The imperfect storm, our day in Lugano

Not so sunny a day!

I started my last entry on this blog with a lot of words about the weather so I'm a little hesitant about writing about the weather today but if you had a day like we had you'd be out building an ark!! We woke up to a very very cloudy day, similar to yesterday but decided it wasn't going to keep us lazing around the house. Denis, by the way, didn't make an appearance until about 10:30am, a result of setting his alarm and waking up four or five times a night to check the Dodger score nine time zones away. He's got a real problem but that's another story. Anyway we decided that a nice leisurely drive over the mountain to Lugano, Switzerland was in order. I suggested we take an obscure route over the mountain behind us and return the "normal" way, to make it a scenic round trip. Joan and Denis agreed it would be a nice drive. Lugano is a beautiful lake side city in the extreme south of Switzerland only 40 Kilometers from our rental home here in Mezzegra. I'll leave it to the reader to "Google" Lugano for further details. Off we go, around noon. heavy clouds but no rain (yet!) The cut through the mountains was a bit surprising as I had anticipated very few buildings, homes or commercial but we soon found that there were numerous small nondescript towns every few kilometers, either hanging off the side of a cliff or burrowed back in some tiny canyon. Very charming but very strange. Although it was still not 1:00pm night was falling. (keep in mind that it doesn't get dark until after 9:30 PM here). The drive continued on! We left Italy with only a perfunctory nod from the boarder guards and entered Switzerland with no boarder guards in sight! We were definitely on one of my favorite obscure mountain roads. Getting darker!!!!!!! We cruised on down a racer's delight road with plenty of hairpin turns, switchbacks and hard braking. I tried to take it easy as I did not want Denis "Leroying" out the back side window! Finally down the mountain, on to a Swiss freeway and a quick few kilometers and we were almost to the center of Lugano. "why does everyone have their lights on and why are all the street lights on and, incidentally where is the lake (as the water lapped at our ankles)? We found a great parking spot (by braille) and parked right on the lake promenade. Now it's night at 1:00PM!! We have a quick lunch and watch the people walk by and THEN the sky opens up and it starts raining to such a degree that it would have gotten Noah's attention!! We had wanted to take a long leisurely walk after lunch in the old downtown area, which is architecturally very beautiful but now stocked with modern upscale boutique stores where you can drop twenty thou on a watch if you're so inclined . Big problem now. Rain coming down so hard, looks like midnight, streets starting to flood and, of course, we're in our obligatory shorts and Polo Shirts. Ha, but we thought ahead and each had a 24" umbrellas so we stayed relatively dry. It's a good thing there was a six foot overhang on the buildings. It was time to give up and head home. We swam to the car and headed back to Mezzegra, via Menaggio. You have never seen such rain. Really too bad because I had been on this particular drive before and it is very beautiful. We paralleled Lake Lugano past beautiful scenic spots , up over a mountain and then back down the other side with vista views of Lake Como. With sheets of rain and hard hail we saw nothing!! We drove about 25mph, at tops, trying to keep the car from aquaplaning off the side of the road! On and on until we literally got back to the rental house. Except for the experience of almost dying in a 500ft plunge off the side of the road in the pitch black at 3:30PM the day was kind of a wash out. Back in time for a nap though.

Ciao,

Gene

Around Mezzegra

Some more photos. The crane in our view, the view from the house and the boat factory.

George wasn't home.....

Today is Sunday, a very rainy day. We had planned to go to Varenna but decided to save that for a sunny day. We instead went to Laglio, where George Clooney has a villa and had a nice lunch. George was unable to join us but the food was good. I had an unusual pasta which was shaped like small squares, about 2" by 2". It was called tegoloni, had a pesto sauce and peccorino cheese. Molto bene. We then went to Como to the supermercato and did a big shopping. We, of course, got home early enough so Denis and Gene could have their afternoon naps. We had dinner in and I am spending the evening listening to Denis and Gene arguing about politics or whatever else they can find to argue about. I am also trying to bring the blog up to date.

Looking back on the non internet days, its all a blur. Calling Mario, the caretaker, Pozzi, the tech and trying to get on the internet 100 times a day. Gene finally had to revert to a newspaper! 4 days without knowledge of the stock market, Diamondback scores, unable to use Skype to call anyone, it was the worst torture imaginable. Now that we are back on, things have returned to normal. The weather has been mostly good with thunderstorms at night so as not to interfere with our days out. Last Tuesday we went to the outdoor market in Lenno. It was quite similar to the Bellano market of last year. We found a couple of glass mugs, some bargain tablecloths and a flyswatter. There are no big glasses in the house, so Gene bought a beer glass from a restaurant and with the mugs we now have 3. We made a couple more trips to Como to the supermercato also last week looking for things we could not do without. Denis arrived on Friday; Gene drove to Malpensa to pick him up, a drive of 85K or about 55 miles. That night we went to dinner in Menaggio to a great pizza place and also stopped for gelato in the square. Yesterday we took the ferry to Bellagio for dinner and some shopping. Denis found some gifts and some Deruta pottery for his kitchen. We had a lovely dinner at a restaurant with an outdoor patio up one of the small hilly streets. We followed dinner with the mandatory gelato and had a great evening. Last Thursday Gene and I walked down to the town of Mezzegra. We discovered some options for different routes for walking to Lenno and Mezzegra. We also found the panificio, the bread bakery which was the object of this walk. We discovered the square with the big magnolia tree and the fast boat builder right on the lake. Mezzegra is a very small town with not much going on. But we are very close to Lenno, Tremezzo and Menaggio. All have a ferry service and much more going on. There is a lot of building going on in Mezzegra. From our house we have a great view of 3 cranes. One to the front of us, one to the left and one to the right. They don't interfere with the view, but they don't enhance it. We have spent a lot of time on the deck, having most of our meals there and just hanging around. Thats about it, the days coming up should be fuller without having the spectre of no internet hanging over us.

Ciao,

Joan

A few photos

The cemetery in Lenno
where Mussolini was shot in Mezzegra
the magnolia tree in the square in Mezzegra
the view from Villa degli Angeli

Out of the darkness

Our internet has been down for the last 4 days. Miraculously it worked this morning. Apparently work had been going on in Tremezzo and an important phone cable was cut. After many phone calls to Mario, the caretaker, and Pozzi, a computer tech, we are up. As you can imagine Gene has been going nuts with no scores, no news. Denis arrived yesterday and was ready to turn around and go back to London where he came from because he is another internet addict, but he was rewarded this AM with a working internet. Gene and I will catch up with pictures, etc. a little later after we get our fill of all the news we missed.

Joan

Oh what a night.....

It was a dark and rainy night in Mezzegra, Italy!! No, really it was!!

Yesterday was a very hot and humid day here on Lake Como. I don't remember it being this hot last year but it was in the high 80's and humidity at least 90%. After an early dinner Joan and I were sitting around doing a little reading and a little talking. The sky got very dark (at least two hours before sunset) and a lot of lightening and thunder in the distance. Wow, did it get upon us fast! Next thing we knew it was coming down in sheets and blowing like hell. The west side of the house got the brunt, with water leaking in under the door leading out to our sitting area. Thank goodness the floor is tile and no damage done except using up one of our bath towels to stem the tide. We are only about one kilometer from the lake but it totally disappeared in the torrential downpour! It was sort of enjoyable watching the whole thing until I started thinking about the four foot overhang around the house. Could the wind rip the roof off?? Thank God no structural damage, although the outside furniture was completely rearranged when we got up this morning. Lots of crap in the pool but that's about it.

We woke to a crystal clear morning and about 65 degrees! Just beautiful.

A little about the "villa" we rented for the next eight weeks. They use the word "villa" a little too casually here. It is actually a three bedroom home situated on a hillside with a lot of trees, plants and grass. We have a neighbor fairly close on the east side of the house but lots of privacy on the west side where the sitting area is. Very quiet and peaceful with a beautiful view of the lake and the surrounding mountains. Lots of mountains!! Remember we are only about twenty miles from Switzerland!

The home is owned by Germans and there is definitely a Teutonic touch to the place! Very contemporary and somewhat austere although it has all the amenities one would expect except for a microwave oven. It's laid out with the living room, dining room and kitchen facing the windows facing the lake. Quite airy and very light during the day. The bedrooms are towards the mountains to the north of us and have windows facing the east and west. Those who know me well know I have already designated one as the "nap" room.

As Joan mentioned, our flights were on time and we arrived without difficulty. (For fun you can go back in the archive and re-read the adventure we had getting to Lake Como last year)

Today we go back to the Supermarket and stock up on some essentials. Twenty five kilometers towards Como and then back here for maybe lunch in town with a little exploring. We have now have had two days to recooperate so it's time to get out and see a few sights.

Ciao.

Gene

Buongiorno, Italia!

We arrived yesterday morning into Milano. Picked up our Peugeot and drove to Mezzegra, found our house and checked in. We did a little shopping at the local supermarket, unpacked some of our stuff and then went to bed. I've been up since 3am this morning, Gene slept in until 5am. We drove into Como this morning to go to the big supermercato, Bennet, but it turned out that it is closed on Sundays in June. We'll go back tomorrow as we need lots of stuff. Our house is much newer than Villa Wally where we stayed last year. It has none of the charm that LaWally possessed but more of the modern conveniences. We are not as high above the lake, but still have a wonderful view. I'll post some photos later.

Joan

Summer in Italy, 2008

Gene and I so enjoyed our summer at Lake Como in 2007 we decided to return this next summer. We are renting Villa degli Angeli near Lenno from June 28 to August 23, 2008. We thought it would be fun to rent on the other side of the lake for some new experiences and scenery.

See http://www.villa-degli-angeli.com for some photos of the villa.

When we arrive we will begin to share our experiences with you. Please feel free to comment on any of our postings.

Until then, ciao!

Tuscany

The End

Moto-Guzzi Factory









Villa Carlotta








Villa Carlotta #2








Below Villa Wally








The "Pink Room" at Villa Wally

Home Again

After leaving Villa Wally on Saturday Joan and I decided to drive down to Tuscany and visit a pottery store we had been in over ten years ago. Joan has described this adventure but I thought I might take a few minutes and describe driving in Italy. Since we were driving about 800Km in four days we certainly experienced the entire gamut of driving in Italy. In case you’re wondering there are speed limits on all roads in Italy including the Autostrata, which is Italy’s version of the US Interstate system. These are well-maintained roads with tolls! There are no built-in shoulders so if there is a breakdown or accident every problem is right there in the active lanes. This, of course, causes massive back ups, even for a simple flat tire, the back up can stretch for many miles. The Autostrata posted speed limit is 110 KM (about 68MPH) but is totally ignored not only by the cars but also the “Polizia”. Perhaps it’s only a suggestion!! We were cruising at about 140KM (close to 90MPH) the entire time and still had plenty of cars come up behind to pass. They either flash their lights or just pull up on your rear bumper!! Apparently this is not considered rude or inappropriate. You simply pull into the slower lane and let them fly by! These are not necessarily only Porsches and Ferraris but include family vehicles filled with kids waving at you as dad drives by at 160+Km. You MUST keep your eye on the rear view mirror at all times as the “closing” speed somehow brings these cars on to you in a split second!! There seems to be many, many trucks on the Autostrada but they are forbidden to use the “fast” lane at any time. This rule is violated occasionally but you can count on them staying far to the right. The problem is that there are too many of them and they seem to be wider than the average US semi and seen to wander into your lane by a foot or two. Another obstacle to watch for!! These trucks usually don’t run on Saturday and Sunday (maybe it is forbidden) so this helps on weekends but this hazard is replaced by the motorcycles!! There are strict helmet laws and “full leather” seems to be the norm. The problems caused by motorcycles include that they are small, blinding fast, quite numerous and worst of all, they feel free to dart in and out of lanes and use the “dotted” line as their own personal lane. Very scary and it makes you wonder how many go down at some crazy speed. I did see one accident that happened only minutes before I got there. It wasn’t a pretty sight!

Bottom line: you must pay attention at all times and be aware of what’s going on around you. Problems come out of nowhere and traffic conditions change in a second. Driving the Interstate system seems a lot safer but I guess the Italians are used to this and accept it. One improvement the Italians have over us is there system of roadside rests and food and fuel stops. Quite frequent and quite diverse, from full restaurants to full service gas and repair stations. We could learn something from them!!

It has been said that it’s not the end of the journey that’s important but rather the journey itself. In our case this couldn’t be more accurate. Our almost eight week stay in Italy has been the most enjoyable and fun time in our history of trips to Europe. Because of Joan’s many years in the travel business we have been afforded the opportunity to travel overseas many, many times but never attempted a stay anywhere near as long as this. Now that we have experienced it I can say we’re ready to do it again tomorrow!! Of course, the expense of it dictates something else!! For now we are both sitting back and reliving our days in Bellano and the adventures we went on everyday with those who joined us during our stay.

We have both enjoyed maintaining this blog and hope our readers have found it informative and entertaining. Thanks for taking time to read it and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed writing it.

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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

Gene's favorite photos

How strong are these wooden cross beams?

Old foundation for a long lost building

You talking to me?

Looking for gold

A long way down

Really good Italian engineering

Don't sit in the back seat!

Overcoming the pain

Joan has not shamed me into writing this blog entry! I have had a sore left index finger for the last few days but after running warm water over it for a couple of minutes it feels better and I can now contribute to our blog. I think I overdid it with the little paddle spoon they give you in Italy to eat your gelato!! There is pain associated with getting the very last speck of the delicious delicacy!!

Joan’s description of Cinque Terre was accurate and I would only add that it is absolutely indescribably beautiful. A very rugged coast line, deep azure blue water, very steep terrain and dotted with succulents you commonly see in Arizona. The trail is manageable but was apparently very dangerous in the days before the safety rails. My photos don’t do this piece of paradise justice.

The race down the steps was kind of funny but at the time I wasn’t laughing. When at last we all got on the train with seconds to spare none of us had a dry spot on us. The sweat was pouring off. The ambient temperature was 85 degrees, matched by the humidity at the same dreadful rate! A darn shame that we all lost ten pounds in the run!! (Leanne only lost nine!) The look back at these towns as you walk the trail is a must and each ten yards you walk you get another unique angle of the beauty of these communities.

As Joan mentioned Linda and I drove to the Splugenpass and beyond yesterday. This is a road I have wanted to drive for years! It is one of the most remarkable engineering feats in the world. What probably started out as an animal path centuries ago has been improved by man to a drivable short cut between the Lake Como area and Switzerland. Now, of course, other roads have been built in somewhat near areas that antiquated this road. None the less this forgotten passage has been well maintained for the locals, the bicyclist enthusiasts, the mountain goats and the crazies like me!! Going north on the Italian side you pass through and over some very green and luscious mountain country and some charming towns. One in particular, Chiavenna, is an Italian Alps village town with a very ancient history. Thankfully little towns like this were never bombed during WW2 and have maintained their past blended in well with their present. Once past Chiavenna is when the fun begins. There is an altitude change of about 5000 ft to the Pass. What a ride! Hairpin after hairpin where you need to pay close attention to the oncoming traffic, the edge of the road, the clutch, the brakes, the side mirrors, your speed and the car in front of you while all at the same time enjoying the view!! Linda and I stopped a few times to gawk at the scenery and to admire the towns below that started to look like small toy houses from far above. As we got higher and higher the tree line came and went and now we felt like we were driving across the moon with the very rugged rocky terrain. Very beautiful and very mean looking. As we looked off in the distance you could still see remnants of man made roads seemingly leading to nowhere! At last as we neared the top and the temperature plunged from a balmy 75 degrees at Bellano we noticed that our car was indicating an outside temp of about 45 degrees a mere 40 miles from the lake. Our selection of shorts and t-shirts for the trip made us look silly! With the heater warming us we crested the summit and gazed down on the piece of road that I have been wanting to traverse forever. From the accompanying pictures you might recognize this road from car commercials made over the years. I’m sure the car companies were touting their braking systems!! I felt that the engineering wasn’t quite as spectacular as the Italian side but the view was second to none. After taking our pictures we started down slowly and just enjoyed the whole experience. The road you see is about three miles long and a blast to drive. It is entirely in Switzerland by a few kilometers. Just keep your foot on the brake and down you go. What was remarkable were the bicyclists coming up in there lowest gear and just dying. Tough, tough people. We admired them and were so happy we were in the car. We were soon to the bottom and drove to the Swiss town of Splugen in the rain, turned around and started back. Still a lot of cyclists heading towards the toughest three miles in the world. God bless ‘em! Still being very careful we retraced our miles and saw all the scenery we missed. With a lot of brake pad now gone we arrived safely back in Chiavenna, had a gelato and walked a couple of miles around town and shared our thoughts of the drive. Both of us agreed it was a first and perhaps some day we would do it again. When we got back to Bellano I quickly reviewed the pictures on the computer and while enjoying them realized right away they did not do justice to what the human eye observes.

Got to go now as the pain in my finger is starting to flare up again.

Cinque Terre and Spluga Pass

As I mentioned last week, things are winding down. Gene has been promising to do a posting for at least a week. Perhaps I can shame him into finally getting it done. He usually writes when he gets angry about something but things have been pretty peaceful so he is lacking inspiration. So don't hold your breath waiting for his input, although he does get angry when the gelato person does not fill his cup to his specifications.

Pat and Leanne arrived last Tuesday and stayed overnight. We had a great dinner at Sottovento in Lierna and walked into Bellano and environs Wednesday morning, 4 miles in all. They left for the Cinque Terre late Wednesday afternoon. We decided to join them and the Browners on Friday to hike between some of the 5 villages. It was a 300K drive which took about 3 hours. We met everyone at the train station in La Spezia and took the train to Riomaggiore. We then did the first walk to Manarola. We continued on to Corniglia, a longer walk of about 45 minutes. Along the way Leanne got a splinter in her finger from the wooden fence and I was able to pull out my new Swiss Army Knife(purchased in Zermatt) and help with minor surgery on the path. When you arrive in Corniglia there are 400 steps up to the village. It's not a bad climb though as the steps are easy to walk on. It's just long. After much debate we decided to take the train to Vernassa after lunch. We finished lunch, checked the schedule for the next train which was in about 11 minutes and decided we could make it. We ran down the 400 steps and the street to the train. I barely made the train. I had been nursing a gimpy left knee for the last 2 weeks or so. All the steps we had been taking in Bellano and the hill towns were taking a toll on my poor knee. I was fine the rest of that day. We walked around Vernassa, had a gelato and decided we were ready for the 300K ride home. We took the train back to La Spezia, found our car and headed home. Gene and I both retired early that night. The next morning I could barely walk on my left knee. It was quite swollen and very sore. Linda, who is a personal trainer, arrived that day and told me it would help to get in the pool and get it moving, so that is what I have been doing. I'm moving somewhat better now but it is still painful and I think my hiking is over for this trip. Luckily we leave Italy on Tuesday.

On Monday Gene and Linda(I stayed behind) drove the Spluga Pass between Italy and Switzerland and also visited Chiavenna. They did some hiking but mostly just enjoyed the drive. Gene loves twisty mountain roads and is always looking for a new one to explore. When Gene does his post he will include his favorite photos from the Spluga Pass excursion.

Linda is heading for Mallorca on Thursday morning and Gene and I will be getting ready for our departure from Villa Wally on Saturday morning. We are then driving to Radda in Chianti for 2 nights and then back to Milano to catch our flight home on Tuesday AM.