Nearing the end

Today is August 17th, 2008 and Joan and I are down to our last six days of this year’s edition of Italy. Where, oh where, has the time gone? It is very hard to believe that we arrived in late June, seven weeks ago. Although we have been here seven weeks we still find new things to do without traveling far. For weeks now we have been looking upwards at a small church perched on a very high bluff overlooking Lake Como about half way between Cadenabbia and Menaggio. The church is called “ Sasso S. Martino” and was built in an area that gave it maximum protection from invaders. The problem was that it also had no parishioners either as it was so damn difficult to climb to! There is now a well defined path up to it and the trail is less than a mile but with the altitude change it took about an hour, with rests, to get to it. Oh, but was it worth it! The view is absolutely spectacular!! For those following along on a map, to the west you can see Tremezzo, to the South Bellagio and beyond down to the end of the lake and the city of Lecco, to the East Varenna and Bellano and to the north towards Colico. Hopefully my photos will do it justice. It was so beautiful you just wanted to sit there and gaze into the yonder. While the hike up was difficult in a cardiac sense the hike down was rough on the old knees! Overall a great hike for viewing and burning calories!!
Peter and Heather arrived Thursday from Alaska, via Bishop, California. I mention Bishop because before they flew to Europe on Tuesday they met Dan and Annie and over a three day period hiked over 40 miles on the East side of the Sierras. Contained in these hike was at least 15,000 ft of altitude change, both up and down. They all hike an extraordinary amount so this was kind of normal for them but to then get on a plane and fly to Frankfurt and drive to Italy really did them in. Peter was in the house for about five minutes and fell asleep. They got up a little late and went for a short walk and then we went to dinner at our favorite Pizza place in Menaggio. They decided the next morning that they needed to hike in a little more challenging area (like the Swiss Alps!) and headed out to St. Moritz and places beyond. We kind of expected that they would do this since they really are into serious hiking and only have a week in Europe. While it would have been nice if they could have hung around for a while I can certainly understand their wanting to challenge themselves and add some pictures to their incredible collection of Alpine photos. We don’t know if they will head back this way but I suspect not.
We had a wonderful evening on August 13 over at Dennis and Anna’s place! We were invited to share with them the annual fireworks in Menaggio. Their apartment overlooks the small bay and provided a front row view!! There was threatening rain and because of this they started a half hour early giving us spectacular show for at least a half hour with a great two minute finale. It was great. Dennis and Anna also invited some other friends and it was fun having him translate for us. Dennis can be very animated and this added to the enjoyment. Joan mentioned to me that she was able to follow a lot of the conversation, a tribute to her hard studying during the last year. Dennis and Anna, thanks for the great evening of entertainment! Two days later the town of Lenno decided to get in on the fireworks act and put on quite a display at the water’s edge right down in front of our house. When they start this late I go to bed and then get up with the first boom! Very convenient and the walk is very short from the bedroom to the front balcony. I don’t know who pays for all the fireworks but there have been about seven shows that we could see this year but nothing like the two in Menaggio and Lenno. Nothing like being up close and personal!
So are we coming back next year? As most of you know we were in the town of Bellano last year and the town of Mezzegra, near Lenno this year. We are leaning towards this same place next year with the caveat that a lot of things need to happen and be in place before we commit for 2009. Among other things it would be very good if the stock market goes a bit up in the next ten months. So the short answer is probably and hopefully. We found this destination to be ideal for being, of course, beautiful, close to good eating places, close to good shopping and perfect for just hanging around and reading and relaxing. We’ll see!!

Buono giornata,

Gino