The Final Days....Arrivederci, Italia

Gene and I spent the last days at Villa Wally doing a few things we hadn't done before. Linda suggested that I get an elastic brace for my knee so I went to the Farmacia and purchased one. My knee was improving each day and with the brace I was able to get around much better. Linda, Gene and I went to the Moto-Guzzi Motorcycle Museum in Mandello, a small town on the lake which is home to their factory. It wasn't far away, just north of Lecco. It was only open from 3pm-4pm daily so timing was important. It was interesting to see all the motorcycles dating back more than 50 years. Gene even bought a baseball cap with a Moto-Guzzi logo on it. Linda left early on Thursday morning and Gene and I took the ferry to Tremezzo to see Villa Carlotta. It is a beautiful place with extensive gardens and a lovely house. The climate in that area is almost Mediterranean so the variety of flowers and plants was extensive. There were a lot of stairs so I didn't get to the upper reaches but we agreed that it was an impressive sight.

Friday was our last full day at La Wally and we spent it packing and cleaning up. We had received some wine from Sven's mother which we wanted to take home so we decided to buy another suitcase as sending the package to the U.S. would have been the same price. Our landlords came by that evening so we could settle up what we owed them. We had used several bottles of their wine and also had gone over the allotted electricity included in our rent. We knew electricity was expensive. There was no clothes dryer for this reason. Sven had told us when he and friends had rented a place in Tuscany they were hit with a large electrical bill when they left. So were we--1000 euros. Roby, the landlord waived the 273E gas bill. Oh well....

We left early Saturday morning with our 4 suitcases, 2 computers and 3 other carry ons and drove to Radda in Chianti. We wanted to visit Ceramiche Rampini, a small place that makes handmade ceramics. They are usually open every day in high season which it was but were closed both Saturday and Sunday. We explored the area and finally got to Rampini Monday morning. We bought some plates which had to be hand carried home--more luggage. We overnighted near Malpensa airport, repacked our bags, dropped the car off at the designated spot(after driving around a bit to try to find the place) and left for the U.S. Tuesday morning.

Gene and I both agree that this was our best ever European vacation. We truly had a wonderful time with excellent weather, wonderful guests and a beautiful location. Our guests in order of appearance were: Dan and Annie, Doug and Lori, Pat and Kate, Tom, Tiarra and Kelli, Denis, Francesca, Joe and Monica, Sven, Graziella, Nicholas and Charlotte, Pat and Leanne and Linda. We got to know the Lake Como area quite well and would love to return. We talked to our landlords about trading houses so perhaps another stay at Villa Wally is in the future.

Gene will be posting his final thoughts shortly and we'll also put some more pictures up. We will be in Phoenix for a few days and will then head to Bainbridge Island until the 1st of October.

I really enjoyed doing the blog and and have enjoyed all the comments. It is also a wonderful remembrance of our time at Villa Wally.

Ciao, from Joan