Treff Beau Rivage Locarno

... 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!

... 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 ...

John

From Venice we drove across Italy to Lake Como which is close to the Swiss border. On the way we stopped at the town of Verona which was developed by the Romans and has its own smaller version of the Colosseum which is still used for opera and musical events. However Verona is most famous for being the hometown of Romeo and Juliet whose love is thwarted by a fued between their respective families the Capulets and the ...

... 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!

... The weather was absolutely perfect the entire time we were in Lugano and it wasn't easy to leave behind. Every place I visit in Ticino, the Italian region of Switzerland, I love, so I am sure I will be back to see more of it soon.

On Monday morning my Canadian friend left us in Lugano on a train for Milan. I wish him a safe journey and an amazing experience on his first backpacking trip ever, and his first time outside of North America.

Lago Maggiore, anyone?  One of my very favorite places to go in Italy during the summer is Pallanza on Lago Maggiore. I can reach it in about an hour from Malpensa. This is a smallish town, but it has a beautiful lakefront with a number of nice hotels and good restaurants, a pedistrian shopping street and a ...

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