Hotel Meeting Stresa

... good for what you pay!! And awesome for a backpacker!!
Went for drinks at Frank's Bar which Patrick who owns the hotel recommended. Turned out to be a pretty trendy cocktail joint
where you pay for your drink at 1 place then get it at another. 10 Euro for a beverage no matter what you had so naturally I ordered a long island ice tea!!!

... but it was nice to be able to relax and have a quiet walk around the villages. I needed to take a lot of ferries as this is the quickest way to get between each town as they are all placed at different points around the lake. A very nice place that I would love to visit again in the Summertime.

Next stop is Venice, Italy!

... ANYWAY. Our train got into Arona and we were picked up by the family's son. Let me quickly explain the family- one of the daughters (there are 2) went to Montana for study abroad, and that's how she and Meghan know each other, she stayed with her family. So now everytime Meghan comes to Italy she stays with this family. The parents know a little English, the daughters are both gone right now and the son is going to Kansas next year for study abroad. Kansas ...

... Mussilini was ousted and arrested by his own party, the Germans helped him escape and set up a puppet regime in the north of Italy. When all was lost, and German troops were retreating, Mussulini and others tried to escape and were captured by communist partisans . They kept him and his mistress overnight then decided to execute them. There was a photo in the series that I will never forget of their mutilated bodies hanging ...

... featuring some very pretty gardens and fountains. We enjoyed some gelato as we walked along the lakeside gardens. After an hour break here, we took the short drive to Como. Como is also another beautiful lakeside town. We shared dinner and enjoyed a nice conversation with Stan and Johanna from Colorado. We are now in Italy and we are looking forward to the next seven days in this country.

Took the train from Milan to Lake Como - short 1.5 hour trip. The lake is beautiful and there was a speed boat race going on when we arrived. We took the funicular (tram) which has a charming little town at the top and a great view of the lake. We stayed on the south side of the lake (where George lives) and then took a boat north to Bellagio. Quaint town with steep streets filled with great shops. Can understand why George bought a house there!

My friend had the fabulous idea of going to Lugano this weekend and I am not one to turn down great ideas. I still had my Canadian friend staying with me as well and he was ready to move on, but I convinced him to wait until he sees Lugano before he moves on to the next country on his list.

So we made a three-day weekend out of it and had a fabulous time. Lugano is so beautiful! The winding streets, steep hills, charming shopping ...

The next morning, although we slept through the complimentary breakfast, we had much more luck getting to the IES center, which is the headquarters for the Study Abroad program. It really was just 3 blocks away. We finally got to set out luggage down and get a bite to eat. We met our friend Charlotte from Georgetown and went to a small pizza/panini place for lunch. It was really good! After a short tour of ...

(Originally published at http://www.troysgonewalkabout.com)
< br>With Italy to the south, we instead continued east along the Oberalppass. It was fun to drive, though not as memorable as the Sustenpass, and on getting to the bottom at the limits of the small town of Disentis/Mustér I was requested to pull over at a police caravan set up at the roadside. I had not remembered the speed limit outside towns for all roads, other than motorways, in Switzerland was always 80km/h ...

Maybe I should just start this one with a couple pictures... view from Sopra Bolzano view from mountain I hiked up These are pictures from the Dolomites (Italy's Alps). On the way up from Verona, I had to catch a bus from the town of Bolzano, but it was going to be a while so I went wandering. I found a gondola so took a ride. Ended up in Sopra Bolzano with great views (see above pic). As I was riding the bus to Selva, each town we'd pass ...