Milan – 2 days

Milan Day 1: We had an on-time overnight flight from Atlanta (farewell drink at One Flew South) to Milan arriving very early on Thursday May 10th. Three of the four of us had several good hours of ambien-aided sleep. A limo met us at the airport and took us to the Lancaster Hotel. http://www.hotellancaster.it/inglese/home.html We were very pleased with everything about this hotel (including the location) and the service from everyone was outstanding. After grabbing a quick coffee at about 10 AM near our hotel, we took a nice walk through Parco Sempione to Castello Sforzesco then on to the Galleria Vittoria Emanuele. For good luck, each of us took a turn spinning on our heel on the bull’s private parts – or at least where they used to be. Now I’m not claiming this little ritual was responsible for all our good fortune on this trip but…….we did seem to have more than our share of good luck.

We had a late, long and expensive lunch (our own fault for letting Salvatore from Sicily talk us in to some outrageously expensive but good dishes and prosecco) - then toured the inside of the Duomo and went up on the roof – both were great. Back to the hotel after a quick gelato stop for a short rest then out for dinner on Via Monti – our favorite neighborhood street. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a store for some basic necessities (a big box of tissues, bottled water and wine – LOL!). Had a lemoncello at the hotel bar before calling it a day.

Milan Day 2: Good breakfast at hotel (included in the price) then took tram to see Last Supper (had reserved and paid for the 9:30 English tour online the day tickets went on sale for our date). Fifteen minutes seems way too short to see such a masterpiece but it is well worth it. Then we met a girl on the tram (she overheard us talking, excused herself and asked if we minded if she helped us out) as we headed to the fashion district. She was very nice and very helpful (actually led us to Montenapoleone Street and told us lots of details about what to do at La Scala). Had lunch, window shopped and took tram back to hotel.

We had an early dinner at a neat small place next to hotel. The owners spoke no English and the wife ran back to our hotel to get Tatiana from the front desk to interpret but we had it all figured out by the time she got there. We dressed for La Scala (had bought tickets online for Tosca the day they went on sale for our date) and had the hotel order a taxi. Tosca and our whole La Scala theatre experience was great! Crazy taxi ride back to hotel where we again had a lemoncello at the hotel bar and called it a day.

Milan does not get very good reviews on this forum but we had a great time during our two days there and the areas of the city we visited were very nice. I know there is a lot more to see but we were very satisfied with what we did and would certainly recommend spending a couple of days at the beginning or end of your trip if flying in or out of Milan – especially if you can score Last Supper and/or La Scala tickets.

Good start, look forward to more.

Venice – 3 days

Venice Day 1: Another good breakfast at the hotel, packed and had hotel order a station wagon taxi to take us and our luggage to Centrale train station to catch our 11:35 train to Venice. Train was on time and we easily found our first class seats, stowed our light luggage on the racks above and our big luggage on the floor between the seats. Uneventful two and a half hour ride to Venice made a little easier by the free prosecco offered in first class. Because I had chosen the ticketless option when I bought the tickets, I showed conductor our payment receipt, he scanned the bar code and it took all of 2 seconds. Very efficient.

Easy getting off train and out to water taxi area. Had to call B&B (our iPhone worked great) and they gave taxi driver directions to water dock. Our B&B said it should cost about 50€ but taxi wanted 80€. I held out and he finally agreed to 50€ - but I gave him 55€. Longer walk than expected to B&B (tides weren’t right for taxi to be able to get to the B&Bs water door) and Alberto met us part way to help with luggage. We really liked our B&B. http://www.cabonvicini.com/eng/rooms.html Our room was the one in the picture.

Decided to go for lunch before unpacking and found a neat place with a nasty waiter – really BAD attitude. Then walked towards Accademia Bridge and wandered around some more through very beautiful areas. Bought a 72 hour vaporetto pass and took it back to our neighborhood. Weather was good so we took a gondola ride through a neat deserted area of Venice. Took our first traghetto ride (yes we stood up) and found a restaurant with a great outside garden area for dinner (didn’t notice cash only until we were paying – barely had enough). Back to B&B where we all came to our room, attached camera to TV and drank wine while we looked at some of the pics we had taken so far. Eventually went to bed and still hadn’t unpacked – great first day in Venice!

socaltraveler - thanks - it's a slow process putting this together and I'm having a hard time keeping it down to cliff notes size. When it comes to talking about Italy I tend to get a little carried away.

I've been waiting for this! I'm so happy to hear your trip was such a huge success. Very happy for you.

Arriving in Venice - hard to beat that feeling

Can't wait to read more.

Although we didn't get to a performance at La Scala (we went to the museum), hub and I crammed much of what you did into one day in Venice. I like your way better!

Very enjoyable TR!

bmking to travel with you.

great start!

lantana - it's good to hear from you again. You are right about the feeling of arriving in Venice - we had all been to Venice before so it wasn't quite as magical as the first time - but very close. You should be on a short countdown to your trip now, right?

TDudette - Milan was such a nice surprise for us. Of course seeing Tosca at La Scala, the Duomo and the Last Supper were fantastic but we really liked everywhere we went. Our way was nice but even if I only had one day - I would still recommend spending some time in Milan.

annhig - thanks - I can't possibly convey in a short report just how much fun we had on this trip - but hopefully some of our excitement will come through.

Venice Day 2: A good continental breakfast was delivered to our room at the pre-arranged time. Finally unpacked before we left for the day. It was a cloudy, windy and chilly morning so we stopped for a quick coffee then took our second traghetto ride across the canal (water was a little rougher this time but we stood up again) to a vaporetto stop and took it to St Marks. We went to the top of the bell tower and the sheltered side was nice but the windy side was crazy windy. Even so, the view was terrific. Wanted to go in to St Mark’s Basilica but there was a Mass so we went up to the museum and the roof where the horses are. I had to check my backpack at a place about a half block away from the entrance. Stopped for lunch at a nice little café. As we ate, an old guy brought a huge steaming bowl of penne pasta in and it turned out all the waiters at our café had ordered this pasta from some other place for their lunch. The old guy quickly chugged a beer as his tip and left – pretty funny actually.

We then headed towards the Arsenale to check on the America’s Cup races that were going on. We LOVED the neighborhood we walked through (some kids were having a soccer game in one of the campos) to get there (tons of pics of many very beautiful buildings). Saw several of the boats sail out from the harbor to the race area and watched some of the race on the big screen TV they had set up. Strolled around with a glass of wine seeing lots of interesting things and really enjoyed our time here. After we left the Arsenale, we stopped at a tiny café for a coffee and the waiter gave the bill to the ladies – because it was Mother’s Day (which we had totally forgotten) and he jokingly said the mothers should pay. We had these kinds of fun and silly interactions everywhere we went on this trip.

Back to the B&B where we rested for an hour before having a very good dinner at a nearby restaurant recommended by the B&B. We then went to see the dueling bands at St Mark’s Square. Four bands were playing but it was so late and chilly that there were very few people there so it was not as fun as we hoped it would be. Several people were dancing but the bands were not dueling like they did the last time we were in Venice. Tried to stop at Harry’s Bar but it was closed so we took a vaporetto to our stop. It was sort of spooky walking through the dark and deserted streets towards our B&B - every now and then meeting a lone walker - but it was neat too. I guess I have read too many of Donna Leone’s Guido Brunetti murder mysteries - most of them set near our Venice neighborhood. Finally found our B&B and went to bed – another great day in Venice.

Enjoying your report! Thanks so much for sharing.

I can understand about the arrival not being as magical as your "first time". Sounds wonderful nonetheless.

I'm enjoying every word of your report. The story about the waiters "ordering out" for their pasta made me laugh. Did you ask them where they got it?

It really comes through in your writing how much fun you had. How wonderful to have another couple you can enjoy traveling with. That's very special. I have one friend like that. And a few family members

Yes, my countdown has begun - 39 days 'til my daughter and I fly to London! Thank you for remembering

Venice Day 3: Woke up to a beautiful bright sunny day. Breakfast was delivered to our room again. Began the day with a great tour of Doge’s Palace. Before our trip, we joked a lot about getting put in Italian prison for various infractions so we took plenty of pictures of us behind bars in the jail. We stopped for a wine at the Palace’s cafeteria before catching a vaporetto to the Zattere Promenade area. This ride was incredibly beautiful. Lots of brightly colored sailboats in the brilliant sun with St Mark’s, the Doge’s Palace and the bell tower in the background - unbelievably gorgeous. The ride went across to some stops on the islands (which were incredibly beautiful too) and many families looked like they were going home. We commented that it was just a little different commute than we have here in Atlanta.

We had lunch at a nice restaurant on the water close to the Zattere stop and went in search of a place supposedly with the best gelato in Venice. We found it and the gelato was delicious. Wandered some more. We watched as workers used a huge machine to drive new pilings in and another machine to pull old pilings out. Saw the supposedly last gondola repair place left in Venice. Took vaporetto to Piazzale Roma to see where we would pick up rental car the next morning. Then decided to just wander back to our B&B. Came to Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari which we had wanted to see but it was just closing. A very nice ticket person told us that Mass was starting in 10 minutes in a side chapel and they would open the doors to the church for that. We waited and went in once they were opened – fantastic church – my wife rated it possibly the best she has ever seen. Back to the B&B and rested an hour before having dinner at a nearby more modern-decorated restaurant but the food and service were very good. Back to B&B and had a glass of wine while we packed to leave in the morning.

Modeen - thanks - even though we've been back only a week and a half, it's a lot of fun trying to remember all the fun times we had.

lantana- thanks again - the little cafe only served paninis and desserts so I guess they just had to have their pasta. It looked great! 39 days will go by quickly. I still haven't watched an episode of DT Abbey yet. I don't even need to ask if you are you going to watch the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebration, right?

Sighing for Italy...

Do you remember the names of the restaurants where you ate.... AND the wonderful gelato place?

Thanks.

I enjoyed reading about your trip and Bellagio is always a favorite of mine. We are in Rome from Oct. 7 to the 18th this far and I have such a hard time figuring out the train system...we want to go to Bellagio for an overnight. Could you tell me what web page you used to book the train?
thank you
Elizabeth
lizandnino@comcast.net

Elizabeth,

the official Italian Rail website was posted on your other other thread. Click on your screen name to find your other posts. I'll paste it below again.

http://www.fsitaliane.it/homepage_en.html

In any case the train to Varenna-Esino is an R (Regionale) train, and does not have reserved seats. You can only buy the tickets online 7 days in advance, but it is a bad idea to do so because the online tickets are impossible to refund, while a paper ticket is refundable.

You want to go from Rome to Bellagio, so you will need two tickets: a ticket from Roma Termini to Milano Centrale--this will be on a fast train that you CAN book ahead--and a ticket on the R train from Milano Centrale to Varenna-Esino.

The full train schedules beyond mid-june have not yet been posted. Just use dates for the coming week to see the possibilities.

Yes, thank you John I'm watching coverage now on BBC America.

Looking forward to more of your report. And, hopefully, some of your great photos (hint, hint).

I bet the gelato place on Zattere was Da Nico.

TDudette - I'm already sighing for Italy too - and we've only been back a week and a half

Modeen - I hope to get a list of restauarants together and post it later in this report. And ellenem is correct, the gelato place was Nico.

Elizabeth - thanks - elenem did a really good job of answering your question - I can't add anything more. Good luck figuring it out.

ellenem - I'm not sure if it was that the gelato was so good at Nico's or if we were just having such a great time that it tasted so good. Have you been there?

lantana - I have started the nasty process of uploading pics - hopefilly I'll have some soon......

I'm really enjoying your post...I'm heading to Venice in 2 weeks, so I'm definitely looking forward to your upcoming restaurant list!

This is a great trip report. You sound like a group of fun travelers!

Your B&B looks lovely. Still planning our first trip to Venice and this is going into the "perhaps" file.

Anxious to see your Bellagio report.
"

ash_12 - yikes - so you are really putting the pressure on me to have the list done in two weeks huh? I do my best work under pressure (LOL) so I hope to have it for you before your trip. Have you been there before?

anward - like I said above, it should probably be illegal to have as much fun as we did. Even though Milan and Venice were great - we had the most fun in the last three places we went.

LoveMyLab - We liked Ca 'Bonvicini a lot and would certainly recommend it. Alberto and Jockamo (the owners) were great too. And Bellagio was our favorite - I hope to get our adventures there entered soon.

Well john183, I do love to put people under pressure! Kidding, of course...but I've already made a note about the gelateria, which is probably the most important recommendation you can make, in my book. I'll actually be staying in an apartment and cooking most of my meals at home, but I'll be in Venice for 2 weeks, so I'll be eating out at least a few times. (And in general, I'm always interested in hearing food recommendations!)

This will be my first trip to Venice. It's a working trip (dissertation research), rather than a true vacation, but I'm still really excited. I'm also planning a day trip to Milan, and the Venice part of my trip will be followed by 2 weeks in Rome and a few nights in Florence.

ash_12 - so I want to know where I went wrong in life. Why didn't I get over a month in Italy to do dissertation research - lucky you!!! Please don't tell me it is researching regional wines and local cuisine - that would be too much for me LOL!!!! Congrats and good luck on your "research"........

Da Nico is on the Zattere; they have very good gelato. There is another gelateria that is very good across from the Squero (gondola repair) called Lo Squero. However, I think the best gelato I had in Venice was at Gelateria Paolin on Campo Santo Stefano. Rosa Salva on Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo is good too.

DH & I are booked for our trip to France in the fall and already we are dreaming about a return trip to Italy next! So, I will enjoy traveling vicariously with you for now.

I was particularly interested in reading about Milan. We are thinking about starting our trip in Milan like you did. Did you find that 2 days was long enough to see & do what you wanted?

Can't wait to read more!

john183 - no, no research on food & wine...at least, not anything official! That I have to do on my own time. But my research consists of looking at a lot of art (and visiting some libraries), so I'm not exactly complaining.

Delaine - Thanks for the gelato recommendations! I've made notes and hope to try them all!

Bellagio – 3 days

Bellagio Day 1: Breakfast was delivered a little earlier than usual so we could get an early start for Bellagio with a quick stop in Bergamo on the way. Checked out (paid cash for 5% discount) and had Jockamo order a water taxi for us. Alberto helped take our luggage to the water dock. The taxi showed up immediately and took us to Piazzale Roma but tried to drop us off at the wrong place (a long ways from the car rental area). Again I held out (a polite way to say I argued with him) until he took us to the correct place. Thank goodness we scouted it out the day before to figure out where we had to go or we would have had a really long walk up steps with our luggage from where he wanted to drop us off. It’s kind of a crazy setup at the car rental area - it is quite difficult to get to the Avis counter from the street with luggage (up one story and the elevator is not convenient) so the ladies stayed with our luggage on the sidewalk while we went in to get the car. We knew from talking to the Avis guy the day before that we just had to do the paperwork and they would pull the car around front by the sidewalk for us.

We were a little worried about what kind of car we would get (even though we reserved one we thought would work for us) because we had a LOT of luggage. It turned out we were given a nice size Mercedes station wagon (thank you little bull in Milan – remember that good luck ritual???) and we were able to get all our luggage in (just barely). I plugged a Bergamo address in to our GPS (named Janine) and followed the signs toward Milan while she acquired the satellites. Well, she finally acquired the satellites and showed our position on the map but would not calculate a route. This was not good! Even though we had some good backup maps I really wanted to use Janine - but no luck. We plugged in our hotel address in Bellagio and left the GPS on so we could see our position but she just would not calculate a route. Oh well, off we went (about an hour later than we had hoped to get off), eventually stopping at an Autogrill for a break. We had stopped at an Autogrill between Rome and Florence on a previous trip to Italy and were very impressed with it. This one did not measure up but it was still a nice break.

As we were getting close to Bergamo, being an hour later than we expected and not having a GPS, we decided to skip Bergamo and just go on to Bellagio. We would stop for lunch somewhere along the way. We got off the autostrada at Bergamo and easily followed signs toward Lecco. Then we started following signs to Bellagio and we only made one wrong turn getting out of Lecco. As we continued toward Bellagio and the lake appeared, we were amazed at how beautiful it was. It turned out the drive up to this point was not as difficult as I feared – a few nasty turns and tight spots - but traffic was very light and it was FUN to drive the powerful 6 speed Mercedes.

We found a tiny little non-descript restaurant and pulled over to see if we could get lunch (it was a weird time – after 2 PM) and they agreed to seat us outside on a little terrace with a fantastic view. No English here but we managed to order ravioli and some stuffed pork and potatoes. The ravioli came – OMG!! It turned out to be homemade and the best food of our entire trip. The potatoes were just as amazing and the pork was a close second. A very lucky find (thank you little bull in Milan). The name of the place is Bar La Breva.

At the restaurant, I found out that I was the only one that thought the drive wasn’t bad up to this point. I had heard the others gasp every now and then but didn’t pay much attention to it. It turns out they were all very happy they didn’t have to drive and I was just fine with that. We continued on towards Bellagio and within a few minutes, all of a sudden Janine started talking to me. Not sure what had happened to cause the problem earlier but she was working fine now and did for the rest of the trip. A few more FUN driving adventures for me (and more gasps for the others especially when we met the big bus) and we were entering Bellagio following Janine’s directions. She directed me down a street that can only be described as pedestrian only (my wife was positive it could not be right) but we eventually came out right at the Hotel Florence. I saw a free parking spot but didn’t think I could fit so we pulled up to the front and a guy came out and asked if I was Mr. Kelly. I said yes and he immediately took care of our luggage. He was the absolute best person at any hotel I have ever stayed at. He did so much for us the entire time we were there and refused any tip – he said it was all a part of the hotel’s service. He was fabulous!!!

Anyway, he said he had a free parking spot for me and all I had to do was back up the street a ways and parallel park in it. Well of course it was the one I did not think I could fit in but somehow I backed in to it on the first try. It was lucky (thank you little bull in Milan) but it earned a high five from the hotel guy and an ovation from my travelling companions. I was in a driving zone and could have driven anywhere just then – even the Stelvio Pass seemed like it would be child’s play. LOL!!! Too much fun!

So we went to our rooms (#4 and #5) that had a huge shared terrace (about 40’ by 20’) and it was wonderful. We spent a lot of time enjoying this terrace during our time in Bellagio. After admiring the fantastic view for quite a while, we went for a walk and we all just fell totally in love with Bellagio. It was not crowded at all and it was beautiful beyond words. We stopped at a little bar and for 5€ each we had a glass of wine and all the snacks we could eat – and they were quite good. We bought a bunch of wine and more snacks and took them back to the hotel to enjoy on our terrace. The same guy brought us nice wine glasses, some plates for our snacks, extra pillows for the bed and more (again refusing any tip – still saying it was part of the hotel’s service). Kathy has some meds she needed to refrigerate and since there was no refrigerator in the room, he took it down to the bar and she was able to get them from whoever was bartending whenever she needed them. Everyone at the hotel was very friendly and helpful. After the sun set, it was a little chilly on the terrace so we went in to K and K’s room, told funny stories and went to bed around midnight. An excellent first day in Bellagio!

For the record, from this point on I’m abandoning any attempts to keep this report at a cliff notes size – I was afraid this would happen….

John,

We don't want no stinking Cliff notes! Details, details. Loving every minute.

Delaine - great info - I second ash_12's thanks. Now I just have to get back to Venice to try them all.

2010 - Two days were good for us. Like I said I think there is a lot more to see than we did but our two days were full and fun. BTW I followed your advice on driving from Venice to Bellagio - thanks...Do you remember where you stopped for lunch?

ash_12 - I know you have tough duty doing all that research - I'm really jealous. Please post your adventures when you get back, OK?

Dayle - All right already - no more stinkin cliff notes. I forgot to post the link to the Hotel Florence - here it is:
http://www.hotelflorencebellagio.it/homeeng.htm
We really enjoyed our time there.

Marking for my own "research"

Hi John,

thanks for posting the link to the hotel - definitely a good tip for Bellagio.

please keep the details coming - the more the better!

Hi John,

Glad you made the drive from Venice to Bellagio successfully. The road signs are thankfully very good. GPS is useful but there's nothing better than a good map as a back up!

On our trip, we filled our gas tank and picked up paninis & drinks at an Auto Grill. We stopped in a small town called Onno and had lunch in a park looking across Lago di Lecco. I think I like your lunch better!

Great report! Eager to hear more, Bellagio and Piemonte.

I'm so happy for you - things are going so beautifully (except for GPS confusion).
Definitely glad you abandoned your Cliffs Notes idea
Cannot wait for more (and for pics!)

Bravo, john183! Hotel Florence's location looks super on the map!

john183,

I'm loving your expanded trip report. I've been to Milan and Bellagio, but I'm hoping to return next year. I haven't decided yet whether it would be best for us to rent a car or use a car service, so I'm glad to know at least you didn't find the roads too scary. I can't wait for tips on restaurants, sights, etc. around Lake Como.

Thanks everyone. I hope to get back to this today and get another day or two posted.

2010 - the little place we stopped at was in Onno too. Beautiful view from there isn't it?

lantana - Finally - here are some pics. They do not do justice to the beautiful scenery nor do they show just how much fun we had but hopefully you can get some flavor of how fantastic our trip was.

http://john183italy2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/8

Bellagio Day 2: Woke up to a brilliant sunny day although it was a little windy and cool. The sun shining on the mountains was spectacular. We had a very good breakfast in the hotel restaurant (included in the price) that was just a few doors down from us on our floor. The person waiting on us was very nice – she remembered us every day after this and brought us the type of coffee and juice each of us wanted without even having to ask. After breakfast we took a walk down a very pretty road to Punta Spartivento at the far end of Bellagio – the scenery from here was beyond spectacular in the bright morning sunshine. There was a house near the Point that we all would have loved to own – what a view.

We then bought a one day ferry pass and took the ferry to Varenna. The town was gorgeous as we approached it. We saw the Castle Vezio high up on a hill and decided to walk up to it. We had arranged a tour to Villa Balbianello for tomorrow with Janine and Luca (they were recommended by our hotel) and as we were arranging it, Janine found out we were going to Varenna and she told us we had to walk up to the castle. She said we would cuss her on the way up but it would be worth it. So as soon as we arrived in Varenna, we started the climb up. And she was right, we cussed her on the way up but it was well worth the climb. There was a little restaurant/shop at the top where we bought some water and the ticket to the castle. There was a sign that said something like “beware of birds of prey” and it turned out they were having various demonstrations with hawks, owls, falcons etc – pretty cool. The view was just incredible from up here and the weather was perfect.

There are two paths up to the castle and we met a young guy who had come up the other one and he told us it was kind of rugged so we went back down the same one we went up. The climb up and down was not all that bad – we just took our time and it worked out fine. We walked along the Varenna promenade for a while and had lunch at a nice place. We then decided to take the ferry to Menaggio and we found where to go and waited for it to arrive. As it did, one of the ferry workers asked us where we were going and my friend said Mellagio. The guy looked at him funny and asked again. My friend again said Mellagio (this time a little slower and louder) and got the same funny look. This repeated one more time until the worker finally asked my friend’s wife and she simply answered Menaggio and the guy put is in the correct line. We have had lots of laughs about my friend inventing the new town of Mellagio.

We walked around Menaggio for a while taking more pictures of the beautiful scenery and stopped for a coffee. At this time of the day the ferries only ran hourly so we decided to go back to Bellagio. As we rode back on the ferry, the water seemed to be a deeper blue than any I have ever seen. And the bright green vegetation next to the blue was just beautiful. We went to the hotel bar for a drink and then to a little place on one of the side streets for dinner. Good food, good wine and a good time. Back to the hotel and bed. For some reason I could not get to sleep right away so I wrapped up in a blanket and sat on the balcony for a while looking at the lake and the stars and thinking how great this was. An excellent second day in Bellagio!

Wonderful!

Wow John, what a lovely day. Having been to Bellagio, I can just picture your view, sitting on the balcony wrapped up in a blanket. Sounds just perfect.

Oh, John - those photos! Thank you so much for sharing. I cannot believe all that beauty. Wow!

What a stupendous terrace you had at Hotel Florence ♥
I can see why Bellagio was your very favorite. Absolutely stunning!
One of the Star Wars prequels was filmed in part at Villa Balbianello - I recognized it in your photos!

You all look like you're having a wonderful time - and what great pics of you and your lovely wife. I love the dress she wore to the opera!

The pics of/from the Milan Duomo roof are AMAZING. All your pics are incredible. I've been oohing and aahing over each and every one. Thanks again!

Just went through the photos and enjoyed your many "WOWs"! Great shots. You can tell how much fun you all had.

You've captured the magic of Lake Como through your words & photos, John! Thanks for sharing your wonderful experiences!

TDudette - There seemed to be a lot of WOW everywhere we looked.

Dayle - it was perfect. Wish I was still there....

2010 - thanks - magic is a good word to describe Lake Como - at least it was maigical for us.

lantana - I just added a few more pics - Sorry - I just can't help it - we visited too many great places. I have to agree with you that my wife looked absolutely lovely. We just watched the James Bond movie that was also filmed at Villa Balbianello - pretty cool to have been there. Now your mission is to have a ton of fun on your trip and take a ton of pics and post a long trip report, OK??

I always wondered who owned those homes near Lenno/Villa Balbianello. You can't walk over to them, the gate is always closed. It makes sense that it belongs to Richard Branson.

Quite a price though, ouch! For not much more than that, you can buy a brand new condo in the hills directly above Lenno overlooking that promontory where Villa Balbianello is. I had a realtor take me around one morning so this is fresh and accurate news!

flygirl - according to our guide, Branson's place is only accessible by water. If you are coming from Bellagio, go past Villa Balbianello and it is just around the corner to the right. It sure is a nice looking place but ouch is right. Lucky you - I can only dream of having a realtor show me places anywhere on Lake Como much less actually buy one. Anything overlooking the Villa Balbianello Promontory would be a great place to have - good luck!

Great review. I loved your pics! Thanks!

Bellagio Day 3: Another brilliant sunny day and it was a little warmer and much less windy than yesterday. We had another good breakfast at the hotel restaurant before heading out on the short walk to Melzi Gardens. We had intended to also visit the gardens at Villa Carlotta during our stay here but somehow time got away from us so we were only able to see Melzi’s gardens - but they were spectacular. We took lots of pictures and really enjoyed our leisurely stroll through the gardens. The weather was my favorite temperature – just cool enough for a light sweater but bright and sunny. After the gardens, we stopped for an early lunch at a nice lake front restaurant near the Hotel Metropole. Our Villa Balbianello tour was set to leave at 2 PM so we went back to the hotel to enjoy some terrace-time until then.

As we walked towards the hotel, we saw a bunch of really neat cars parked on the street. There was a Morgan, a Ferrari, a Panther, an Aston Martin, a Porsche, a Triumph, a Renault, a couple of Jags, Austin Healeys, Mercedes, Corvettes, Mustangs and more. I love old cars so this was a nice surprise. We kicked back on the terrace until it was time to meet Janine and Luca for our tour to Villa Balbianello. They only book a maximum of 12 people per group and they had two groups booked so we went with Luca who was a lot of fun. He LOVES his boat and makes no bones about it – and I can appreciate that – it is a very nice boat. On the way we drove near Tremezzo looking at the incredible villas – it seemed most were owned by families from Milano. There must be a lot of wealthy families from Milano because there were a lot of beautiful villas here. Near one of the villas we saw a sign that said “No George”. I guess the villa looked somewhat like George’s and people kept pulling up looking for him so the owners put up the sign. Luca says George’s place is nowhere close to here – it is supposedly much farther down the lake towards Como.

As we arrived at Villa Balbianello, I have to admit I was initially a little disappointed in the gardens – I was expecting something even more spectacular than Melzi and these looked quite small. But before the visit was over, I was a believer. They were just different (less color, more green) but still outstanding. And our guide for the villa was great – she described a very interesting character that built a very interesting place. In our opinion, the tour we took from Bellagio was worth the 40€ each that we paid. It was nice to just get dropped off and picked up at the entrance and not have to deal with the logistics of getting there otherwise. Plus, Luca (and I’m sure Janine would be too) was very entertaining. As we left, we went past Richard Branson’s place that Luca said rents for a mere 160,000£ per week – I think I know where I’m not staying the next time I visit Lake Como.

It was a nice ride back to Bellagio and we had a drink on the patio outside the Hotel Florence bar before going to dinner at the hotel’s restaurant on the lake. We had one of those perfect 3 hour dinners. Good food, wine and service, lots of laughs mixed with some serious stuff - but mostly pure enjoyment as we watched the lake traffic and the sun set. It was a very nice way to end our stay in Bellagio. The only very odd thing was Kathy had ordered the trout but they brought salmon – and insisted it was trout. Unless the trout in this area looks and tastes exactly like Alaska salmon I think they made a mistake - but Kathy said the salmon was good anyway and she was a great sport about it – she didn’t let it spoil our fun. By the time we finished dinner, we went to bed dreading the fact we had to get up and pack to leave in the morning. It was an excellent last day in Bellagio!

jarand - thanks - I have been sorting through about 3000 that we took - CRAZY!!! But fun!

Great trip report, and beautiful pics! Did you all really pack suits and those gorgeous dresses just for the one night at La Scala? I have total trip envy!!!

Sidny - Yep, we really did. There was a lot of debate before we left about what we should wear but we* eventually decided on the suits and gorgeous dresses. Do you think we* would go to the most famous opera house in the world wearing anything less?

we* = the ladies - LOL!!!

I tried to talk everyone in to also wearing them on the truffle hunt - but got no takers. I thought what the heck, we have them with us and a truffle hunt is just as special as La Scala, right? Too bad I was outvoted, the pictures would have been great!

Ah, John, we have similar senses of humor. Those truffle hunt pics would have been classic!! Maybe you can work something out in Photoshop...

Super again. Yes, that lake trout looks and tastes like salmon. I probably had the same conversation with our server. We stayed in La Pergola on the other side of Bellagio and were lucky enough to have Easter dinner at their restaurant.

Dressed for truffles! LOL.

If the truffle hunt came after La Scala, by all means, dress in finery! The photos would have been fabulous - real keepers!

It sounds like you were on Lake Como a few weeks before we were, so, the azaleas must have been out of this world. We arrived on Lake Como (from Lake Garda) on May 23. The azaleas at Villa Carlotta had mostly turned but I bet 10 days would have made all the difference. The bushes were much taller than we were. We also walked through Villa Melzi and the azaleas were in better shape but many had already turned.

Re the condo: Brand new and very light and sunny! It was about 850 SF, with two bedrooms and two (!!) full bathroomsm, and, both a covered terrace and a balcony(!!). Many windows and the upstairs also had skylights. Unfurnished - meaning no kitchen, either - you put that in yourself. Not a great time to be buying a vacation home in Italy though! Better to see what the euro does (as well as Italy itself).

Sidny - so here is the question - are our senses of humor a curse or a blessing? My guess is it depends on who you ask.

TDudette - Uh oh - I guess we owe an apology to the servers at the Hotel Florence restaurant - we were absolutely convinced it was salmon. Good thing to know for future trout ordering in that region.

flygirl - we arrived in Bellagio on May 15th and left on the 18th. We were so in love with Bellagio that every azalea in town could have been nearly dead and we would have still thought they were gorgeous - LOL! Re the condo: sounds great. I think you need to follow our motto that we had for the trip - "This is no time to be conservative - let's pull out all the stops". Just buy it - Italy will somehow survive and so will the Euro (I hope)...... As you can tell, I'm really good at spending OPM (other people's money). Good luck.

John183,

Your tour to Villa Balbianello sounds really nice. Do you have contact information for Janine and Luca? I agree that a tour would be worth not having to hassle about the logistics.

Delaine - here is the web address: http://bellagiowatertaxis.com
Sorry Jennine - I spelled your name wrong. We really enjoyed our time with Luca. For what it's worth - I see they get good reviews on tripadvisor too.

"...As we left, we went past Richard Branson’s place that Luca said rents for a mere 160,000£ per week – I think I know where I’m not staying the next time I visit Lake Como."



Really enjoying your report!

Piedmont Wine Country – 4 days (plus a day trip to the Cinque Terre)

Piedmont Wine Country Day 1: This was without a doubt the worst day of our trip. I have spent a lot of time detailing everything negative that happened. However after reading through it, I don‘t think it would be fair to the places or the people involved to include it here. We really had a great time in Bellagio and were very sad to leave. I’m sure this fact had a big effect on our perceptions of things that happened to us on this day. As I said at the beginning of this report, we had a great time everywhere we went on this trip, it just didn’t start out good for us in the Piedmont area. So for this day only I’m going back to the cliff notes version.

We had been in Bellagio for three days and had not moved our car an inch. If we had it to do again, we would still rent a car in Venice, drive to Bellagio and park it for the three days. It was just too convenient to be able to drive in to Bellagio and pull right up to the hotel to unload, park for free 3 spaces from the front door, then when we left, pull up to the door, put our luggage in and drive to Asti with no steps, hills, ferries, taxis or trains to deal with or haul luggage to and from. I guess we are getting spoiled in our old age. Plus the big bonus was I loved the drive on those curvy, hilly, narrow roads in a fairly powerful car with a manual shift transmission – too much fun!

After another good breakfast at the hotel, we checked out (10% discount for paying cash), loaded our luggage using a diagram I had drawn of exactly how it fit in when we left Venice, and headed towards Como. It was a fun and scenic drive until we got to Como – then it was wild and crazy getting through town and on to the autostrada. We had decided to go to Stresa on Lake Maggiore and have lunch somewhere on Isola Bella as we took our time getting to Asti. Our GPS, Janine, led us on some very interesting and fun roads straight to a parking lot in Stresa where we easily parked near the area to catch a ferry to Isola Bella - but then the fun began (NOT!).

We had some difficulty figuring out where and how to buy ferry tickets to Isola Bella and once we finally got there, the feel of the place where we got off the boat was just about the exact opposite of the feel in Bellagio. We tried and failed to eat at two different restaurants and had a bad gelato before leaving the island. We had wasted a lot of time trying to eat and we didn’t feel like fighting the crowds to try to tour the palace and gardens so we just left. We then decided to try Plan B which was to take some scenic back roads and stop at a few places on our way to Asti. We had some general directions but we obviously had not researched this enough because trying to find these places on the spur of the moment did not work for us. So we drove on the autostrada through miles of flat rice paddies, eventually reaching Asti - not impressed at all with the scenery. We easily made it to the place we were staying near Asti but consistent with our mood for the day, our first impressions were less than we had hoped for. Rina (who is the nicest and hardest working person in all of the Piedmont) met us and we had some nice welcoming wine on the terrace. Then we went to our rooms (which were a good size and the bathrooms were good) and unpacked before going in to Asti for dinner. Later that night, as we were driving back, just on the outskirts of Asti, we saw one of the infamous road hookers next to the highway. She was dressed outrageously and was just standing there waiting for someone to stop. OMG!!! What a way to end the day. We made it home and went to bed wondering what in the heck did we get ourselves in to?

Piedmont Wine Country Day 2: After getting a good night’s sleep, Rina served us a great breakfast. She said she was the cook and Tim was the coffee maker - both the food and the coffee were very good. After breakfast Tim helped us figure out a Barolo area itinerary. He also taught us a trick of how to use a Garmin GPS to get to a little town where you do not have an actual address. On a Garmin, you can’t just program in the name of a town you want to go to – it also requires a street. He said nearly every place in Italy (big or small) has a street named Roma so try that. I think it worked for just about every little town we tried. Good idea Tim.

The first place on our list was La Morra. As we made our way up the mountain to where it is perched, we pulled off the road in to a vineyard entrance and got out to admire the incredible views. Now this was the type of scenery we were expecting to see in the Piedmont wine country! We were all really admiring the view with our backs to the car when all of a sudden Karl turned around, said something like “oh no” and took off running toward the car. For a split second before I could get turned around to see what was happening, I thought that somehow the car had started rolling down the hill. But it turned out a guy on a tractor was coming out of the vineyard and Karl was hurrying to move the car out of his way. But without even blinking an eye or slowing down, the guy drove right around our car and took off down the road. After all the tragedy that ran through my mind in that split second when I thought the car was going over the side, it took a while to get my heart beat back to normal.

We eventually went on in to La Morra, parked and walked to the top. Even though it was a little hazy, the views were absolutely stunning from up there. We sat outside and had a coffee before heading on to Barolo. We ended up parking in a lot a little below the town and walked up to the Castello area through some really neat little streets. Our first stop was the Castello enoteca where we sampled a few wines and looked around at the hundreds of bottles on display. We then went to the wine museum which was so bizarre it was kind of interesting – some parts of it were quite weird but overall we liked it. It rained a little and we had to get the umbrellas out for a few minutes. We found a very pretty covered outside place and had a nice lunch.

Tim had given us the names of a couple of winery show rooms to visit in Barolo but the first one we found was closed (it turned out we were not at the correct entrance). We saw the other one on a hill a few blocks away and tried to walk to it but the residents on the street we walked down said we had to walk all the way around some side streets to get to it. As we tried to figure out how to get there, we came across the correct entrance to the first one (Borgogno) and I tried to open the door but it was locked and the ancient door knob broke off in my hand. Boy did I feel bad. A very nice employee who had just arrived saw what had happened and walked up to help me. Evidently they had been closed for lunch and she was coming back to open up so she unlocked the doors and let us go in. We ended up having a wonderful tour from Monica who spoke English very well. When we complimented her on it she said it was more important for her to speak good English than Italian. Anyway, we had a great tour and saw a LOT of Barolo (old and new). We actually learned a lot about wine storage (they turn the bottles and recork them every 20 years) and wine making – Monica was great. After the tour, we tasted some wine and bought a couple bottles that we smuggled home in our checked luggage. Plus they did not charge me for the broken door knob… As we were leaving, Monica asked us if we would like to go up to the rooftop terrace to see the view. We rode up a glass elevator to the rooftop and had just incredible views of the surrounding area.

We walked back to our car and headed for Sinio. The road from Barolo to Sinio is very steep, windy and narrow – but FUN! At one point we stopped along the road to take some pics and we saw some workers out in the vineyard. The ladies decided to walk over to them and before we knew it, Kathy was learning how to prune the vines from a guy wearing the bluest outfit I have ever seen and who spoke no English. Sinio is a very pretty, sleepy, small town and I wanted to have a look at the Castello Sinio (it was on the short list of our possible places to stay in the Piedmont area) but they only allow guests on to the property. So we walked around taking a lot of pics of the gorgeous town (we peeked in to the tiny theatre where the cast was practicing) and used the bathroom at a nice little pizza place that was not open yet but the owner was making his dough for the evening. He refused to take any money but I left a few Euros on the counter anyway because his bathroom was a real life-saver for us right then and we really appreciated him allowing us to use it.

We had planned to have dinner in Alba that evening so we headed that way passing through Serralunga d’Alba and Grinzane Cavour. In one of these towns, we stopped at what we thought was a little store to buy some tissues (for some strange reason on this trip almost none of the places we stayed had tissues). They had none but we saw a pharmacy across the street so we went in and I’m sure totally embarrassed the poor white-coat-wearing pharmacist for having to come out from behind the counter to sell us a lowly 10-pack of small tissues. We then drove in to Alba, found a place to park and saw some beautiful rose bushes that had many different colored roses growing on the same bush. As we walked around looking for a place for dinner, we stopped at a little store and two funny ladies sold us a couple bottles of wine. We also stopped at some truffle shops and marveled at the prices (and the intense truffle smell). There was a music festival going on that had some weird music. We found a little place (Bistrot Duomo Pizzeria) next to the duomo and had a delicious meal with some very fun servers. Even though the name of the place says Pizzeria we had some really good mussels, wine, pasta and desserts.

We then drove back to Asti and went to bed – an excellent second day in the Piedmont wine country (thank goodness)!

I'm so disappointed. I just did a Google search of "Asti road hooker" and nothing good came up??

Happy to read that your second day in the Piedmont region was so much better than your first.

Sinio sounds delightful - a world away from city life, eh?

I'm still enjoying your report, John, and I hope you're not missing Italia too much.

The car-rolling-down-the-hill scare is something that would've happened to me! And the doorknob. Too funny!

lantana - change Asti to Italy in your search - more than I wanted see came up - very weird stuff... Thanks for the nice comments - I hope to get another day or two finished today - work has been all-consuming lately.

ttt

Love reading about the Barolos.

>>>As we tried to figure out how to get there, we came across the correct entrance to the first one (Borgogno)<<<

I bought some wine on clearance 6-7 few years ago at my local wine shop. It was 1990 Giacomo Borgogno e Filgi Riserva. $7 a bottle (seems to be selling online for $150 a bottle). I haven't opened any yet, but I think it's about time. Bogogno and Piedmont is on my to do list.

kybourbon - you lucky dog!!! We paid 30€ for a 2007 Giacomo Borgogno e Filgi Barolo and thought it was a bargain. Let me know when you plan to open a boittle and I'll join you. LOL!!! I wish!

Piedmont Wine Country Day 3: Another great breakfast from Rina (she had figured out what we liked and her proposals for breakfast were exactly what we wanted). After breakfast, we programmed the address of the place for our truffle hunt in to our GPS and headed out in to the rural Piedmont area looking for adventure. We easily arrived at the address (the view of the countryside from the place was great) and we were met by Natale and Giorgio who run this family business. After a short discussion where we learned a lot about truffle hunting traditions and hearing a few interesting personal stories from Natale, we then met Bella and Brio – the two dogs who were to go with us. They said a truffle hunting dog can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 depending on how good they are. We headed in to the woods and after a short walk, the dogs were released and began to hunt. It was very similar to pheasant hunting in Iowa – except it was much more scenic than an Iowa cornfield and no guns were involved.

It was a fun time watching the dogs sniff around and when they did find a truffle, it was like a cartoon watching the dirt fly as they dug it out (you definitely did not want to be behind them when they were in a digging frenzy). We found three good-sized black truffles (not the season for white truffles) and went back to the man-cave in one of the outbuildings to enjoy some wine, salami, and one of our truffles shaved on to a delicious cheese made from a blend of goat, cow and sheep milk that was drizzled with some truffle-flavored olive oil. We all sat around eating and drinking and chatting and had a really good time. All in all it was a very enjoyable experience.

We then decided to try to find a local Barbera wine festival Tim had told us about that was being held in a little town close to the truffle hunting place. We found the little town of Agliano Terme easy enough and after a bit of confusion we found a place to park and walked to where we thought the festival was. As we walked a ways, we could hear a band playing and eventually climbed a steep street and came to the town square. A light rain began to fall so we got our umbrellas out for only the second time on our trip. We listened to the band play for a little while and as we looked closer we could see it was made up of about 20 local girls, boys, women and men of all ages all dressed alike in vests, black bow ties and hats - and they sounded pretty good.

When the band finished we went in to a very tiny really really old church on the square. It had been converted in to a small display area and they had a wall of photos from past years of the festival sorted year by year. It was interesting to see the photos from the early years and how the festival had grown. We then went in to just a really old church (it must have replaced the really really old church a long time ago) on the other side of the square. It was incredible. How can these tiny little towns have such unbelievably beautiful churches? There were a few other people in the church (one being the parish priest) and we went to ask him if it was OK to take pictures. He spoke very little English but we understood it was OK and he left to get something. It turns out he brought back about 5 different pieces of literature about his church for us and even though we did not understand his Italian, you could see how incredibly proud he was of his church. It was a really neat moment when he handed us the literature. I lit a candle for my Dad and we chatted for a minute with a lady who was visiting from Genoa and wanted to practice her English with us.

It was time to try some wine so we paid our 4€ and were given a small wine glass in a small blue bag that hung around your neck so when you weren’t tasting wine you could easily and safely carry the glass around. We went around the tent tasting a few of the wines (they had a neat glass washing machine to use between tastings) and at one of the displays, the official photographer for the event took our picture. My guess is it will be on the wall of photos next year in that little church because as far as we could tell, we were the only non-locals there. We also signed the festival's guest book and we were the only non-Italians in the book. Oddly enough, we kind of felt like celebrities because as we were walking around, whenever we ran in to people we had met at a wine tasting display or a food serving area – they remembered us and smiled and waved to us. At another display, we talked to a guy who spoke a little English. His young son was in charge of giving us breadsticks to cleanse our pallets between wines and it was just really neat to see him take his job so seriously – the next generation of the family business in training. The tasting tent emptied out and we finally figured out everyone had gone to the food area for lunch.

We tagged along and found the food tent packed with people eating plates full of food and drinking bottles of wine. At one of the tables, some people left and others scooted around making room for us to sit and they offered us the rest of their bottle of wine. We went to the various food serving areas and eventually figured out how to order and pay and wait for it to be brought up. I tried to order 2 glasses of wine and a bottle of water but somehow ended up with 3 bottles of wine and no water. It was pretty funny getting this all straightened out but we finally did. Both the servers and the people in line behind me were very friendly and patient as I tried to figure out the proper way to do things. The food and wine and sense of community were just fantastic. Well after lunch, everyone goes to the coffee shop for a coffee and we decided we needed to do that too. OMG it was crowded. But we got our coffee and used the rest room (a true hole-in-the-floor). We eventually bought a couple of small home-made cakes to go from one of the many stands and left. We absolutely enjoyed our time here – everything (the people, the food, the wine the whole event) was just outstanding. If you are ever in the Piedmont area in May – go to this festival if you can – you will love it.

It was about 2:30 and we had already been truffle hunting and to a wine festival and now we had to head back to our place for a cooking class with Rina. We arrived just as Rina was in the garden with some of the other people in the class picking things we would be using. The class originally was just going to be 6 of us but somehow had grown to 10. We had a couple from Australia, 2 couples from Holland and us 4 Americans. Rina said she just had a small country kitchen and with the size of the class, she was going to just make it a cooking demonstration instead of a hands-on class. We were all disappointed in this but went along with it as she began the demonstration. I kind of took over the wine pouring duty and kept everyone’s glass full while Rina demonstrated. At some point, Rina sensed our disappointment and asked if anyone wanted to help do a couple of things. Well the other men jumped in right away (I’m thinking the several wines I poured made everyone a little bold) and before you knew it, everyone had jumped in and it was sort of mass chaos – but really fun!! I know it was way more than Rina bargained for but she was a great sport about it and went right along with the wildness – trying her best to keep us on track. At one point I was experimenting with the pasta making machine and had it on the wrong setting – I’m not sure what came out of that thing. Picture 10 people in a smallish country kitchen all trying to do something to help prepare the meal. Too much fun!!!

Rina finally kicked us out of the kitchen and Tim began serving the first of several wines paired with our dinner courses. 4 other guests (2 Canadians, a girl from Reno and a girl from San Diego) joined us for dinner so we had 12 of us sitting around the table. We all hit it off really well and the conversation was fun, lively, informative and got progressively louder as the night went on. Finally at about 11 PM, we called it a night. Karl went in to the kitchen to say goodnight and thank you to Rina and found her with a huge mess she was just starting to clean up. I will say again, Rina is the nicest and hardest working person in the Piedmont! We went to bed after a very full and excellent third day in the Piedmont wine country!

A truly wonderful report! Glad you didn't stick to cliff notes! Also liked your pictures a LOT!

John,

This is just such a fun trip report! Grazie mille!

I remember when I happened on a town fund raising event in Montalcino with music, wine and food. It was a delight, one I'll always remember.

Keep it coming....

irishface - thanks - I knew it was just wishful thinking on my part about being able to stick to cliff notes. We probably have about 1500 more really good pictures from our trip but I just had to draw the line at how many to upload. We did so much on this trip that without all the pictures and our detailed notes, I'm sure I would have forgotten a bunch of it.

Dayle - Grazie mille for the grazie mille. The people and places of Italy are truly a delight. We were in Montalcino only once and we had the town to ourselves. It was a very foggy morning and it was deserted. But like you, it is something we will always remember. Funny how we both have nice memories of the same place but with almost opposite circumstances.

lantana - I meant to tell you that Sinio was indeed a remote and wonderful little place. I really loved how rural the Piedmont wine country was. A lot of the places we stumbled across seemed so genuinely non-touristy that it was almost weird - but we really enjoyed them.

A day trip to the Cinque Terre: Poor Rina! We went down to breakfast early in order to get an early start for the Cinque Terre and there she was, bright and cheery after our wild cooking class last night. Again she had excellent proposals for us and the food and coffee were great. We really wanted to see the Cinque Terre sometime during our 2 week visit and after much debate before our trip, we had settled on making it a day trip from Asti. Tim recommended driving to Levanto and catching the train from there. Unfortunately the Weather Channel on our iPhone said the forecast for the day was a 90% to 100% chance of thunderstorms from Asti all the way to La Spezia. We decided to start out anyway and if the weather got too bad, we would just stop somewhere and figure out something else to do.

We programmed in the address of the train station in Levanto and headed out. It was raining but not thunder storming and as we approached Genoa, the many tunnels and winding, hilly roads were actually a little more challenging than fun because of the rain. What scenery we could see through the rain looked very beautiful. We made it past Genoa with no trouble and stopped at an Autogrill for a coffee and a break. As we continued toward Levanto, the rain began to let up a little. When we got off the autostrada, the rain stopped completely. Once again, I’m not saying our ritual with that little bull in Milan was responsible for this but we had great weather for the rest of the day.

We had an easy drive in to Levanto (I think it took about 2 and 1/2 hours total to get there from Asti) and parked right in front of the train station. We bought the one-day combination train, bus and hiking pass and rode the train to Riomaggiore so we could work our way back towards Levanto. Riding the train, we didn’t really get a sense of the area and it is quite a walk from the train station in Riomaggiore to the town. There are a lot of varying opinions about the CT ranging from it being better than the Amalfi Coast to it being nothing but an extremely crowded, tourist infested destination made too popular by Rick Steves – but once we walked through the long tunnel and stepped outside – it was just what we hoped for. It was a perfectly beautiful little village with houses built straight up the cliffs. And maybe because it was a Monday (we heard weekends were very crowded so purposely picked a Monday to come) and the forecast was for thunderstorms - it was not crowded at all.

We walked around Riomaggiore for a while then walked on the Via dell’Amore to Manarola. It was a very pretty walk and again, not crowded at all. Every place we looked was fantastic and we could not stop taking pictures. We found a nice little sidewalk café in Manarola for lunch and had some delicious mussels and pasta (with a bottle of wine of course). At our cooking class dinner the night before, the two girls who joined us had just arrived in Asti that day from the CT and had walked the high trail from Manarola to Corniglia the day before. They said it was unbelievably beautiful so we decided to tackle it. It was kind of funny because when we bought our tickets at the train station, we asked the lady selling tickets about the trails and she told us which were open and which were closed. When we asked her if we would be able to do the high trail between Manarola and Corniglia, she said no problem – it would take about an hour. Then she took a second look at us and said well, maybe an hour and a half.

The ticket lady had told us to take the bus from Manarola to Volastra and pick up the trail from there – it would save us about an hour of climbing straight up the hills. After a bit of trouble figuring out the bus system, we finally rode it to Volastra – and thank goodness we did – it was a long way up there. We found the path toward Corniglia and Kathy took off on a paved road. Too funny, she had mistaken a road for the path and when we pointed out the actual trail, she was a little surprised. But we took off on the right path and what followed cannot be accurately described in words or in pictures. Emotions ran from awe struck to fear struck to wondering if we would ever get to Corniglia. The scenery was incredible almost every step of the way. I cannot describe what a feeling it was to walk through those terraced vineyards on the narrowest of paths with no rails or anything at all between you and a long drop down. I have to admit at one point I got pretty freaked out at one of the narrowest highest parts of the path (I wish it wasn’t so but I sometimes have a fear of heights) and it took a while to get it back together again. How embarrassing – I can drive on narrow winding scary roads with no fear at all but put me on the side of a mountain with no rails and I lose control. The mind is a crazy thing! I don’t want to give the impression that this trail is dangerous or even difficult. Most of our group is in the mid-sixties range and we all made it with no problems. We just should have been more appropriately dressed for the trail.

At one of the narrow parts of the path, we met a group of about 10 hikers coming the other way and they did not slow down a bit. We had to move out of the way or get knocked over. Other than that group, we probably only saw 10 or 15 other people on the trail (2 of them were young girls wearing extremely high heeled dressy shoes – I have no idea how they could walk in them on level ground much less this trail) and all were very nice. At one point, we looked in to the vineyard beside us and saw a blue-haired head poking out over the top of some vines. Incredibly it was an older lady and her son working in the vineyard at one of the highest and steepest points of the trail. You can see her and where she was working in our pictures. We continued on the path which had become wooded and not so steep, seeing no one for a long time and we finally started to get close to Corniglia. When we finally did arrive in Corniglia, we sat outside at a little place and marveled at what we had just done. I don’t mean to make it sound like more than it was but we were pretty proud of what us wild and crazy grandparents had just accomplished (we actually did complete it in the hour and a half the ticket lady estimated).

We then took the bus down to the train station and went to Vernazza. There is still a little visible damage from the mud slide but it was a lively place right on the water’s edge where we stopped for appetizers and drinks. Lots of people having lots to drink and having lots of fun. As we sat near the beach enjoying life, we talked about the comparison of the CT to the Amalfi Coast. We absolutely loved Positano and Ravello and in my opinion the CT is a completely different kind of place with its own style and beauty which we really like too. It’s hard to compare the two but for us, the Amalfi Coast still wins out.

We decided to skip Monterossa and as we were walking out of the train station in Levanto, there was a map showing various restaurants. A guy saw us looking and said he and his family were staying in Levanto and had a nice dinner at a place they would recommend. His wife came over and agreed that it was good so they showed us where it was on the map. We found it and as we were driving to it, we decided Levanto was a very nice town even though it was not one of the 5 villages. Dinner was very good and we started our trek towards Asti.

We knew the drive back would not be the fun part of the day but we didn’t know all the construction, those weird flashing lights on curves in the tunnels and some really crazy drivers would make it way worse than it needed to be. The one good thing is it was not raining. We finally made it to Asti and in the same place as the first night, we saw another road hooker beside the highway. As we pulled in to our place, we all started laughing hysterically about something that was not all that funny. I guess we were just happy to have survived all our adventures from the day. We went to bed at about 11:30 - an excellent day trip to the fabulous Cinque Terre!

Piedmont Wine Country Day 4: Up late and had another good breakfast. We took lots of pictures with Tim and Rina. We ended up really enjoying our time at Villa Sampaguita and in the Piedmont wine country. http://www.villasampaguita.com/Live/home.cfm Tim and Rina are excellent hosts and they go out of their way to make sure their guests are well taken care of. All the guests we met were very nice and very interesting plus the location near Asti is good for touring the Piedmont wine country. Like I said before, we went from a very well-manicured Bellagio to a much more rustic-looking working farm than we were expecting and the contrast took us a while to get used to.

Our goal for the day was to get to our hotel near MXP sometime in the late afternoon or early evening. So Tim helped us plan a route through the Monferatto area and we headed for Moncalvo. The scenery was beautiful - these were the back roads we were trying to find on our way down but were never able to do it. At one point we took a side road up to some little town and the narrow roads and the views were unbelievable. We eventually found and walked around the pretty little town of Moncalvo seeing the church and the memorial to the war dead and had a coffee at a neat little shop. We then headed toward Ponzano which was the closest town we could find to the Sacred Mount of Crea that we wanted to see. What a beautiful little town Ponzano is. We parked near an old church and just walked around taking lots of pictures. We saw a guy visiting with his neighbor and I tried to ask him to look at the map and show us which way to go to the Sacred Mount but he did not speak English and he did not have his reading glasses but he did point us in the right direction.

We then went to the top of the mountain, found the church and walked around the incredibly beautiful grounds. The view over the country side was fantastic and the little chapels and other buildings were great. The bells began to ring and it was a very nice visit. If I ever get back to this area, I will try to see more of these churches – they are outstanding (at least the one at Crea was). http://www.sacrimonti.net/User/index.php?PAGE=Sito_en/sacri_monti_del_piemonte_e_della_lombardia

Even though it was a bit late for lunch, we decided to see if we could find a place in one of the little towns on the way. We saw two restaurants in the little town of Madonnina di Crea but the first one was closed. We could not tell about the second one so Kathy walked up and tried the door but it was locked. However a young guy came to the door opened it and told her to come on in. We parked and went in and he was going to seat us in the bar area but when he figured out that we wanted food, he sat us in the restaurant area. We were the only ones there and we asked to see a menu. He went to the kitchen and came back with a few items hand written on a piece of paper. You could tell he was very nervous trying to speak English but he did a great job. It turned out the items on the menu were way more than we wanted (full course meals) and when we said that was too much, he simply said he would cook us pasta any way we wanted it. We ended up ordering three with pomodoro, one with chili peppers and olive oil, 2 glasses of red wine, a glass of white wine, a beer and a bottle of water.

He brought out some delicious breadsticks, a big bottle of water, a full bottle of red and a big pitcher of white but no beer. After a while, Karl went back to check on the beer and they were having keg problems. Karl said they felt really bad about the keg not working so they brought out three different bottles of beer and asked him to pick one. He then served some really delicious pasta. When we were finished eating, he brought us the bill and it was only 25€. Amazing! We paid the 25€ bill at the counter but left 15€ on the table for him – he was just so funny being so nervous about speaking English. The name of this place is Mana Mana and it is a bar, restaurant and hotel.

We then drove to our hotel near MXP. The hotel was perfect for what we wanted. http://www.firsthotel.it/en/index.php We dropped the ladies and the luggage off before taking the car to Avis at MXP. We had an early morning flight and didn’t want to deal with returning the car in the morning. We had the hotel shuttle pick us up and we were back at the hotel very soon. We had an OK dinner at the hotel restaurant and went back to our room. We had the same problem we usually do on our last night in Europe – we had several bottles of wine we needed to drink because we were not taking them home with us. We did our best before going to bed. An excellent last day in the Piedmont wine country!

Flight Home: Up early and the shuttle to the airport left right on time. We easily made it through security and to the gate area. We had a coffee and some pastry while we waited – for some reason they were an hour late boarding. Took the short bus ride from the gate out to the plane and sadly climbed up our last steps in Italy. We had an uneventful flight home except for one very rude flight attendant. The person in front of us actually complained to another flight attendant about her and the flight attendant said that she was actually a little better than normal today. Crazy! We made up for our late departure somehow and arrived in Atlanta on time.

We had been looking forward to arriving at the new International Terminal in Atlanta. We were surprised when we arrived at the old terminal E and were directed on a LONG walk to the new terminal. We easily went through customs, picked up our luggage and looked for our limo driver. It turns out the design of the new terminal did take in to account limo drivers having to park to go inside to meet passengers so they have to park in the deck like everyone else. It took him a while but he finally met us and we had to drag our luggage up and down elevators and across parking lots to get to the limo. The new International terminal is a whole different story but it is very poorly designed. We made it home and all agreed it was a wonderful 2 week vacation in Northern Italy!

HMMMM – where to next?????

Oops - meant to say the design of the new terminal did NOT take in to account limo drivers having to park

Oh darn, I'll bet kybourbon didn't save me any of that Barolo! What a price! We experienced sticker shock over price of prosecco also.

john183, that was a wonderful TR. I loved the detail and being able to "follow" along with you!

Where indeed are you going next?

Awesome report. I really, really enjoyed it, John. You're so enthusiastic and positive!

Your energy and passion for travel (and the planning!) are so impressive and inspiring. You didn't take the easy way - those miles of winding, unfamiliar roads - plus the hikes! - really paid off. Think of the sights you would have missed had you not been so self-motivated. I bow down to you

Yes - where to next?

Oh, and I'm sorry to hear the new International Terminal at ATL is poorly designed I'll be there 2 weeks from today!

yes, john, a great report on what sounds like a great trip.

thanks for sharing all the highs (and lows) with us.

TDudette - I'm thinking we are unfortunately going to miss out on any of the Barolo that kybourbon has. Thanks for "following" along. We have our family beach week in Holden Beach NC at the end of July but no plans for anything to Europe yet. I don't know what I'm going to do with no European vacation to plan for.

lantana - you are way too kind. We do tend to have a lot of fun on our trips. I like having a loose plan for doing the major things at each place but I also love being able to just follow a whim when one arises. I do wonder where we'll go next. About the new terminal - I should have said the design of the building is nice - it's just that a lot of very poor choices were made in the transportation/logistics design if you are an Atlanta bound passenger. You will be just fine. Wow, only two weeks until your trip! I'm jealous and I'm looking forward to reading all about it.

annhig - you know it's a great trip when even the lows were pretty good. Thanks for the nice words - it really was fun.

John, thanks so much for your report. I enjoyed every bit of it. It's so refreshing to see such enthusiasm and positive spirit. Makes me think that many of us may have forgotten that when it comes down to it travel should be about fun and wonderment.I enjoyed seeing this part of Italy through your eyes, but something tells me you would be just as enthused sharing your experience of traveling the perimeter of your own county! Thanks again.

hanabilly - it's easy for me to be enthusiastic about anything to do with Italy - really love that country and the people!!! Maybe I should try travelling the perimeter of my county and see how enthused I am afterwards. Not sure I'm adventurous enough to try that wild of a trip though.

I see from another thread that you are headed to Italy soon. Have fun and I'm looking forward to reading your enthusiatic trip report.

I hear that!
Yes, we are headed to Italy in October. This will be our third trip, though the first two were far too brief (aren't they all?) I have entered that stage of planning where it is hard to think of anything else. Yes, I am obsessed. From now until we leave, I will be distracted at work, and will hardly even read a novel. The curse of the rabid travel-obsessed.

I completely understand your condition - it's an addiction that needs to be fed. But oh what a wonderful addiction. I hope I'm never cured. LOL!!!

I know this is an old thread but I decided that for the record I needed to rewrite the first five days. I had tried to do a cliff notes version but I'm not at all satisfied with that approach. So here goes my attempt to fill in a few more details if for no other reason to let me have the enjoyment of re-living those days.

Milan – 2 days

Milan Day 1: Our friends met us at our house and we had a glass of cava (yes I know it should have been prosecco but it was a last minute idea and cava is all we had) to celebrate our departure. I had tried to reserve a limo for the ride to the airport through one of my neighbors with an individual he had used before. When my neighbor contacted him, he said he did not do that anymore but he had a friend we could use. I told my neighbor I would see what our group wanted to do and get back to him. We decided to use a regular limo service so I thanked my neighbor but said we would make our own arrangements which we did. It was quite a shock to us when two large SUVs pulled up to our house at the time we were to leave. Unfortunately somehow the message from my friend to cancel did not get delivered properly so both showed up. Since we had already paid a deposit to the limo service, we took it. The ride was very fast with many last second lane changes and even though the outside appearance looked OK, at one point as we were getting close to the airport, we heard a bell ding and every warning light on the dashboard went off. We were really afraid it was not going to make it to the airport – thankfully it did. This was just the first of our many adventures.

Check in and getting through security was easy and we stopped for a farewell drink and a sandwich at One Flew South in Terminal E. I had a fantastic duck sandwich. The tone of what our trip would be like became evident very quickly as my wife had a $17 glass of Super Tuscan and Kathy had an $18 glass of some kind of white wine (ouch!).

We had an uneventful on-time overnight flight from Atlanta to Milan arriving very early on Thursday May 10th. Three of the four of us had several good hours of ambien-aided sleep. It was a little strange to have to exit out of the plane down some stairs and take a bus to the terminal. As we were waiting for our luggage, my wife’s iPhone rang and it showed an Italian phone number on the display. It turned out to be our limo driver (we had arranged it through our hotel) telling us he was there and where to meet him. We had another very fast ride to the Lancaster Hotel. As we pulled up, the bellboys ran outside and immediately took our luggage. http://www.hotellancaster.it/inglese/home.html We were very pleased with everything about this hotel (including the location) and the service from everyone was outstanding.

Our rooms were ready so we quickly unpacked and decided to walk through Parco Sempione to Castello Sforzesco then on to the Galleria Vittoria Emanuele and the Duomo. Our first mission though was to stop for a coffee and we found a nice place close to our hotel. We sat outside enjoying some pastry and coffee when one of us looked at our watch and noticed it was only about 10 AM. We were really in Italy and we had a whole day in front of us!

It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed our walk through the Arch of Peace then in to the park. We went past a little pond with lots of big fish swimming around and dozens of turtles sunning on the edge. It was so quiet and peaceful that it seemed hard to believe we were in the middle of one of Italy’s largest and busiest cities. We continued on toward Castello Sforzesco - we did not go in but we were impressed with how huge it was.

We eventually came to the Piazza del Duomo and decided to check out the Galleria first before having lunch. We walked through it and laughed at the sight of a really fancy McDonald’s across from Prada. We eventually came out the other side and walked over to La Scala – what an unassuming entrance to the most famous opera house in the world. We took a few pictures of Leonardo da Vinci’s statue and went back in the Galleria. For good luck, each of us took a turn spinning on our heel on the bull’s private parts – or at least where they used to be. Now I’m not claiming this little ritual was responsible for all our good fortune on this trip but…….we did seem to have more than our share of good luck.

We then had a late, long and expensive lunch (our own fault for letting Salvatore from Sicily talk us in to some outrageously expensive but delicious dishes and prosecco) sitting outside at one of the cafes in the piazza - looking at the duomo and celebrating Kathy’s birthday. Even though it was incredibly expensive, we had a really nice time. As we were having lunch, the phone rang again with an Italian number on the display. It turned out to be another limo service saying they had tried to meet me at the airport. Holy cow, it seemed crazy to have limo problems on both ends of our trip! I had tried to make reservations with them to meet us at MXP but they never answered any of my numerous emails after my initial contact with them. I had given them all our info (date, time, number of people, where we were going) in my initial request but they never even acknowledged receiving my email nor did they ever let me know that it was set up so I assumed for some reason they had never made the reservation (for all I knew they had gone out of business because I could get no reply) and I made other arrangements through our hotel.

We then toured the inside of the Duomo – what an impressive place. The audio guide was not good but the interior was great. The paintings and statues inside the duomo were unbelievable. The statue of St. Bartholomew was a bit weird. Of course he would be after being skinned alive and carrying his own skin on his shoulder. We had quite a time finding the place behind the Duomo and across the street to buy the tickets to go up on the roof. The roof top itself and the view from it are just incredible – we took a lot of pictures and really liked it up there.

After finally coming back down, we decided to take a break inside the Galleria so we found a nice place and had a glass of wine. We then headed back towards the hotel but we took a detour past Santa Maria delle Grazie (the church where the Last Supper is) to get our bearings for our visit there in the morning. After a quick gelato stop, we had a longer than expected and very hot walk back to our hotel. We walked close to a high brick wall which we dubbed the “prison” walls - they became a landmark for us. Karl and I thought we were close to our hotel but it seemed to take forever to get there and the ladies let us know they were not very happy about it – hot, tired ladies with hurting feet can be pretty scary.

We finally got to our hotel, took a short rest, then went out for dinner on Via Monti – our favorite neighborhood street. As we were walking to dinner, my wife told Karl he didn’t have to be afraid of her anymore – she had better shoes on and it wasn’t so hot. Too funny! We found a wonderful little place with outside seating and had caprese salads, pizza and a calzone for Karl (and of course some more red wine). On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a store for some basic necessities (a big box of tissues, bottled water and wine – LOL!). We had a lemoncello at the hotel bar before calling it a day. An excellent first day in Milan!

Milan Day 2: We had a good breakfast at the hotel (included in the price). We figured out how the trams worked and took one to see the Last Supper. I had reserved and paid for the 9:30 English tour online from home the day tickets went on sale for our date. Tickets had gone on sale February 9th at exactly 8 AM Italy time (2 AM Atlanta time) for all May dates. I had logged on to the web site at 2 AM and had everything finished and my receipt printed by 2:10. I showed that receipt at the desk 20 minutes before our time and easily picked up our tickets. We walked around and took lots of pics of the exterior while we waited for our time. We had to go through the air locks but finally we were inside with only 25 of us in the huge room looking at this incredible masterpiece. The painting on the back wall was almost as fantastic as The Last Supper. Fifteen minutes seems way too short but it is well worth it.

While we were waiting for our time, I had found a gift shop off the courtyard that was attached to the church and I knew my wife wanted to buy a book so I stepped outside the door and called for her to come over. Well this really upset the lady behind the counter. She said didn’t I know that Mass was going on and I needed to be silent? I said I was sorry but I had no idea Mass was going on (we had not been inside of the church yet). My response evidently didn’t satisfy her because she kicked me out and wouldn’t let any of our group in to the gift shop. After seeing the Last Supper, we went past the gift shop again and luckily someone else was behind the counter so we went in and bought our book. I felt really bad about upsetting the lady so much.

We stopped at a café on our favorite Via Monti again for a coffee then we decided to go to the fashion district and caught a tram heading in that general direction. We weren’t sure of exactly where to go and as we were talking about it on the tram, a girl overheard us talking, excused herself and asked if we minded if she helped us out. She was very nice and very helpful (she actually led us to Montenapoleone Street and told us lots of details about what to do at La Scala). We window shopped in the fashion district for a while (saw some unbelievable prices – one shop showed a dress, a pocketbook and shoes for about 13,000€) and decided to have lunch at a small sidewalk café. There was no English here and we had a more-than-usual difficult time trying to get something ordered. Finally the ladies just went inside, pointed at some food and that’s what we had. It was delicious. After lunch, we window shopped some more - some of the streets in the fashion district are gorgeous. All the planters lined up on both sides of the street full of flowers or shrubs, the lush rooftop gardens and the fantastic architecture make it very picturesque. We went in to a huge Armani store (it covered a whole block). There seemed to be more store security people than customers – it was a bit intimidating - but we walked around and looked at some fairly outrageous items. We decided we were not their target market. LOL! We then took a tram back to the hotel.

We wanted a quick early dinner before going to see Tosca at La Scala so we went to a tiny little restaurant around the corner from our hotel to get a panini. The old couple who owned the place did not speak any English so the wife ran down to the hotel and asked Tatiana (the woman behind the hotel’s desk) to come and interpret for us but we had it all figured out by the time she got there. We were their only customers and I think they stayed open just for us – it was a neat experience with the old couple taking really good care of us. As we were eating, a couple with a funny little dog stopped by and we chatted about the dog for a while. He was named Baloo after the bear from the Jungle Book Disney movie (I think I watched that movie a thousand times with my granddaughter so I am very familiar with Baloo).

We dressed and had the hotel order a taxi. The hotel staff took a couple of pictures of us – it felt sort of like we going to a prom. We had bought tickets online from home for Tosca the day they went on sale for our date (3 AM Atlanta time on February 22nd). I have posted a separate thread on how we bought them and how much fun we had doing it. Tosca (and our whole La Scala theatre experience) was great! We arrived when the doors opened and spent some time looking around. We had great seats in the 8th row on the floor. There is supposedly a strict no-pictures rule but when I asked the usher if I could take one, he was really nice and said yes to just one (I cheated and took a few more than one but he just looked the other way). It was nice to have the little screens on the seatback in front of us to be able to follow it in English.

These tickets were so expensive and I had such high expectations that at first I felt a little disappointed - but not for long. I’m not sure why or how but I started to really enjoy it midway through the performance. At intermission we had a prosecco at the bar inside. The second act was great too and at the second intermission we went outside to have a drink but could never find the place that the girl on the tram had told us about. The third act was short and after several well-deserved curtain calls, it did not take long to catch a taxi back to the hotel. It was a crazy taxi ride. At times driving crazy fast and swerving in and out of lanes – at other times being stuck in bad traffic. My wife and Kathy started laughing as the driver was literally racing a man riding a bicycle next to us for several blocks. We finally made it back to the hotel where we again had a lemoncello at the hotel bar and called it a day. An excellent second day in Milan!

Milan does not get very good reviews on this forum but we had a great time during our two days there and the areas of the city we visited were very nice. I know there is a lot more to see but we were very satisfied with what we did and would certainly recommend spending a couple of days at the beginning or end of your trip if flying in or out of Milan – especially if you can score Last Supper and/or La Scala tickets.

Venice – 3 days

Venice Day 1: The room did not have a coffee maker in it so both mornings I went to the restaurant’s kitchen and ordered a pot to take back. In another thread I had said that morning coffee is not a luxury or optional for my wife – it is a necessity – so my duty is to provide that coffee every morning. After a little confusion on the first day I was able to get a nice pot of coffee (at no charge) to enjoy in the room while we were getting dressed. On the second day, he knew exactly what I wanted and got it ready as soon as he saw me walk in to the restaurant. Like I said, we really liked the Hotel Lancaster and the staff. We had another good breakfast at the hotel, packed and had Tatiana at the front desk order a station wagon taxi to take us and our luggage to Centrale train station to catch our 11:35 train to Venice.

It was a quick uneventful taxi ride and we had a coffee at the station while we waited for our train. It was on time and we easily found our first class seats, stowed our light luggage on the racks above and our big luggage on the floor between the seats. We had an uneventful two and a half hour ride to Venice made a little easier by the free prosecco offered in first class. Because I had chosen the ticketless option when I bought the tickets, I showed the conductor our payment receipt that I had printed out at home, he scanned the bar code on it and it took all of 2 seconds to complete the process. Very efficient.

It was easy getting off the train and out to the water taxi area. We had to call our B&B (our iPhone worked great) so they could give the taxi driver directions to the hotel’s water dock. Our B&B said it should cost about 50€ but the taxi driver wanted 80€. I held out and he finally agreed to 50€ - but I ended up giving him 55€. It turned out that the tides weren’t right for a taxi to be able to get to the B&B’s water door so we had to get out at a public dock on the Grand Canal instead of right at the B&B. It was a longer, hotter walk than we expected to get to the B&B. As we were walking towards the B&B, one of the owners (Alberto) met us part way to help with luggage. As we were checking in, another couple came in to check in too. The other owner (Jockomo) nicely explained to the lady that she was at the wrong B&B - hers was farther down the street. How embarrassing!

There was no lift so Alberto made several trips and carried our luggage up to our rooms. We really liked our B&B. http://www.cabonvicini.com/eng/rooms.html K & K had a smaller room with a small balcony and we had a bigger room with no balcony. Our room was the one in the picture and I liked it better than the small one with the balcony.

We were so excited to be in Venice that we decided to go for lunch before unpacking. We found a neat looking place in a small piazza but the waiter was really nasty – he was extremely rude and had a really BAD attitude. We eventually had some bad wine and good snacks. This was the only bad waiter experience we had during our entire 2 weeks in Italy. We then walked towards the Accademia Bridge (poked our heads in a neat museum with fantastic architecture) and wandered around some more through some very beautiful areas. I think we took a picture of every canal, little bridge and villa we saw. We bought a 72 hour vaporetto pass and took it back to our neighborhood.

The weather was good (it was supposed to rain later in the week) so we decided to take a gondola ride. It took a while for all of us to agree on which gondola and where to go but we finally found one and went through a neat deserted area of Venice. Our gondolier seemed to know everyone hanging out of their windows and it was really interesting to see this quiet part of Venice. We eventually came out in to the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge and we were dropped off on the other side from where our B&B was located. So to get across, we took our first traghetto ride (it was a lot of fun and yes we stood up). There was a priest on board and Kathy told my wife it was a sign that we would make it across without falling in – LOL!! I jokingly said that I thought he should make like Moses and part the boats coming down the canal so we could get across safely. I saw a little smile on his face as I said this so I asked him if he spoke English and he said he did. We had a nice chat with him (found out his church was near the train station) and with a grin on his face he told us he expected to see us there tomorrow when they do a Gregorian chant at the 11:00 Sunday Mass. He was a super nice guy – I kind of wish we would have gone to his Mass and heard the chant but it just didn’t happen.

We then found a restaurant with a great outside garden area for dinner. We had a great meal with lots of prosecco and chianti, some fried mixed fish and seafood, a pasta seafood dish with squid in black ink, a penne and salad special, lots of desserts and lots of laughs. We didn’t notice it was cash only until we were paying – we barely had enough. As we left, I bet the others that we were only a couple of hundred yards away from our B&B – and we were.

As we went up the stairs to our rooms, the lights in the stairwell came on with some kind of motion sensor. We chatted in the hallway for a bit then we opened our door and put the key card in the slot but our lights did not come on. About this time the hallway lights automatically went out and we were standing in pitch dark trying to find the light switch in our room. Pretty funny! A little later we all came to our room, attached our cameras to the TV and drank wine while we looked at some of the pics we had taken so far. We eventually went to bed and still hadn’t unpacked – a great first day in Venice!

TTT

I like long TRs and really enjoyed all of the details of yours. You took me back to our stay on Lake Como and gave me some good ideas for Venice. Thanks for taking the time to post.

Agree with TPAYT! Thanks again. I think most posters suggest that 2 days is plenty to see sites in Milan. What else would you have visited had you stayed longer? Not being snarky--just curious. It may be that guide books are not mentioning enough places?

TPAYT - thanks - my cliff notes version of the first few days has been bothering me for months - I just felt the need to fix it. We had dinner the other night with the couple we went to Italy with and we all said we would love to go back to Lake Como again. We really enjoyed our time in Bellagio.

TDudette - since I knew we were only there for 2 days I did not research much more than what we did but I had found a few things I would have done had we had more time. I would have liked to have visited the Monumental Cemetery. The Brera and Navigli districts seem interesting. And there were several churches, museums and gardens that I would have liked to visit. Our pace is relatively slow (we tend to linger and not rush through most places) but probably one or two more days at the most (3 or 4 total) would be what I would recommend to see the best of Milan. Having just said that, I would not have given up any days at the other places we visited on this trip for more days in Milan - so two days is probably about right for most people to see the major sites of Milan - and I think they are well worth seeing.

Thanks, john183. Upon googling the districts, they look like great neighborhoods:

http://www.italylogue.com/things-to-do/wandering-milans-brera-and-navigli-neighborhoods.html

Great info.

Venice Day 2: A good continental breakfast was delivered to our room at the pre-arranged time. We finally unpacked before we left for the day. It was a cloudy, windy and chilly morning so we stopped for a quick coffee. We took our second traghetto ride across the canal (the water was a little rougher this time and we did not have a priest onboard to guarantee our safety but we stood up again anyway) to a vaporetto stop and took it to St Marks.

We went to the top of the bell tower and the sheltered side was nice but the windy side was crazy windy. Even so, the view was terrific and we took a ton of pics. We wanted to go in to St Mark’s Basilica so we lined up and I happened to be the last one of our group in line. As we came to the entrance, the other 3 went on in but I was stopped and told that I had to check my backpack before going in. The others had disappeared inside and I could not tell them what I had to do. It took me a little while to find the place to check my backpack – at first I followed a guy I thought was going to check his backpack too but he ended up just heading off somewhere. I eventually found the place (it was about a half a block away down a little side street and they told me I could leave it there for only one hour). It had taken so much longer than I thought that I was worried my group would be worried about me. I should have known better – they are all smart people and had figured out what happened and were all waiting just inside the entrance for me.

It was Sunday and there was a Mass going on so we were not allowed in the basilica part. We had all been inside before so we decided to go upstairs to the museum and to the roof where the horses are. It was sheltered from the wind and the views are great - we really enjoyed our time on the roof and took a ton more pics. We also liked the museum and spent a little time looking at everything before heading down and getting my backpack.

We decided to stop for lunch and found a nice little café. We sat outside at first but it was a little too chilly so we went inside and sat at one of the 3 or 4 tables (it was a very tiny place). We ordered some wine and went up to the display case and just pointed at the paninis and desserts that we wanted. Everything was really delicious. As we ate, an old guy brought a huge steaming bowl of penne pasta in and it turned out all the waiters at our café had ordered this pasta from some other place for their lunch. The old guy quickly chugged a beer as his tip and left – pretty funny actually.

We then headed towards the Arsenale to check on the America’s Cup races that were going on. We LOVED the neighborhood we walked through (some kids were having a soccer game in one of the campos) to get there (tons of pics of many very beautiful buildings). We also saw several restaurants that looked like they would be great for dinner but we never made it back to any of them. We eventually came to the old entrance to the Arsenale and took lots of pics of the huge lions and other interesting areas near the entrance. We walked through a really nice old maritime museum and came out near where the America’s Cup boats were docked. We saw several of the boats sail out from the harbor to the race area and watched some of the race on the big screen TV they had set up. We strolled around the whole area while drinking a glass of not very good wine. My wife told Kathy that by the time you drink half, it will start tasting better – and that became our motto whenever we were given wine that was not that great. Too funny!

We saw lots of interesting things and chatted with several interesting security people and naval officers at the Arsenale. We saw the plans to develop a huge (and I mean really huge) complex near here with places to live, shops, restaurants and more. I just can’t imagine that kind of modern area in Venice. We really enjoyed our time here and as we were leaving we met hundreds and hundreds of people just arriving (not sure what was going on). After we left, we stopped at a tiny café for a coffee and the waiter gave the bill to the ladies – because it was Mother’s Day (which we had totally forgotten) and he jokingly said the mothers should pay. We had these kinds of fun and silly interactions everywhere we went on this trip.

We walked to the St Mark’s area and took a vaporetto to the Rialto bridge and went back to the B&B where we rested for an hour. We had a very good (and very expensive) dinner at a nearby restaurant recommended by the B&B. We then went to see the dueling bands at St Mark’s Square. Four bands were playing but it was so late and chilly that there were very few people there so it was not as fun as we hoped it would be. Several people were dancing but the bands were not dueling like they did the last time we were in Venice.

We tried to stop at Harry’s Bar but it was closed so we took a vaporetto to our stop. It was sort of spooky walking through the dark and deserted streets towards our B&B - every now and then meeting a lone walker - but it was neat too. I guess I have read too many of Donna Leone’s Guido Brunetti murder mysteries - most of them set near our Venice neighborhood. As we were walking trying to find our B&B, I was 100% sure Kathy was leading us the wrong way - but I was wrong. We found our B&B and went to bed – another great day in Venice!

We tried to stop at Harry’s Bar but it was closed so we took a vaporetto to our stop. It was sort of spooky walking through the dark and deserted streets towards our B&B - every now and then meeting a lone walker - but it was neat too.>>

on our last trip to Venice, one night we left our [grown up] kids in the apartment, and went out for a walk and a drink. we had a lovely time in various establishments, and about midnight decided to make for the apartment, and found that we were well and truly lost. We felt perfectly safe but rather disorientated as we tried to find our way with the help of a rather crumpled map and it took us about 90 minutes and the accosting of several locals, before we found our way "home".

i too am a Donna Leon fan - i tried to put those thoughts out of my mind while we were wandering about!

annhig - I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time but I bet in hindsight you just can't believe that it could take 90 minutes to find your hotel - heck a person can walk all over Venice in 90 minutes. I know exactly what you mean though - I was completely turned around - and I usually have a good sense of direction. I think I remember reading in your TR that your kids didn't even notice you were late. Too funny! I'm guessing your "lovely time in a few establishments" included several glasses of red wine. LOL!!

I discovered Donna Leon (can't believe I misspelled her name) relatively recently and I'm reading her novels in order. I'm now up to #15 (Through a Glass Darkly). This is going to sound strange but for me, there is something remarkably relaxing about reading these books. I buy them for my kindle but I have the kindle app on my iPhone, iPad and laptop so I can read them pretty much anywhere anytime. Whenever I feel the need to escape, I just pull it up on whatever device is handy and read for a few minutes. I'm transported straight to Venice and real life disappears for a while. I told you it would sound strange!!!

I'm guessing your "lovely time in a few establishments" included several glasses of red wine. LOL!!>>

so "few" that we weren't worried at all and did think it quite funny at the time.

i too find Donna Leon's books relaxing, as I do most detective novels and love the ones set in italy.

Venice Day 3: We woke up to a beautiful bright sunny day (so much for the rain that was forecast – but we weren’t complaining). Another good breakfast was delivered to our room at about 8:30. As we left the B&B, we encountered the Venice version of road construction. There were orange and white construction barriers up and the walkway was closed. The problem was that the construction was along the only way to get to the water dock (without having to go over several bridges) where we were meeting our water taxi (with all our luggage) the next morning to go to Bellagio. Luckily it was all cleared up by then and Alberto helped us with our luggage anyway.

We began the day with a great tour of the Doge’s Palace. Before our trip, we joked a lot about getting put in Italian prison for various infractions so we took plenty of pictures of us behind bars in the jail. We also took some neat close-up pictures of the Bridge of Sighs from one of the windows right next to it. What an interesting place with so much history – we really enjoyed the tour. We stopped for a glass of wine at the Palace’s cafeteria before catching a vaporetto to the Zattere Promenade area.

This vaporetto ride was incredibly beautiful. There were lots of brightly colored sailboats in the brilliant sun with St Mark’s, the Doge’s Palace and the bell tower in the background - unbelievably gorgeous. The ride went across to some stops on the islands (which were incredibly beautiful too). There were many families on the vaporetto that looked like they were going to their homes. We commented that it was just a little different commute than families have on the highways to the suburbs here in Atlanta. Surprisingly, this short boat ride from St Mark’s to the Zattere Promenade is one of the best memories (with some of the best pictures) I have of our time in Venice – it was unbelievably beautiful and neat.

I think it was on this ride that we met a couple of sisters about our age (one from Texas, the other from Mississippi) who were having the trip from hell (in my opinion). I didn’t catch all the details but their original flight yesterday was late causing them to miss their connection so they had to take a later flight to Milan. This caused them to not get to the Milan Centrale train station until very late. They then caught a very late train to Venice. These kinds of things can happen and there is nothing you can do about it so you just make the best of it. However, the next part of their story made me, (a compulsive planner and researcher) just cringe. They thought they had reservations at a hotel in Venice and did not realize it was actually on the mainland in Mestre until they were getting close to Venice (I guess another passenger helped them figure it out). So they got off the train at Mestre very late at night and had to figure out where their hotel was and walk to it. When we met them today at about lunch time, they had just figured out how to get in to Venice, had jumped on a vaporetto and had no idea where they were going (they said something about finding a casino???). It turns out they only had this one day to see Venice because they had to get to Piazzale Roma in the morning to pick up their rental car. They told us they were planning on taking a nice leisurely drive stopping off somewhere in Tuscany (no reservations) for a few days on their way down to the Amalfi Coast (who knows if they had reservations). The most incredible part of the whole thing to me was that they were handling everything that had happened to them (what I would consider extreme misfortune) with really good attitudes. They were quite a pair and our group all agreed they were going to be in for one heck of a road trip! I wonder what ever happened to the two of them and if they ever made it to the Amalfi Coast? Probably because they had mentioned a casino, I can only imagine it was some kind of a Hunter S. Thompson “Fear and Loathing in Italy” adventure in a Cadillac convertible where they completely abused the many vintages of the noble sangiovese grape as they made their way across the country. LOL!

We eventually came to our stop and had lunch at a nice restaurant on the water close to the Zattere stop. Our waiter was extremely efficient, but in a good way. We then went in search of a place supposedly with the best gelato in Venice (I have since found out this place is called Da Nico). We found it and the gelato was delicious. We wandered some more and stumbled across the hotel my wife and I had stayed at in 2001 (The Hotel American Dinesan on Dorsoduro). We had really liked that hotel in 2001 and it still looked very nice. We watched as workers used a huge machine to drive new pilings in and another machine using a huge chain to wrap around and pull old pilings out. We were amazed that people were allowed to walk right next to these huge machines – no barricades or anything. It could be very bad if that huge chain somehow snapped ……..but it didn’t. We saw the supposedly last gondola repair place left in Venice.

We took a vaporetto to Piazzale Roma to see where we would pick up rental car the next morning. We then decided to just wander back to our B&B. We saw the hotel K & K stayed at when they were in Venice last year (also very nice) and we eventually came to Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari which we had wanted to see but it was just closing. A very nice ticket person told us that Mass was starting in 10 minutes in a side chapel and they would open the doors to the church for that. We waited and went in once they were opened – fantastic church – my wife rated it possibly the best she has ever seen.

We went back to the B&B and rested an hour before having dinner at a nearby more modern-decorated restaurant - the food and service were very good. Back to the B&B (we had no issues at all finding it this time) and had some wine while we packed to leave in the morning. Finally finished packing and went to bed – an excellent last day in Venice!

I’m glad I went back and filled in the details of our first few days – it was very enjoyable remembering the fun times we had. I thought I would go ahead and put all the links in one place. I see that the link to the Hotel Florence above does not work anymore.

Hotel Lancaster in Milan: http://www.hotellancaster.it/inglese/home.html

Ca' Bonvicini in Venice: http://www.cabonvicini.com/eng/rooms.html

Hotel Florence in Bellagio: http://www.hotelflorencebellagio.it/

Villa Sampaguita near Asti: http://www.villasampaguita.com/Live/home.cfm

First Hotel near MXP: http://www.firsthotel.it/en/index.php

A few pictures: http://john183italy2012.shutterfly.com/pictures/8

Remembering our conversation with the two ladies we met on the vaporretto that were having the trip from hell made me start thinking about our trip. Now that 5 months have passed and the memories have settled in, I don’t think I would change a thing if I had it to do all over again. Even though everything was not perfect, it was a perfect vacation. On each of our previous two trips to Italy, after some particularly challenging logistical event (usually involving travel from one place to another), my wife and I would look at each other and say something like “this is hard work”. We had none of those moments on this trip – everything seemed to work out fine. I know our style of travel is not for everyone but it works great for us. Can’t wait for our next trip!

Hi John,

Thanks for coming back with your expanded version of Milan & Venice! I enjoyed it very much! I had to go back to read about your stay in Bellagio again. It really is a magical place!

Currently, DH & I are working on an itinerary for Italy (2013). The planning stage is fun. This is when anything is possible! Milan is still in the running. We are also considering Lucca as a base. On a map, it looks like we can make a day trip to the Cinque Terre.

Glad you & your wife had a perfect vacation! Where to next?

annhig - it's amazing what can be funny after having a lovely time in a "few" establishments. We had been to a "few" establishments in the North Beach area of San Francisco one time and had a heck of a time finding a running cable car to get back to our hotel late one night. We eventually found one and actually howled at the moon while hanging off the side of it. At the time we thought it was pretty funny. Amazing!

2010 - thanks - have fun planning your trip. When in 2013? If Milan does make the final cut - do try to get good seats to see an opera at La Scala - it's quite a memorable event. And if you make it to the CT, try to take the high trail from Manarola to Corniglia - it's not that difficult and it is just gorgeous.

Thank you for a great trip report, and such beautiful pictures! Your writing style definitely brings out how much fun you had throughout your journeys! I'm so glad you didn't stick to the Cliffs notes version!

ShellD - thanks - I see from other threads that you are planning quite an adventure for next June. I'm not sure of all the details but it sounds like you will have lots of logistics to deal with. Good luck with the planning and have fun on the trip!

Continued thanks, john183.

Thanks TDudette - you are always very kind to me. I don't know if you saw this but in the pictures I posted of our trip to France with our granddaughter in June of 2011, I dedicated our picture of Psyche and Cupid in the Louvre to you because of your comments about the sculpture.

How nice of you! I went back to your TR and found the shot. I don't usually read the captions--I would have thanked you then.

Merci, merci, merci.

Bookmarking for later

John ...just came across this report and pix today....thank you...superb in every sense of the word.....was very nostalgic for me. Many more happy travels folks!
stu