Lake Como

(View from our airbnb...it was stunning, and perfect for the lightning storm we had)

Our time in Venice came to an end. What a great visit. The water taxi took us right up to the sidewalk of the train station, which was just so crazy. From there we boarded the train to Lake Como which was almost a 3 hour train ride. I will say, trains are not that comfortable. The scenery along the way was gorgeous! I tried to take video, but the reflection was terrible and windows were not very clean. 

We arrived at the station and our Airbnb host met us there, took us to get our rental car and then we followed him to our home...what an adventure, driving a stick shift (it's been awhile since hubby has driven one), driving in another country and following someone else. He did good though (hubby....well, so did the airbnb host). Giovanni, our host, was so kind and helpful. He spoke great english, made sure we had everything we needed, sat down with us to give us tips and show us important things on a map. The home was an apartment but very spacious. It only had one bedroom but had a great pull out bed where our daughter slept. The view was stunning with wall to wall windows out the front. It was close to the center of old town. We would totally stay here again. There was also a patio with a pizza oven but the weather wasn't cooperative to use it.

The homes in Como are mainly built on beautiful green hillsides, with Lake Como in the center of it all. It is beautiful. I don't think we ever completely made it around the lake. Around the lake, sit several small villages, I believe 24 in all. Oh, to have the time to stop and visit all of them.

 The rest of the view from our airbnb. It was perfect

We only had a short time here so we really had to make the most of it. We arrived in Como at 11:50 a.m. on Thursday which was great because it gave us quite a bit of time to explore. The downside was, during the day and a half we were there, it was cloudy and rainy, which was disappointing in regards to really getting to see the beauty of the mountains surrounding it, and take our time meandering the streets, but we made the most of it. What choice did we have. We hit the ground running. After changing clothes, getting settled, we headed to the town center. There was a break in the weather, which was nice. Como is not as touristy as Venice. We wandered through shops and streets, we listened to street performers and wandered into the Como Cathedral. We ate at a small pizza spot, which I can't remember the name of , but it was cute and small walk up to the counter kind of shop where we tried pizza and arancini. Walked around some more and simply took in the scenery and life happening around us.

Grabbed something to eat when we hit the town

 One of the many Piazzas (squares) in Como

 Like I've said in my other posts, I LOVE the buildings and architecture

 YES! Green grass...took my shoes off and enjoyed the feel of the earth. 

 The walk along the waterfront was so nice. 

 Como Cathedral. Beautiful

WOW! How did they do this all those hundreds of years ago. Amazing.

 Walking on the waterfront

 I wish I could've seen the mountains without the clouds. 

 LOVED this street

That night we decided to just eat in our airbnb, so we stopped at a small market (Carrefour Market) and purchased some salad, cheeses, asparagus, and some meat. We also purchased some items to have for breakfast and to eat the next day while we were out and about. It was a good decision because when we got home, the skies opened and we had the most incredible thunder and lightning storm with heavy rain. We LOVED it. That was, until my hubby and daughter decided they needed to go to the store to get ice cream....needless to say they were soaked when they got back, it looked like they had just got out of the shower. They couldn't just run from car into the house..they had to park above the home, and use different keys to get through 2 gates...lol. But it was worth it. We chilled the rest of the night, watched some movies, listened to the storm and hoped the next day would be in our favor.

The following day still proved rainy, but off we went. The plan was to head to Menaggio and Bellagio and possibly stop at a few other places.I honestly don't remember if we stopped in Mennagio at all, I think we couldn't find parking and decided to just catch the ferry over to Bellagio. It was raining and none of us wanted to get soaked trying to walk around. Bellagio was a beautiful town on the hillside. The rain let up enough and we were really able to enjoy walking around. From there we opted to drive back to Como on that side of the lake rather than take the ferry and backtrack the way we had already come. The roads are narrow so just "parking on the side of the road" isn't always an option, but man, there were so many times I would have loved to pull over and enjoy the view. 

 Little coffee shop we visited. So cute. Wish we could've sat outside.

That evening we enjoyed eating outside at a wonderful restaurant called Al Lungo Lago. Our waiter was amazing. So personable, friendly, accommodating. The food...so good. Our daughter enjoyed some tiramisu for dessert and said it was the best she's ever had. The night was pleasant as we sat and watched the water, and the people. We stopped on the way back to our car for some gelato, and then made our way back to our Airbnb to get things packed up to leave the next morning. It was a quick trip to this part of Italy but definitely worth it. 

Statues and monuments interest me. I want to know what they mean. This one was called Monumento ai Caduti. The writing roughly translates "One hand is actively serving the country in defense of institutional values. The other hand is wounded in the line of duty." The monument is the most expressive part of the human body: hands. The ever-vigilant and active in the service of the country lift and protection all the institutional values, the other defeated and wounded in the line of duty and for this fall for the good of the national community.

The next morning we signed off with our host and headed back to the train station to return our rental car and hop the train back to Switzerland for our last week...stay tuned for that post. Let me know if you have any questions. And again visit my facebook page for more photos.