A slow meandering to Como

Well we are happy to report after 3 days of no posts we are alive and well. Sorry for the delay in updating the blog. We have hit the mid point of our trip, which means decompression time.  In every trip we have been on there is usually a small town we end up in for the midpoint. In that city the main goal is to do very little except rest and recharge. Como was that city for us on this trip. It was also helpful that Como is on a lake (Lake Como) and the Smiths are in love with all things boat and water.  :)

The train from Venice to Milan, then Milan to Como was uneventful. For those of you who know Michelle this is a good thing. We made all of our connections with enough time and went in the right direction on each train. We are taking more regional trains this time, which is fine, but not nearly as luxurious as the high speed rails. Ah the beauty of the Eurorail pass. Small added fees for supreme luxury, but not a practical expense for our trip this year.

Como is another city that Tim and Michelle have been to before, once to stay overnight in a little B and B on the hill portion of the city and once as a day trip with Tim's parents. It makes it a little easier  to navigate and find hotel rooms faster since our packs are getting a little heavier with each city. Packing all of your things on your back sounds like a great idea to avoid the problem of the rolly suitcases on the cobblestones but it is also hard once you decide to buy souvenirs and bottles of wine. And since we tend to like glass souvenirs, our packs can get really heavy really fast. We are getting a little smarter though, we are at least waiting to buy most of our heavy things towards the end of the trip. We both have carriers in our back pack for two bottles of wine, which can add some considerable weight, so the longer we wait to buy them the better.

In Como we rented a 2 bedroom one bath apartment with a small kitchen. When we arrived we were told we couldn't use the kitchen but we could use the refrigerator, which was great. In fact, the "kitchen" wasn't really a kitchen at all. It was a sink and a fridge. No matter, it was clean and bright a
and one of the rooms had a view of the lake. The irony is, on our city guide (a 2-3 page document we create to highlight recommendations from friends and things to do) this hotel was recommended as a place to stay. And we enjoyed it immensely.

After dropping our bags in the room we walked around the town. Of course, we had to try the gelato and thee seemed to be quite a number of places to choose from. Our hotel is petty near the tourist center, so there are a plethora of eateries all willing to overcharge tourists who don't go too far off of the beaten path. After our gelato fill at a hole in the wall place (delicious as always) we headed over to a brew pub we saw while walking into town. We ordered a few of the local brews and a few minutes later one of the servers walks over with 3 plates of food. It turns out, when you are just drinking in Italy the custom is for the house to provide you with some finger foods (similar to the pretzels or peanuts in American bars) to eat free of charge. But these were not your typical finger foods. These were mini sandwiches, pickle relish spears and a small bowl full of chips. When in Rome, eat their finger foods we said! It was a good way to start our time in Como.

We walked around the town a bit more looking for a grochery store. Unfortunately it was Sunday, and all of the grochery stores were closed for the day. So we switched our goal to finding a restaurant for dinner. We soon decided it was easier to simply go downstairs and eat at the bar then trying to find the ideal meal to eat. They seemed to be busy and had two or three different seating areas so we thought we would give them a go. It turned out the food prices were reasonable, the service  was great and the portion sizes were huge. Michelle ordered a salad with 7 ingredients of her choice and Tim ordered a large pizza. Greg ordered a bruschetta like meal with tuna on it and Brenda had a monster sized calzone. We went back to the room refreshed and sleepy. We decided that the next day would be a sleep in day (seeing a trend?!) and then we would hit the lake. Hopefully we are able to get up and moving!