erin's Lake Como Journals 6-24-02 Monday, our friends had to work, so the plan was for Dario to drive us downtown where we could wander around for the morning before catching a ferry to Bellagio, a small town up the lake from Como. We were dropped off around 8:45 near the Porta dell Torre, a tower which stands at one of the main entries to the old Roman town. Since it was Monday morning, not much was open among the shops there, but we did some good window shopping. We also checked on the local information booth for a better map, but they were closed too, of course. We marked out a few bookstores to go back to that afternoon, since Glenn had finished his book again. We had a schedule for the lake ferry, which meant we had to be down at the dock by 10am. We walked by the Duomo on our way there...yet another, but still impressive! The wind was picking up as we arrived to get our tickets, but it was still a gorgeous, sunny morning. We boarded the boat, and right before we were to take off, we saw a crowd of about 60 school kids lining up to get on board. Sure enough, they piled on and sat all around us. We did enjoy the views of the mountains all around us, and the gorgeous villas at the waterfront all along our way up the lake. The kids were noisy, and the boys behind us kept poking me, so we were glad when they got off after about an hour. We went on for almost another hour before arriving at Bellagio. It was a smallish town, and had lots of touristy shops. We arrived a little after noon, so one of my first concerns was lunch. We walked around a little before finding a nice-looking spot to eat, and sat down outside to eat. The clouds were rolling in, and we started hearing thunder. We stuck it out though and had some great pasta before the sprinkles started. After lunch, it was siesta time in town, so most shops were closed (big surprise!). Once again we window shopped through town, then headed up over the hill to get some nice shots of the lake. We had to get back to the dock by 2pm in order to get the ferry back to Como, so it was a nice little visit and a good lunch, without being a boring stay. The ride back was uneventful, aside from the clouds moving over the area, lighting up certain mountains while others were in shadow. It was very scenic & relaxing, and the kids we'd had with us on the way down mercifully did not end up on the same boat back! Once back in Como, we had only a short time left to shop before our appointed meeting with Paola, who was to pick us up at 5. We found Glenn a new book and got a couple of maps of Como (for their next visitors), but didn't find a wine shop open on the way back, so when Paola picked us up we had to stop at the store for some good stuff to enjoy with the homemade dinner Dario & Paola were making us! We headed back with some local red wine that would go well with their chosen dish, and Dario joined us soon after. The two of them cooked the meal while we typed journals and set the table, talking about their day at work and our day in town. Dinner was excellent, a hearty local dish with spinach, potatoes, pasta, cheese, and some other yummy things. I had seconds, but couldn't finish it. After cleaning up the dishes, we headed out back to enjoy the nice cool evening. We'd heard Dario playing his guitar the day before, and requested some playing. He agreed on condition that Paola and I sing along, and we stayed out there for a couple of hours, fooling around with songs we knew and some we didn't. It was an excellent ending to the day. Glenn and I packed up our bags before going to sleep, as we'd be leaving for the train station with Dario by 8:30am. We would be sad to leave, as we'd had a wonderful time there. We hope to visit them (or receive them as visitors!) again soon! |
 |