Hotel Villa Belvedere Lake Maggiore

Lake Como photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album. php?aid=163676&id=613699523&l=b 0c583d265

Friday caught the train out to Como for a day trip.
Wandering around Como is really nice and can imagine it would be awesome in Summer, as well as being incredibly busy and crowded.
Caught the funiculare up to Brunate and walked up the ...

When I finally found Lake Como (after a train, then a bus, then a ferry and then a very confusing walk) I was surprised that it was so empty. It was raining (I think the rain is following me around Europe) and there was no one about so I was able to do my exploring easily. Lake Como is a very small place with not too many things to ...

... another according to the train website the day before, but apparently not everything you see online is true. I had to make a transfer, but luckily, it turned out well. The ride into Brescia was stressful, the ticket man (I don't know his official title) was coming around to check our tickets but the man in the seat next to me didn't have his. A little argument commenced, then some all out shouting, and fingers being pointed and scary looks in angry eyes. I was a ...

... 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

... near the airport. Because we changed the plans the hotel put us in another room... a suite. They were nice enough not to charge us the usuall price for this magnificent space. Although we have to wake up at 5am, we will sleep in this luxurious suite.
Looking foward to being home and seeing our friends and family. Love, Laura

Hi Everyone:

We just returned from an amazing day with Luca and Mary, our friends who live in Figline Valdarno (20 mins south of Florence), who drove for 7 hrs (actually they were stuck in lots of traffic along the way) to visit us in Varenna. We had lunch lakeside, and then took a ferry to Bellagio, strolled around the Gardens of Villa Serbolini, ferried back to Varenna for dinner at Vecchia Varenna. They just left for what Luca aticipates ...

... 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 ...

... br>
Bellagio holds the characteristics you could only dream of. In fact, I feel almost guilty leaving this entry so short, but we cannot find the enough words worthy of describing this magnificent place....we have to pinch each other to remind ourselves at how lucky we are to be in such a spectacular place together.

Salute!

... sidewalk cafes lining the piazzas, and sparkling lake nestled between two lush mountains make it a dazzling city. We really didn't do much other than sit outside in piazzas and terraces watching the world go by while we ate delicious food. And I love the Italian language. It is so enchanting. I was tempted to ditch my life in Basel and move to Lugano so I could give up learning German and switch to a much more delightful sounding language ...

(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 ...