EXPLORING BELLAGIO, LAKE COMO, ITALY

This interesting little town filled with delightful restuarants and great shops starts at the waterfront and then staggers up the mountainside.  We are getting our exercise here.  Even though the town isn't all that big, just walking a block is a workout.  The steps are all cobblestone of varying widths and slants.  I definately brought the wrong shoes with me for this trip.  So far I am managing though with only a few blisters.

The streets through the town are nearly vertical in some areas.  This was great fun navigating during a down pour yesterday.  It is difficult in a photograph to show you just how steep some of these streets are.

EXPLORING LENNO, LAKE COMO

Today (Saturday, July 9th), we visited Lenno, which is another town on Lake Como just across from Bellagio where we are staying.  In Lenno there is a famous villa called Villa del Balbianello.  Famous films such as, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and the James Bond movie, Casino Royale were filmed on the property.

The hike straight uphill was quite a challenge.  I never thought we would get to the top.  But once there and took a little rest, we wandered around and found the property and its view absolutely gorgeous.  

 

WE SAW LONDON, WE SAW FRANCE…

…Como soaked our underpants!  We left France today and will spend our remaining time in Italy.  Au revoir, France.  Bon giorno, Italy!  If you’re wondering about the title of this post, we do have a good explanation behind it.  When we arrived in Como, Italy today, it was nice, but a bit cloudy and humid.  We had a 45 minute wait for a bus to take us to the pier for the hydrofoil to take us up Lake Como to Bellagio where we are staying for the next 3 nights.  Once we boarded the bus, it started to rain - big drops.  I’m not talking about a drizzle.  I’m talking big rain drops!  From the bus to the pier, it was about a 5 minute walk, typically no big deal, but today we walked through a downpour and we got soaked.  Kara even got splashed by a passing car just to add insult to injury.  At that point, we just had to laugh.  It only got worse as we rode the ferry to our hotel.  We ran off the ferry straight to the nearest café that had rain cover and ordered a glass of wine and a cappuccino to wait out the rain.  When it didn’t stop, we decided to make a run for our hotel as well.  The hotel receptionist told us this was not a usual occurrence, so lucky us.  The fun continues…

BASKIN ROBBINS LOOKOUT

After dinner last night, we went to a glacier (gla-cee-ay) or ice cream shop for desert.  This place put Baskin Robins to shame - 31 flavors?  Kid’s stuff!  This place had 58 parfums (flavors)!  I had violette and pistachio and Rex had fig and pistachio.  They were yummy.  I know it will be different once we are in Italy and can have gelato.  I can’t wait.

ANNECY (AHN-SEE)

This is a majestic town.  It is preparing us for Venice.  There is a lovely canal that runs through to the lake.  On the other side of the lake are the Alps that separate France from Switzerland.  We have already taken several walks through the streets and alleyways.

Once it was dark we went out again for a night cap.  We stopped at this outdoor café and I order Absinthe.  Last I knew you couldn’t get Absinthe in the states and since I have never had it before, I had to try.  It was hilarious.  It was very strong.  However, they only serve less than a shot and it is presented with a double sugar cube on top.  It was interesting.    

 

BEAUNE TO ANNECY

What a gorgeous train ride to Annecy, France this morning (Tuesday, July 05, 2011).  We headed southeast today into the mountain region bordering Switzerland and Italy.  The camera says we took over 230 pictures in about ½ a day.  Needless to say, the countryside was beautiful.  I don’t have any data to back this up, but I would estimate that about 80% of all French land is farm land.  There are fields everywhere – grapes (of course), corn, wheat, hay, sunflowers, lettuce and much more we could not immediately identify.  Even backyards have gardens.  It has prompted us to see if we can find a way to start a little garden of our own when we get home.

OLYMPICS COMING TO ANNECY IN 2018?

We might have stumbled upon a big party in Annecy tonight.  Annecy is one of 3 finalists hoping to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.  The 3 cities are Pyeongchang, South Korea; Munich, Germany; and Annecy, France.  We just found out that the winner will be announced today at 4PM local time.  So, if Annecy wins, they’re might be quite a party here tonight.  Stay tuned...

UPDATE: Unfortunately, Annecy didn't get selected.  Suprisingly, though, the locals were not too upset.  One of the waiters told us they didn't want the crowds of people taking over the town.  I guess those crowds will be heading to Pyeongchang now.