Villa Marita Lugano

... 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!

... a long time about that. Eventually we fell asleep, and I felt refreshed, it's amazing how much I rely on friends, and she has truly become a very close one.

The next day the son drove us to the train station, where Meghan and I said our goodbyes. I don't think it's the last time we'll see each other, but it was still sad. The ride into Milan was short and uneventful, but once there, I had a frantic time. I had planned all my train and bus schedules around ...

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 ...

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 ...

... 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

... house his collection the usual way –either in a museum or around his home – he created a garden that houses the pieces. He has a Temple of Nefertiti in one section, with a Japanese tea room in another. There is a replica of the Maiden’s Porch from the Acropolis. It is all framed by trees, flowers and water in a lovely setting.

After we left there, we arrived at the steps of the church, but my legs were still sore from the hike in Zermatt, so I waited ...

... black beaded necklace) on the way to the main pedestrian streets which l wandered through and window shopped with the hoards of other Saturday shoppers whilst eating a raisin gelato! Window shopped out- l headed to the magnificent lakeside and sat on a bench, breathed in and out and instantly relaxed to the sound of the water lapping in front of me! My relaxation however was very shortly lived as l was soon disturbed by an Italian/Swiss man who proceeded to want to talk to me and ...

... to pay my first ever speeding fine in twelve years of driving with an attitude of taking it on the chin (actually, it turned out to be the second – in the post soon after I got a far less serious fine from the day before. One of the new permanent speed cameras on the autoroute somewhere around Lausanne had snapped me for presumably not having slowed down fast enough in a 100km/h zone in an area where the speed limits change constantly between 120km/h and 100km/h), and I ...

... noise. We figured it was some Swiss tradition called breaking the glasses and dishes over rocks until 3 am. No lie. It was so loud it almost kept us awake. We had breakfast with brown bread and Alpenzellar cheese. You all could probably smell the cheese right there in San Diego. I said goodbye to the goat mother and her babies, I like little Louis the best. Then we headed up hill to the cable car. I wanted to die but ...