Du Lac Menaggio

... hill to the Volta Lighthouse. If it wasn't for the foggy view we would have had a great panoramic view of Lake Como and it's surrounds.
After walking back down to Como we caught the bus out to Belaggio which is at the furthest point on the lake. Town was completely dead. a couple of cafes and post card shops open and that was it!
Some nice ...

... in a much better mood than before.

The next day I had my Italian/English lesson with Daniela. It was rainy and gloomy and I wasn't in the mood for it-we were going to go to the grocery store to practice my speaking (I was going to order meat for her). Once we got there though it was fun, we walked around talking about items, she was making a cake so we went through the sweets aisle and if I mentioned I hadn't had ...

... quaint with beautiful villas. We walked the gardens of the Melza Villa. The canons in the photos are not toys....they are from the Napoleonic period...used to defeat Milan. The keys are to the city of Milan from the 1700's.

The food here is terrific. We travel back to Milan tomorrow to pick up our friends and head to the villa in Montanione. Forecast is for thunderstorms...yeah!

Love,
R ich and Kara

... churches, castles, bridges, and historic buildings.

San Salvatore is one of the mountains on Lake Lugano. You can ride to the top in a funnicular, or hike up the steep path. We went the lazy route and saved our energy for walking around on top. From the funnicular station you can walk up a bit further to a small chapel sitting on the peak of the mountain. The chapel has a rooftop terrace with a stunning 360 degree panorama view.
Lugano, Swiss Alps, Switzerland travelingdiva

... through. Back in mennaggio we got the public holiday on the next day also. It seemed as though bikers were making a good weekend of it, we saw and heard a lot getting around the lake. Varenna was unexpectedly cute with a pretty lakeside walk. Would definately liked to have explored further afield. Axelotl, My devious minions made a plan to dispose of me, but I escaped! Hahahahaha..... Also, they have been disobedient, refusing to allow me to swim in the great pond. This must be rectified.

... area, I spotted a shop and went in to get some water, and finally some change. We then got the cart and were able to proceed to get the car at start our drive to Menaggio. The problem that we were facing at this point was meeting the person to turn over the keys for our condo. We got to the cars and there was one women going on about being from Utah and the place of Mormon's and multiply wives, and then explaining that ...

... in and out of. We decided against going in after our last encounter with a Villa. So we kept on walking around the lake. We ended up walking the entire 2.5km back to Menaggio. This was definitely not the tourist route because we were walking along a road where cars kept flying by and the sidewalk kept disappearing. Even though it was a little dangerous, the walk provided us with a view of a bunch of really pretty private villas. We were all wondering which ...

... a train to the Malpensa Airport for our flight to Athens... I am sooooo excited about Greece!! I am totally ready to spend the rest of my trip relaxing on beachs and maybe doing a little bit of partying... responsibly of course (mom). We are hoping to rent some scooters on one of the Greek islands (or more) to see as much as we can... I've never riden a scooter though... wish me luck!!

... and olive oil is uncommon here. I gladly poured them over my bread when they arrived for the salad. We lingered over lunch and I had my first espresso as we continued people-watching. We had originally intended to take a ferry straight to Bellagio but were so charmed that we decided to stay two nights in Menaggio. We found information on hotels, hikes, and ferries at the tourist office (as well as free Internet!). We booked a room ...

... at each other in disbelief.

That said, the chances of Michael Schumacher actually pulling it off were slim. He needed to win the race and Renault’s Fernando Alonso had to finish outside the points completely, and Schumacher was starting from tenth place on the grid. The Ferrari faithful were in full voice early on as he undertook a series of aggressive passing moves to lie in sixth place. But on lap 9 he was forced into the pits with a puncture, and all hope for ...