Lake Como here we come!

Day 2 in Milan saw us leaving Milan. :) We figured that since we had so much time in this last city, and we had seen most of the major sights on our first evening, that we could afford to take a day trip. So after a late start and breakfast at a local cafe, we hopped on a regional train for the hour long ride to Lake Como.

Once there, we hopped a bus to get down to the lake, then on a fast boat to go the distance to the small city of Bellagio. Funny thing was, since we were taking this trip in the low season, we were a little concerned that the boats were not running yet. We were surprised to see that they were, and in fact had just started running the day before! Talk about good timing! The view of the shore from the boats is a treat in and of itself. So many of the homes are built right on the water, and either have only walking access from the road high above or are accessible only by boat. They have garages for their boats just like a house would for its car, you open a garage door and motor your boat right into the water entrance under your house. It is such a different way to live, I don't know if we have anything like it in the states. Such is the sacrifice if you want to build your house on a steep hilside next to a lake!

Once in Bellagio Ed found a place to sit near the water so he could watch the lake and Tim, Michelle and Ed began walking around to do some shopping. Shopping in Bellagio is part browsing and part Alpine hiking. The streets are not really streets if they are going up the hill, they are more like wide staircases with shops on either side. And these staircases are very steep. You don't really need a stairmaster if you spend much time there.

All three found some fun unique gifts for themselves and family members, and Tim and Michelle had a fun encounter with the owners of a wine shop. They were so excited to see a sign for wine tasting, as they wanted to bring back a few bottles, but were not sure which ones were good. Wine taskings would allow them to taste before they bought, so they would avoid bringing back a bad bottle. There is nothing worse than lugging a bottle of wine in your backpack all the way home, carrying the weight and risking it breaking all over your clothes only to have it taste horrible! After they walked in the store, the owners quickly told them that they just opened that day, and that they were still stocking the store, so the wine tasting was not ready yet. Tim and Michelle were dissapointed, and so the owners asked which bottle they were interested in trying. That bottle was found, and the owner pulled out two glasses and poured liberal tastings for them, no charge. Well, of course they had to buy something now. Luckily the wine was good, and they walked out with two bottles.

Once the shopping was done, we opted to take the bus back to town so that we could get a better look at all of the hilside homes. And we were not disappointed. Some of these homes really are built on such steep cliffs that you cannot access them by car. You have to walk up or down the long flights of stairs. There is something so . . . fantastic about this as a way of life. Anything you bring into that house has to be carried in. Which, theoretically, would make for a less materialistic disposable frame of mind. You don't get a new couch on a whim because you are tired of the old one, because it is too darned hard to get the thing into your house and to get the old one out. You would have to really think about how badly you wanted everything you were thinking of buying.

The bus took us back to the train station, then we jumped onto a train back home. We arrived around 10:30 pm, and searched for a place to eat dinner. The man at the front desk of our hotel called around, and found a place willing to have us come in that late. Unfortunately, this was also a very nice restaurant, but unlike the one we went to the night before, the wait staff here were not nearly as gracious. We were put at a table in the back corner, told how we would eat our meal (apparently we could absolutely not have our vegetable sides with our main meal, they had to be served after) and by the time the first course came, none of us wanted to be there any longer than we had to. Once freed from the pretentious restaurant we went back to our rooms and fell into bed.

A long day, but a good one overall. Our final full day is to come, then off to home!