International Au Lac Lugano

... from the point there though which was cool.
Ferry back from Belaggio to Como was a lot quicker (and more expensive) and had some great views of the various places around the lake.

Back in Milan that night discovered the happy hour buffets that I'd read about - 6 Euro for a drink and all you can eat.

Buffet is nothing special, but ...

... 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!

... instantly, even though the sleeping arrangements were pretty strange. They have this huge house, with 3 kitchens total, but only 2 bedrooms in the main part (there's a summer house for the grandparents-I did say they were rich right?). So that means that in one bedroom there are two twin beds on the main floor and a loft. The boy sleeps in the loft, and Meghan and I were in the downstairs area. Normally I think that would have weirded me out since I had only ...

Ciao Bello,

We have finally hit a day of rain...so we thought we should stop off at the nearest internet site to say hello. We have visited a few of our neighboring communities in the last few days. Varenna, which claims to be the diamond of the lake, while Bellagio is only the pearl of the lake. No George Clooney sightings. Varenna is a cute and quiet town with steep hillsides and walkways. Bellagio is also ...

... the world as an explorer and mountain climber. Through his travels he had collected art from Africa, Asia, South America and other parts of Europe. The Villa was a museum dedicated to his travels and collections. Very interesting!
Tonight is our last in Lake Como. We had originally planned to stay the last night in ...

... down in a square. The tour guide told the story of this event which was in fact played out around Como with the bodies being hung upside down in the nearby city of Milan.

As with everything these days I was able to retrieve the picture from the internet and have included it to reinforce the adage that violence begets violence - and on a smaller scale even the young love in Romeo and Juliet is destroyed by family conflict ...

... 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 ...

... this as a year of my life gone, wasted life savings- time l could have spent doing more sensible things! Because without all this right now l would not be me, the person lam becoming, the person who is really finding and experiencing life for the first time in her life! Well my Italia lake experience didn't quite go to plan- l never really made it to Italy this weekend- except a change of trains in Domosollada. Why? Because l stupidly left my passport back in Lausanne ...

... respected that they did not try to lecture me at all about breaking the speed limit by 25km/h either. After swiping my credit card and giving me the receipt the policeman warmly wished me a good journey and gave me two tins of lollies to take with me. Despite the fact they were by far the most expensive sweets I’ve ever bought, they tasted very nice.

Once past Disentis/Mustér we turned south, and the place names and changes in architecture immediately proclaimed ...

... a disappointment and that was because we were there on a Sunday and everything was closed. Every city is at least a little different, if not very different and that is what creates the constant excitement to move on. The past couple of days I have felt such a good feeling of accomplishment that I am even on this trip and that it is actually going as planned. I have worked so hard for this for so long (but it never would have happened if it werent for my ...