The Serpent in Paradise

Today we went to Varenna, a medieval city south of Bellano. We have been there several times before, parking and using it as a ferry stop. Doug and Lori had ventured there a few weeks ago and suggested that we take a more in depth look. They were right. The place is beautiful. We walked along the lake towards the Villa Monastero, an ancient female Cistercian convent probably founded before 1200. In the 1500s the ownership passed in to private hands. There were several owners up to the present and it now belongs to the National Council of Research. They have restored it and now operate it as a conference center. The gardens extend along the lake with many varied plants and trees. We stopped for lunch at one of the cafes along the lake and Gene ordered a grande birra rosso (a big dark beer) along with his sandwich. He usually has a media birra but it was a pretty warm day and he was thirsty. I ended up driving back to La Wally. He is now taking a nap.

Lake Como is beautiful, the weather has been splendid, the cities charming. What could be wrong with this paradise? Mosquitoes! Thats what. We never see the things, rarely hear the whine of their wings but each morning we wake up with new bites. Or we will be sitting on the balcony and we come inside and there they are, more bites. We have taken to burning a citronella candle in our bedroom at night. Our guests have been bothered a bit but not to the extent that Gene and I have. And Gene never gets bites! You can imagine how outraged he is. We are going to try another insect repellent and see if we have better results.

Ciao, from Joan

Gene's Photos

St. Bernards in Zermatt


Snow in July


Bellano Gorge


A beautiful day

DON'T FORGET TO STAMP YOUR TICKET

Today is Saturday July 14^th and Joan and I have passed the half way mark of our stay at Villa Wally in Bellano, Italy. We have had such a great time here we want the clock to stop ticking. I was just out on the veranda reading in the morning shade thinking about how fortunate we are. Thank God the populace of Arizona liked good ice cream over the years!!

Yesterday was a fun adventure as we decided to take the train to Milano for the day. We caught the 10:08 and settled in for the ride through the countryside to Milan’s Stazione Centrale. This is the main train station in Milan and is housed in one of the most stunning and beautiful buildings in the city. The ceilings are at least thirty five feet tall and are very elaborate with glass and steel. It is incredibly busy with hoards of people scurrying in every direction, long lines at the ticket counters, vending machines and food stands. I watched one in particular and couldn’t help but try to calculate his profits. If he isn’t living next door to George Clooney on Lake Como I’d be surprised. On our ride in we passed through the city of Monza, world famous in racing circles for its annual hosting of the Italian Grand Prix. My brother Mark and his son, Jon, have tickets for this year’s race in September and I’m sure they will have an exciting time.

After exiting the train station Joan and I started walking towards the massive central square that contains Milan’s Duomo, the beautiful cathedral which took over 430 years to build. We had been in it years ago and the lines were long so this time we only admired it from the outside. It is the third largest church in the world!! Our walk was most enjoyable as the weather was mild and the scenery entertaining. We passed many retail stores that got more and more expensive as we got closer to the Duomo. We finally stopped for lunch at a small café and had a modest meal. The diet Coke, called Coke light in Europe, cost four Euros, about $5.50!! Wow, Safeway sells a twelve pack for $2.99. I refer to this as the “Milano Bump”, a phrase we use a little too often!!

Adjacent to the Cathedral is the massive Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a shopping mall to end all shopping malls. A glassed in ceiling to only be appreciated by standing underneath it and gawking up in wonderment. We were only window shopping (thank God) but it was fun checking out the goods and the people. I can assure you there is only one of these in the world! After walking at least three miles we grabbed a quick cab ride back to the train station for the ride back to Bellano. The cab ride cost less than the Coke Light!! We thought we had plenty of time but after purchasing our tickets and trying and failing to purchase a couple of bottles of water (the line was too long at George Clooney’s neighbors little food stand) we barely made the train. Joan and I could not find two seats in the same car so we were separated for the one hour and fifteen minute ride back.

We found out the hard way how the ticketing process worked. Over the years when we had occasion to ride European trains it always amazed me how often the conductors never collected our tickets. Since we always had our tickets it really never made any difference to us. I often thought that many riders just got on and never bothered paying and got away with it. Well we finally found out how they counteracted that little ploy. As we were pulling into Bellano (I finally found a seat in the car Joan was riding) the conductor asked for our tickets. We handed them to him and immediately he started talking to Joan in an animated half English and half Italian way. I’m thinking what’s this? We have valid tickets. It turns out that after you purchase your ticket you must validate it! Now Joan noticed in the morning at the Bellano station that everyone was stamping their ticket at a small box before the train arrived. She said maybe we should be doing the same with our tickets we just purchased. I said why should we? We just got them five minutes ago. Anyway the conductor going to Milan looked at our tickets a little quizzically, initialed them and went on without comment. Anyway our short little Italian sh** conductor whipped out his violation book and wrote us a twenty five (could have been fifty) euro fine! There was no talking him out of it! I was afraid he wouldn’t let us off the train. This is the train systems way of not letting you use an unpunched ticket in case you got to your stop before the conductor got to you to punch the ticket. Oh well, we learned a valuable lesson and maybe they can use the 25 Euro to clean off the graffiti which is quite prevalent in all stations and on the buildings along the tracks!! We were very happy to get back to the friendly confines of Villa Wally.

It was actually a fun day (other than the fine) and we had a “leftovers” meal for dinner and another fine beer!!

Winding Down at the Villa (Tuesday evening)

Posted by guest blogger Denis

Departure time is in less than 12 hours, and I will be leaving the idyllic setting of Villa Wally (aka la Wally) overlooking the small picturesque village of Bellano on the northern shores of Lake Como. To say the least, the 10 plus days I have been here have been thoroughly enjoyable.

Visiting writers to this Blog have already spoken about the charm and beauty of the Villa and its surroundings, and I can certainly second their views. It took me only a few minutes to feel the magical effect of the place. While standing on the balcony over looking the lake and its shores, I very quickly became calm and relaxed, and that feeling has stayed with me the whole visit.

Some other highlights:

Let's start with the food. No one does Italian food better than the Italians. The anti-pastas, the pastas, the salads, the main courses, and the gelatos have been outstanding. I am treating Joan and Gene to a final meal at a local restaurant where I know they speak German. That should really help in ordering. Not to worry though, we ate there once and it was great. A number of times we ate at the Villa and enjoyed tasty Italian dishes prepared by Joan. I have never had a poor meal prepared by Joan. In fact, I have even learned some cooking tips that I plan to employ when I venture back into the kitchen. Finally, we ate a few meals in Switzerland during our visits to St. Moritz and Zermatt. Sorry, Swiss cooking in no way measures up to Italian.

So, after pushing myself away from the table, I managed several sight seeing ventures with Joan and Gene and with Tiarra and Kelli while they were visiting. The boat rides to Menaggio, Bellagio, and Como were most enjoyable. Again, food was at the top followed by shopping. I am hardly one to spend a lot of time shopping; but I did enjoy browsing through the pottery and silk shops. Heck, I even picked out a few items (with some help) as gifts for family and friends back home.

And then there were the simple walks around Bellano and through the town. Even the treks back up the hills weren't all that bad as long as no one was racing. There was only one exception and that was the walk that Gene and I took into Dervio, a town three miles north. The walk into town wasn't too bad as it was mostly downhill. However, as the downhill steps became more pronounced, I started to think more and more about the return trip. I quickly concluded: in no way am I going to walk back up the trail. While in Dervio, Gene and I were studying the train schedule to see if it went back to Bellano. Even with the help of a young man who was waiting for a train, we were not sure what we were doing. Finally, Gene said: let me call Joan and ask her to come and pick us up. She graciously did (thank God). While we were waiting for Joan, we sat and enjoyed a coffee. At the same time at a nearby table, four men were playing hearts, and six or seven others were watching. Without a doubt they played just like Americans – hollering if they got stuck with the queen, challenging their neighbor if they led with the wrong card, and reliving every hand "if only he did this or he did that." Gene and I could only laugh and smile.

Let's not forget Switzerland either. Twice I ventured there with Gene and Joan - a day trip to St. Moritz and an overnight to Zermatt. Switzerland is a beautiful country. The Alps are magnificent. I marveled at the engineering feats of the highway construction. The Swiss, as well as the Italians, know how to design and build attractive tunnels and bridges. Now, I can't say the same about the weather. Both times it was terrible – rain, wind, and even snow. However, this did not cause us concern since we knew that both places are destinations for the beautiful people. We fit right in.

Now all that I need to do is pack up and say good-by. I certainly have enough to pack since I will be bringing a great deal back with me thanks to United Airlines. The "lost and then found" luggage saga is a story for another time.

Arrivederci

Grazie Joan and Gene!

(photos to follow at a later date)

A DAY OF REST

Tiarra left for the U.S. this morning, Kelli left for Rome yesterday by train so it is just Gene, Denis and I. I should mention that Tiarra brought us some much desired wash cloths. None were provided here and I couldn't find any in Bellano or any where else so she came to my rescue. She also brought some measuring cups and spoons.
We had a busy week. When Tiarra and Kelly went to Venice on Monday, Gene, Denis and I drove to St. Moritz in Switzerland. We left Bellano in the pouring rain which continued the whole ride. Gene had said the trip would take a little over an hour. More than 2 hours later we were there. It was a beautiful ride through the Alps and we saw many waterfalls. It was raining so hard in St. Moritz that we just ate lunch there, then turned around and went back to Bellano. On Wednesday we (all 5 of us) took the ferry to Menaggio where we walked around then took a ferry to Bellagio. We had lunch there (Pizza as usual. I didn't think I could get tired of pizza but I am.) and spent several hours wandering around. On Thursday we walked down to Bellano for the market, purchased a few things and walked back up the hills for lunch. That evening we drove to Lierna (about 15K) for dinner at Sottovento, a restaurant recommended by our landlords. The setting was beautiful overlooking the lake and the food was pretty good. This was our first dinner in the leisurely Italian style. We were there for almost 3 hours. At the various restaurants in Bellano service has been much swifter. We have a favorite called Orrido(waterfall in Italian) which serves rustic Italian food. We have also been regulars at a local pizzeria. They know us now and last time gave us a complimentary limoncello at the end of the meal. On Friday, 4 of us minus Kelli took the Rapido to Como. We had lunch there(pizza, what else?) and spent some time shopping. Como is know for its silk so we all purchased several silk scarves. The weather was beautiful as it has been for most of our stay at Lake Como. We took the Rapido back to Bellano but discovered when we boarded that we had only purchased one way tickets. The ticket collector reluctantly sold us the return portion and we were on our way.
Today I slept in. Gene got up early to take Tiarra to Milan to the airport and Denis was up very early following the Dodger game on his computer. Gene and Denis decided to walk into Dervio and I chose to stay home and putter around. An hour or so later I got a call to come and pick them up in Dervio. They didn't want to walk back. I picked them up after driving for the first time since we have been here. I was dreading meeting a truck on the road because I didn't want to back up. Luckily I didn't have to although I had a girl on a motorscooter on my tail the entire way down. They just don't follow closely. They seem to be inches from your bumper. We had lunch and now Denis and Gene are taking long siestas.
We plan to leave tomorrow for Zermatt, Switzerland and spend the night there. Denis leaves on Wednesday so Gene and I will be alone for a few days. We have enjoyed all our guests and I hope we will not be too bored with some quiet.

DOUG'S PHOTOS

The first three photos are taken near Chamonix in the French-Italian Alps. The last photo is of Dan and Annie relaxing in the pool at LA WALLY.

NO ANONYMOUS PLEASE!

I made it easier to comment on the blog by eliminating a sign up, but that made it possible to comment anonymously. Please use the OTHER option and give your name. Thanks.

Beautiful Bellagio and Bellano

Posted by guest blogger Kelli Wilzoch

Wednesday morning the five of us drove into Varenna to catch a ferry ride to Menaggio. After a quick walk around the small town of Menaggio we boarded the ferry over to Bellagio. Bellagio is probably the most beautiful place I have ever been to. Bellagio sits along Lake Como with spectacular views of the landscape mountains and hillsides. There is also breathtaking views of the Alps. We went into a church which was built in the early 1500's. Inside of the church was amazing and there was no "dress code." After lunch and some shopping we headed back to Bellano. Gene took us to the local grocery store to buy a few things, however the store was closed, and would reopen at 3:30pm. I found out that many stores closes from noon until 3:30pm so the people can eat lunch and take a nap. This is a ritual that is very common to all the locals. (Gene and Denis also practice this custom starting around 2:00pm) We had to look in four different stores for bread. It is best to buy your bread early in the day because once the bread is sold there is no more until the next day.

Today we walked down into Bellano to shop at the local market. The streets are very narrow and we must share the road with cars and trucks. The vendors were selling produce, clothing, toys, bread and one vendor had a butcher shop right out of his trailer and the line was long to make a purchase. The butcher had some chickens on the rotisserie cooking. None of the vendors spoke any English so I had a hard time communicating with my purchase but I was able to get what I needed. As we made our way back to Villa Wally the traffic increased tremendously because it was noon and people had to get home to nap. The weather here has been gorgeous from the time we got here. Gene and Joan are so kind to let us come and stay with them and I am truly thankful for the opportunity.

What a magnificent town!

Venice: No Shorts, No Shoulders, No Praying...

Written by guest blogger Tiarra.

Kelli and I decided that we wanted to check out Venice, so Monday morning we boarded the local train for Milan. The local train is very crowded, hot, humid and smelled of pee. Our trip would take nearly four hours to get to Venice- one hour and 20 minutes on the intercity train to Milan, and then 2 1/2 hours on the EuroStar train to Venice. We bought our tickets online, but there are no printers here, so we took Gene's advice and "just got on the train". Long story short, don't "just get on the train" with no tickets. It's a good thing I don't speak Italian, because I don't even want to know what was being said about us. Kelli was getting "car sick" on the pee train and was getting worried about the trip from Milan to Venice, but the EuroStar train was much nicer. We sat in first class, it had air conditioning, and the bonus was that it did not smell of pee.

We got to Venice, and found the public ferry to our hotel without any problems. We had a very nice hotel a couple of blocks from St. Mark's Square. The first thing we did was walk to St. Mark's Basilica to tour the cathedral. We waited in this huge line with people and pigeons. The line moved fairly quickly. We were about to enter and an old woman who was selling shawls to cover any exposed shoulders for 1 euro that looked like scraps of material to me, said we could not go in because our shorts were too short. Excuse me? Now I'm not one for religious rituals anyway, but you can't go pray if your shoulders or knees are exposed? Wow. Kelli decided that we should sneak in anyway because we saw other people whom the woman did not stop that were in with illegally exposed body parts too. We walked through the cathedral without any problems and did not have to spend the night in church prison.

Our hotel offered a "complimentary" boat ride out to Murano Island to "tour" a Venetian glass factory. So the next day our private boat arrived and took us out to Murano. It was quite a nice little boat ride. Kelli and I were the only ones on the boat. We were greeted at the factory with our own personal guide as well. Stefano. Stefano had very bad coffee and cigarette breath. He showed us a little demo they had set up when we entered what we now know was a gallery. They had the glass blowers make a small vase for us and then proceeded to take us to room after room of very expensive pieces of glass sculptures, dishes and vases. When we said we were ready to go without buying anything at the "very special factory direct price", we were told that we could take the public taxi back to Venice. What a nice little scam that was. Where was the factory? For all I know that glass is made in China. The people at the hotel must be in on it too, because when we finally made our way back, there was definitely a different level of service. But even despite that, we had a very nice time in Venice. It is certainly a different way of life. It was extremely crowded and expensive. We found that if we walked to parts where the locals shopped it was much more pleasant and was not as expensive. The people are very friendly and you can usually get what you need by pointing.

Gene's Favorite Photos

Planes, trains and automobiles

It’s been a few days since my last entry so I thought I might bring my friends up to date on a couple of my Italian adventures. Today is Saturday June 30 and it’s another beautiful day. We have been so fortunate with the weather. Everyday has been at least in the low 70’s and partly to fully sunny. Dan, Annie, Doug and Lori have left for Chamonix in France to hike and will not be returning to our rental, flying out of Milano on Monday morning. Joan’s brother’s wife, Pat and their daughter, Kate arrived at the beginning of the week and Tom was scheduled to arrive Thursday night at 8:00pm. I volunteered to drive to Malpensa, the main airport in Milano to pick him up because he had been traveling on business non stop from London, to Brussels, to Paris, to Milan, back to Brussels, Paris and then to Milan again. Around 7pm he called to say his plane was going to be delayed and that he would call back when he was about to get on the plane. He was flying an airline out of Spain called Vueling Airlines. Big mistake!! We finally got the call around 11:15 and I headed out for the 120km drive. Full moon, clear night, no traffic, just flying. About 30 km from the airport there is a toll plaza where they extract 1.20 Euros for the privilege of driving on the Autostrade. After paying I looked up to start driving again and found the traffic at an absolute stand still!! The DOT guys thought it was a good idea to pave all but one lane of the freeway. Long story short: One hour to go 2km.! Yikes!! Still 30km away I blasted down the Autostrade and finally got to the airport after 1am. What a pitiful sight. There is poor Tom standing out on the curb of the completely deserted airport. I mean he is the only person at the second largest International airport in Italy. The place was closed down completely and if the police had cruised by he probably would have been arrested for loitering! Another hour and a half and we finally were home and in bed!!

On Saturday our friends Tiarra Goble and Kelli Wilzoch arrived to visit Italy for a week and have left this morning for a two day trip to Venice. Keeping with the continual screw ups by the airlines Tiarra’s luggage was left back in New Jersey! Fortunately I was going back to the airport on Sunday to pick up our old friend Denis who had arrived after a week of business in London. I had a full car going to the airport as Pat, Tom and Kate were with me as was Dan, Annie, Doug and Lori's luggage that they had left behind in Bellano. They were going to an airport hotel as their flight was the next morning. I dropped off the luggage to await Dan et al's arrival. Thank God Tiarra’s suitcases were waiting for me, kind of. There were two rooms full of lost luggage. The clerk helping me said they could be anywhere in the rooms. Some bags were so dusty they had to be sitting there for years. We looked in the non-dusty area and after about 30 minutes we located them. Calling Tiarra for better descriptions also helped. Do yourself a favor and get a non black suitcase. 90% of suitcases are black!!

Joan, Denis and I may take a drive to Switzerland today. We’re only about 30km from the border and it’s a beautiful drive although there is a thunderstorm hitting us at the moment. Joan and I have now been here two full weeks and still have five to go. As most of you know because of Joan’s travel business we have been to Europe many times. Without question this has been the most delightful experience of all. We look forward to five more weeks of travel, friends, relaxation, food and drink.Ciao for now.

Dinner in the garden

Dan, Annie, Doug and Lori arrived back from Venice and the Dolomites early in the afternoon. Dan let us know quite vehemently that he has had his fill of Italian drivers and Italian roads. Dan and Doug walked down to Bellano to pick up groceries for dinner. They then fixed hamburgers with all the fixings and roasted potatoes for everyone. It was delicious. We ate in the garden for the first time and watched Dan and Doug barbecue. Tom was expected to land in Milan around 8pm but as of this writing has not yet taken off. It is now after 10pm. We have a full house with 9 of us staying here! Sorry about the tilted bottle of beer.

Watch where you are going.

Pat and Kate Crowley, Gene and I walked into Bellano today for the market. The road is very narrow and only one lane wide. It can be exciting when you are driving as large trucks make the road impassable and some one has to back up. The weather has cooled off a bit with an afternoon thunder storm yesterday so the walk down was quite pleasant. We found a few things at the market including Gene's favorite bread. He bought 3 loaves. We trekked back up the hill with our purchases and had a lazy lunch.

Walking to Bellano

Looking for food in all the wrong places

lGood Morning from Bellano!

Another day dawned perfectly here in the Lake Como area. The last few days have been rather warm and humid but today promised to be cooler and less humid. Dan, Annie, Doug and Lori arrived back last night from three days in Switzerland and cleaned out the pantry! After breakfast this morning Joan asked me to go down into Bellano and purchase some bread rolls for lunch. It’s a twisty, winding road 2.1km in length. A quick pretty ride but you must be very cautious as you drive because with tight parking it is just one lane for most of the drive. After getting to the bottom of the hill and arriving in town I quickly found out that Sundays were very different in Bellano. Parking has been a little difficult but Sunday is completely insane. We have discovered the local supermarket but today it was closed. Didn’t make much difference since there wasn’t a parking spot within 5 miles of anything. Found this out the hard way as I cruised around and around and around. I figured I would duck in this tiny store I knew of and pick up the rolls but parking was becoming ugly!! I finally gave up and was about to head back up the hill when I guy pulled out and I quickly pulled in. A quick walk through the back alleys had me to the store of about 100 square feet. The bread and meat department are in the back but I soon spotted the “sold out” sign. Not actually a sign but completely empty shelves!! 45 minutes after I left the Villa I returned empty handed.
After calling an emergency meeting of everyone and going over all our lunch options we finally decided a nice leisurely stroll down to town and a delicious pizza would be a great option. Lunch problem solved!! As you may have surmised by now meals are very important to us Italians and we won’t be denied. We spent the entire Lunch discussing what we’re going to have for dinner.

Oops, gotta go. Dinner is ready!!

Shopping in Bellano

It's Gene's turn to post something on the blog, but since he hasn't done it I will. Yesterday Dan, Annie, Doug and Lori emailed us saying they would be returning from Switzerland that evening and could we have some food available for them to prepare or eat. In other words have something ready for us to eat, Mom. I decided to prepare Lasagna. I had my regular recipe on my computer and since I was in Italy, it should be a snap. Gene and I went to the Pellicano supermarket in Bellano to get the ingredients. We took along the Italian dictionary just in case. The produce department is ruled by a woman who yells at you if you touch the produce. You have to tell her what you want and she selects it and weighs it and puts the tag on it. In another market you do this yourself so we did not know that we were breaking the rules. We needed parsley, so we looked up the word in the dictionary, asked for it and were met with a blank look. Luckily I saw the parsley and could just point. It was labeled with the word I said so I know she understood me. Oh well. I needed tomato paste which I found in a tube hoping it was what I wanted. Everything else we found without too much trouble although we did make 3 trips to the supermarket. We got home and found that we didn't have a pan so Gene went back again. We then went to the marcellina (meat store) and found some sausage. There are no measuring cups or spoons, spatulas or other kitchen necessities in this kitchen so I plan to buy a few items to make life easier. There are no sharp knives. So chopping was a pain. The lasagna turned out very well and dinner was waiting for the Swiss travelers.
We traveled to Como on the Rapido ferry on Friday. It took about an hour from Varenna. We passed George Clooney's house and Versace's mausoleum on the journey. A group of Americans on the return ferry were with their tour guide and he pointed out these places to our delight.
We have been enjoying the great weather and just walking around the small towns. We haven't done any hiking since last Monday when we all walked to Dervio via the trail near our house. This was about 5 miles round trip and not really difficult but with a lot of up and down. We are located about 400 feet above the lake, so there is always up and down on every hike.
Dan is going to post a link shortly so you can access some photos.
Ciao from Joan