annhig, I did think about moving. But I figured more people would be getting on at later stops, and I didn't want to deal with moving back once I was all settled somewhere! I had socks to knit, after all. It is weird how the seats are allocated. Maybe there's a secret code or something.

uhoh, you know the #1 vaporetto is ALWAYS the party boat.

>>>jent - i don't understand how they allocate seat reservations either!<<<

Trenitalia doesn't make it easy to find, but you can actually select your seats from a seating chart for the fast trains if you book on the right area of their website (just like selecting seats on planes online). Do a walk through and be sure to click the box "select your seat". It's a bit quirky so you must spell the cities exactly the way they want (watch the autofill and copy the one you want).

http://www.ferroviedellostato.it/cms...003f16f90aRCRD

ky - lacking wifi in my hotel in orbetello, I had to buy my ticket at the station, and it didn't occur to me to ask about the seat reservation. - not sure my italian would have been up to that, even at the end of my week's italian course.

thanks for the link - next time.

kybourbon, that's a great link! I'll definitely file it away for the next trip.

Ah, the joys of travel!

Enjoying this post. Headed for Italy in Aug/Sept and taking notes.

Thanks, ifnotnow! Should have another installment posted tomorrow. Darn life has been getting in the way.

<b>Day 10: Take a Hike (Tuesday, May 17)</b>

Another hotel where breakfast doesn’t even start till 8:30. I love Italy. We went downstairs and another young man - the brother of the one we talked to the night before, turns out - seated us and asked us for drink orders. M got a cappuccino, which arrived at our table with an adorable little cocoa heart. Who knows if that was typical practice or just for M (I have my guesses ), but we were both getting used to attention from Italian men. Our beverages, both decorated and undecorated, came with a selection of rolls, cornetti, fruit, yogurt and cereals.

Neither of us are huge outdoors people, but we like to do some easy/moderate hiking of the “very well designated trails” variety. I knew that there was a walk up to Castello di Vezio above Varenna, and we had found a web page that talked about a hike to the church of San Martino, near Griante. That particular hike sounded like kids did it, so surely it’s not THAT hard, but a) we’d seen the church from across the lake the night before, hanging out by itself on a cliff, and b) given our previous luck with finding things, I was afraid we’d get to Cadenabbia and there would be no signs or we’d end up wandering around all day trying to figure out where to go. So we headed to Varenna and Castello di Vezio.

In retrospect I was so glad that we went hiking that morning, because it ended up being the only non-hazy time we had at the lake. From the ferry dock, we wandered till we found one of the directional signs, then headed uphill. Way uphill. We passed a random cat who stared at us and a sign posted, I’m guessing, by a family who was tired of hikers wandering down their driveway looking for the castle!

We bought our tickets at the cafe-slash-ticket office, then made our way past the owl and up to the base of the castle. The views here really are fantastic. We just hung out for awhile, checking out the hawks and the two exhibits inside the castle tower. At the top of the tower, we met a very nice man who is actually from Varenna - he said he and his wife winter in Como, but both work at one of the hotels in Bellagio in the summers and stay in his mother’s home in Varenna then. He had the day off and decided to come to the castle. We chatted for awhile, and he suggested we take a different route back downhill to town, past the cemetery and taking a detour to Fiumelatte. So we did!

I had been expecting a paved-ish trail like the one from the ferry, but this was a dirt hiking trail. So that was fun to get down those steep hills on. Eventually we made it to the cemetery, then to a “suburb” of Varenna (or so it seemed) and to Fiumelatte, the shortest river in Italy. There’s a little bridge over the river where we took photos, then we went uphill, following another sign that said “sorgente ->”. After a few minutes, we found a hole in the rock that was framed out and figured that’s what the sign was talking about.

We decided to have a nice lunch somewhere in Varenna, then eat a lighter dinner at the wine bar recommended to us the night before in Bellagio. We ended up at Albergo del Sole, eating lunch under the tents on their patio. We split grilled vegetables “fondue” - just in case anyone else was unaware, apparently here this means “grilled vegetables covered in melted cheese slices,” not “vegetables you dunk in liquid cheese.” Either way, cheese and vegetables are involved. I then had walnut ravioli (yum), and M broke her “don’t order lasagna in restaurants because it’s not as good as Mom’s” rule.

After lunch, we followed the signs for “gelato artiginale.” Sounded like a no-brainer to us. I don’t remember exactly which gelato shop we ended up at, but I really think Gelateria del Teatro spoiled us for the rest of the trip. Nothing else even compared. Still, can’t complain, right? The gelateria was just a couple of doors down from a shop full of silk clothes and accessories, where I got my favorite souvenir of the trip: a mostly black silk scarf with threads of yellow, red, pink and green running through it. We saw it before our gelato stop, and I debated for awhile, but decided if I was still thinking about it after we ate, I’d go back and get it. And I was. So I did. I still love it.

We meandered back to the ferry and back to Bellagio, then spent a couple of hours relaxing in our hotel. Our trip had gone from gogogosomuchtoseegogogogogo in Rome, to a more relaxed itinerary in Venice, to now the most relaxing few days of the trip. I really liked having things in this order - I needed to go home relaxed, not stressed! Around 8:30, we decided we were hungry and headed for the wine bar, only to discover that it was closed on Tuesdays. Oops. Well, didn’t the nice hotel guy say the best pizza in town was down by the lake? Sounds good to us. So we had pizza at Carillon by the lake, and it was indeed good.

Pictures from today: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenthom...7626993571890/

Thanks for sharing your pics. Bellagio was on our original itinerary for our recent trip, but we had to drop it due to time constraints. Sounds like a lovely time (we love hiking) and this area is on our definite list for next time. It does indeed sound like a relaxing place.

elnap, it basically defines relaxation, I think. Actually for that reason, I have mixed feelings about going again. One of our observations from this part of the trip was that "it doesn't seem like people come here to <i>do</i> things. It seems like they come here to sit and drink wine and look at the lake." It was actually harder to find information on hikes than I anticipated. Castello di Vezio was the walk that was mentioned the most, but really if you're into big hiking, it's no big deal. The whole way up is cobblestoned, if I remember correctly. There is information on other hikes and walks, but it definitely didn't feel like that was the main focus of the region, if that makes sense. (I went to the Banff/Lake Louise area in Canada last year, and it was completely different - in that part of the world, you can't walk anywhere without seeing a hiking trail, it felt like!)

It is a beautiful, beautiful place and I'm really glad I saw it. And the relaxation came at a perfect time for us - as the last leg of a busy trip, it was great. But I wouldn't (personally) plan a trip just to Lake Como, probably. Two full days was about right for us. But there are lots of other people who love it and would spend weeks there.

<b>Day 11: Lazy Day Around the Lake (Wednesday, May 18)</b>

So the night before, M had said she’d like to go see one of the villas around the lake. Me: “M, which villa would you like to go to?” M: “The one with George Clooney in it.” Alas, they don’t really tell you which one that is in the guidebooks. So after another breakfast and heart-decorated cappuccino, we headed for the ferry and bought the combination tickets for the day ferry pass and Villa Carlotta.

The botanical gardens at the villa were so pretty - I’ve been to several in various places, but hadn’t seen an orange grove or so much hibiscus. M’s parents own a greenhouse in her hometown, so she was into it too. The house itself was interesting - I liked seeing the family’s furniture in some of the rooms, rather than every room housing only art.

After a few hours at the villa, we looked at the ferry schedule and realized the next ferry wasn’t for quite awhile, so we headed down to Tremezzo for lunch. We looked at a few places and ended up at one of the lakeside restaurants, where we were literally the only customers for awhile. Eventually an American couple sat down a couple of tables over. I had tuna insalate, M had gnocchi bolognese. We looked at the lake. Yes, this place is definitely relaxing. Until, of course, the restaurant sound system started playing Rihanna and Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. I’m telling you, there is almost nowhere in this world one can escape from those three.

We hadn’t yet been to Menaggio, so that was on the agenda for after lunch. Back at the ferry dock, we started to get on the boat that, per the schedule, was headed to Menaggio, but the ferry man held up his hand and said “Two minutes.” Okay. Whatever. We had learned to trust the ferry men at this point. True to his word, another boat came up to the dock two minutes later, and we were off.

Menaggio felt more like a real populated, less touristy town than Bellagio, though there were still plenty of tourists around. We got some gelato, though I was really gelato-ed out at this point (the horror!). We walked up a street to San Stefano, down another street and saw a yarn shop, which excited me. However, when we walked in, there was only one wall of yarn and the rest seemed to be lingerie or something. Interesting combination. We heard a man very carefully ask the shopkeeper “Quanto costa, signora?”, to which she replied, “Five euros.” That was pretty much the response I’d gotten nearly every time I tried to use Italian - “that’s nice and all, but clearly both our lives will be easier if I just speak English to you.” A little more wandering and a stop by Benetton for M, and we slowly headed back to the ferry. We could see storm clouds brewing over Varenna, but we never got rained on at all.

Back in Bellagio, we wandered through some shops along the lake, then back to the hotel to hang out for awhile. Around 8:30 we decided we should probably go eat dinner, so it was back to Salita Serbelloni and the wine bar we’d tried to visit the night before. It was a very cool, fun place - it felt more modern than most things we’d seen in the area, with banquettes and wine coolers. We sat in the back beside the “wine cave” (not the official name for it, probably, but that’s what it looked like). They had a decently large menu of pastas, starters and a few mains - good for a light dinner. I got lasagna and don’t remember what M had, but we both enjoyed it. What we enjoyed more was our dining companions. There were two British women in the corner. A man (I believe Italian) came in with some friends and, while looking over the wine list, spontaneously broke into song. The British women started giggling at him (I mean, who wouldn’t). His response:

“Music is my passion. After large, gentle women, music is my greatest passion.”

Pictures from today: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenthom...7627022088652/

Now THAT is memorable!

I created an account here specifically to comment and tell you how much I appreciated/enjoyed your review. I'm about your age and will be spending 12 days in Italy on my honeymoon in September. We'll be in Venice, Florence, Sorrento and Rome, so your descriptions and pictures of Venice and Rome in particular were extremely helpful to me (and made me even more excited than I already was). Thanks for sharing!

erries, thank you so much! I'm so glad. Congratulations on your wedding and I hope you have a wonderful time on your honeymoon!

I've loving this report! You take wonderful photos. It's cool that you seem very versatile with your photos: grand scenery, small details, and quirky funny things, too.

Thank you so much, SelfPropelled! I do like taking them.

--

Last installment...

<b>Day 12: The Ferry to the Train to Milan to the Plane (Thursday, May 19)</b>

One last breakfast at Hotel Centrale. Two more cappuccinos with hearts for M. We settled up at the front desk (they split our bill in half and put it on two credit cards, no problem), then asked the brother on duty if there was a ticket machine at the Varenna train station, since upon our arrival it looked like the tiniest train station I’d ever been in. His reply:

“Absolutely not! You take the ferry? Yes. You keep your ticket, you get on the train. If they ask, you show them you come from Bellagio and cannot buy ticket. You buy on the train. If no one ask, you don’t pay! <shrug> ...Italia!” Oh my goodness, this country goes against all my type A-ness, but I love it.

We walk downhill to the ferry docks and buy our tickets to Varenna. There’s one about to leave, and they kindly hold the boat just long enough for both of us to get on with our bags. One last ride on sunny Lake Como. We arrive in Varenna and meander up to the train station, and on the way I saw the tourist information office. They sell tickets there! Let’s just get them. I think M would have been fine taking the advice of our hotel clerk, but as we’ve discussed, I am a Rule Follower. And it’s a regional train so they’re cheap. The agent at the tourist office informs us that we’ve just missed the 10:37 train to Milan, and the next one is in... two hours. Well, we’ve already walked around Varenna quite awhile on Tuesday, and we have our luggage with us, so we just head to the station.

It was a beautiful day, we had benches in the shade and books to read and socks to knit, so we just had a lovely two hours waiting for the train and people-watching. We talked to a couple, he from Singapore and she from Malaysia, who tried to convince us that our next trip should be Asia. We saw an American couple drag their FIVE suitcases up the hill, waiting for our train, and then heard the husband ask his wife for permission to take his skateboard (yes, skateboard) on one last ride down the hill. “Okay, but I want you back here in five minutes!” We saw Italian women as old as my grandmas still walking up the hill, greeting friends who were getting off the train. It’s a novel idea, I know, but I think living somewhere where you can (and must) walk up hills to get around may be better for your health than driving everywhere. Crazy.

Eventually our train arrived. We hopped on with our carry-ons. The couple with five suitcases disappeared, I can only assume swallowed alive by all those bags. Someone did, in fact, come by and check our tickets, so I was glad that we’d stopped to buy them!

We arrived at Milano Centrale in an hour - what a contrast to the station we’d just left. We bought our tickets for the train to Malpensa the next morning (no problems using our non-chip cards in the ticket machines), then walked outside to find Hotel Berna. I looked on my CityMaps2Go app, which had the hotel stored already. We found the street, walked down it, and lo and behold there it was. What was this? We didn’t get lost? Milan is scoring points already.

Hotel Berna, with its front desk staff in suits and security doors and chocolates on the pillows, felt like the lap of luxury to two budget travelers. I had tried to get us tickets to see the Last Supper, checking the site at 7:30am the day they released the May tickets, but even that was too late. So we really had no firm plans. We settled in, looked at the map the front desk clerk had given us, and decided to walk down to the Duomo area, stopping at Lush on the way. (I don’t have one in Nashville. It’s a source of bitterness.) The hotel was close to the metro, of course, but it didn’t seem like long of a walk and we figured it would let us see more of the city. We’re fans of walking. Lush is on Via Dante, a main shopping street, so we spent awhile checking things out before heading to the Duomo.

I was actually surprised by how much I liked the Duomo. After seeing gold and mosaics and marble and other ways to show off wealth in the churches of Rome and Venice, the Milan Duomo seemed plain by comparison, which I loved. To me it felt more like a place to worship than the churches filled with those things. We spent awhile walking around, marveling at how huge the place is.

After the Duomo, we headed through Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele II (marveling at the McDonald’s across from the Prada - I’m sure we’re totally the first people to notice the irony there). M found the hat shop at the non-Duomo end. The whole trip she’d been wanting a hat, inspired by all the fascinators at the royal wedding. Alas, that shop was quite pricy, so no luck there. No luck finding an AC Milan jersey for my nephew either - apparently three-year-old sizes are hard to come by.

Next up, I wanted to see La Scala. My map said it should be just across the piazza at the back of the mall. There was a building there, but this must be the back - it’s so plain, but it does have playbills for tonight’s concert. Memories of our trip to Santa Maria Maggiore in my head, we walked all over the area, looking for the way to get to the front, with no luck. Finally we ended up back at the piazza and realized that this must, in fact, BE the front. I had been expecting something much more grand. So far, Milan is much more understated than I’d expected!

Loveitaly had given us a last-minute restaurant recommendation for our last dinner, so we figured we’d at find it and check out the menu (it wasn’t dinnertime yet). The prices were more expensive than the menu on their web site, so we thought we’d check out some other places. We headed back down Via Dante and quickly realized we’d be paying that much for a sit-down dinner anyway, so we might as well go somewhere we knew was good! Still, it was only 6ish, and nowhere decent was open, so more shopping was in order.

We walked by a store that had scarves in the window. I was still on the lookout for a pashmina-type scarf, so we popped in. “They have HATS!” M said. Yes, yes they do. We walked in, a salesman took note, and M started trying on hats. Two red, two black, and a white. She ended up with a very tasteful white headband number. Me: “Where are you going to wear that in Memphis?” M: “Anywhere I want to.” Valid point.

After providing great amusement to all the salesmen in the store, we headed back to Piazza Mercanti and Ristorante al Mercante, Loveitaly’s choice for us. We got there around 6:45 - of course the restaurant wasn’t open, and we knew we would be terribly early for a fashionable dinner, but the last thing I’d had to eat was an apple and a cookie at the Varenna train station. So we didn’t really care. About 6:50, a man wearing jeans and a polo shirt gestured to the outdoor tables. “Due?” “Si.” “OK. Ten minutes?” So we sat and waited for the restaurant to open. Lo and behold, the polo shirt man comes back in a dapper waiter outfit. Yes, we got there so early the wait staff wasn’t even dressed yet. He didn’t seem to hold it against us.

We ordered two primi - fusilli with pesto for M, and I tried the risotto milanese. It was amazing. I can still taste it. I really need to figure out how to make that. We shared sliced beef with the best potatoes ever for a secondi, and then split a chocolate cake for dessert. All the while we just watched our last night in Italy happen - the driver waiting for a VIP at the sedan across from our table, Italian friends meeting for wine and dinner, our waiter flirting with us and pretending we were never allowed to leave. I miss it there. The total was &euro;68 - much more than we’d ever spent on dinner, but seemingly par for the course in Milan and for a great dinner.

We walked back to the hotel. Again, we did not get lost. Milan gets major points for being laid out semi-logically. Early to bed, for we had a train and a flight to catch. We ran late enough in the morning to make me stress about missing our train (I blame this on M wanting to keep her awesome glass Nutella container she’d had since Rome, but needing to scrape out the remaining Nutella in order to get it past airport security - finally I took it and wiped it out with toilet paper, so hopefully the hotel staff doesn’t hate us for leaving a giant blob of Nutella in the trash can). But we made it.

I feel like Malpensa is somewhat confusing for the first-time visitor, but we made it through security in plenty of time to have one last cornetto and fresh squeezed orange juice. The agent checking our passports made small talk. “Were you here for business or pleasure?” “Pleasure!” “Oh, where did you go?” “Rome, Venice, and Bellagio.” “<laugh> Bellagio? You want to see George Clooney!” “Haha. Yes, that’s exactly it.” “Well, unfortunately George is not here right now. He is actually in the States.” How the airport man knew so much about George Clooney’s schedule I’m not sure. They did make M check her suitcase (hers is rather deep), but fortunately the bag made it onto the flight without problems, unless you count having to wait for it at baggage claim in Atlanta as a problem.

We spent our Atlanta layover calling home, charging phones and eating Chick-Fil-A (which we walked two terminals down to find). I guess there were some things I missed...

Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenthom...th/5862388024/

Brava! Great report and great traveling attitude!

yes - loved it.

can I come with you next time, please?

love this report - and so much useful information for future planning, definitely bookmarking! Wish I was there now!! Thanks for sharing.

You will have to return to Como now that George is available again.