Buongiorno, buonasera

Good morning, good afternoon or good evening wherever you are in the world from Gene and Joan on Lake Como and specifically in the small town of Mezzegra, Italy. We are again lucky enough to be able to spend eight weeks in one of the most beautiful places in the world. We are at the same rental home as we had last year. All brochures say we are renting a villa but in the states it would be called a home. I think they bump the rental fee up a bit by calling it a “villa”. Anyway, we are here and ready to indulge ourselves in good food, good weather and occasionally good friends. Joan has given a few of the details in the first 2009 blog entry. Please search it out and read.
It just amazed me what a good job Delta Airlines did in getting us here. From the moment it was wheels up in Phoenix, an hour layover in Atlanta for a plane change and the wheels down in Milano it was exactly 14 hours! Very smooth flights and no issues. Kind of made up for some previous nightmarish trips of the past. Our leased car was somewhat waiting for us (about a quarter of a mile from where they said they would be) The car had about two teaspoons of diesel in it and a few fumes , enough to get to the nearest gas station and we had the privilege of filling up at about $6.50 a gallon down from $9.50 last year. My trusty Iphone calculator allows me to do the conversion from liters to gallons and from Euros to dollars. The car is smaller this year but still four doors and I think we can count on better than 40MPG!!
Our turn off from the Autostrade is the last turn off before you hit the border going into Switzerland. I guess the Swiss were working over the Italians pretty good at the border stop so we had to endure a lengthy backup trying to get to our exit. No big deal as the scenery was beautiful and we were able to discuss the grocery list. I didn’t really want to leave the car in the parking lot as we were shopping and risk having our stuff being stolen (five suitcases) but all worked out as we hurried through the shopping. Italian food is always worth risking your entire wardrobe and various other junk you bring.
A few days have now passed and we are settling into our routine here. We were fortunate to have Gene and Sue Crabb stop by for a few days during their sojourn through Italy and their cruise on the Adriatic Sea. They rented a catamaran with six other people for a scenic tour of the Croatia coast. This was a walk in the park for Gene as he is a former submarine commander for the US Navy, among other assignments in his career. Good friends and great company.
So now Joan and I will be by ourselves for the next three weeks until Denis Ducey and one of his sons, Nathan, show up for about 10 days. Denis has been able to make it over here the last two years. Denis and I have been friends for almost 50 years so it’s always fun having him here. Nate will be a first timer.
Oops. Almost time for another meal so I better go. More to follow.

The same but not the same

Beer at Grotto Bundi


Walking to Lenno


Construction next door


Brunch at the Menaggio and Cadenabbia Country Club


View from the balcony

We arrived at Villa degli Angeli on Saturday, May 30 about 2pm. All flights were on time. The only holdup was traffic. It seems that Tuesday, June 2 was a national holiday and most Italians took to the road for the long weekend. The villa had been sold over the winter and the new owner made some changes. Some were good, some were bad. No wireless internet presently(that is supposed to change later in the month when the owner arrives from Germany to set it up), some new furniture and lounge chairs for outside, some cabinets and closets locked up so we can't use them. All of the cranes which blocked our view last year are no longer there. Construction is finishing up next door and will be done in a few days.
On Sunday we drove to Menaggio to have brunch with our friends Dennis and Anna and also some Americans, Jim and Anna. Jim attended the same boarding school(seminary) as Dennis and Gene. We had brunch at the country club(where last year we saw George Clooney) before succumbing to jet lag and returning home to retire very early. Monday morning we went to Como to the big Bennet supermercato to get everything we forgot to get Saturday on the way from the airport. Sue and Gene Crabb arrived in time for lunch that day. They came from Switzerland and have been traveling for about 6 weeks. They sailed in Croatia, visited Sicily and the east coast of Italy and will after they leave us continue to Florence and Rome before departing back to the States. Gene Crabb is called "submarine Gene" and Gene Cervelli is called "ice cream Gene", nicknames they acquired on the maiden voyage of John and Gayle's boat, the SIREN'S CALL last December. Monday night we went to Menaggio for pizza and gelato. We could not believe the amount of people about and the traffic, the most we have seen in 3 years of coming here. On Tuesday night we braved the traffic to drive to Mendrisio, Switzerland for dinner at the restaurant of the cousin of friends of Gene and Sue. Grotto Bundi was the name and they specialized in polenta and traditional dishes. We had rabbit, quail, beef and mortadella(sausage) with beans. Also we had what the restauranteur called lard, something like a very thin bacon from the neck of the pig. Very tasty if you didn't think about the name. Sue and Gene left this morning and we have spent the day doing laundry and planting some basil and tomatoes. I think the next renters will be the ones enjoying the tomatoes. The weather has been beautiful the last couple of days in the low 80s. Its clouding up today and rain is expected this weekend. Gene and I plan to walk down to Lenno tomorrow, take the ferry to Como and back and then walk home from there. The walk down is really easy but the walk up is not fun.
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