ITALY
JUNE 30-JULY 8, 2003
THURSDAY

The day began early with a 7:00 AM breakfast, excellent as usual. The padrone, a portly man with a booming voice,  handles breakfast himself, welcoming all with a Buongiorno!

Aldo

We were blesssed by no lecture today, and got into our tourbus, which drove up the length of Lake Maggiore to Tramezzo on Lake Como, where we toured the museum and botanical gardens of Villa Carlotta. Do you know the difference between an English garden and an Italian garden? Do you care? Farklempt leaves you to look it up yourself. Villa Carlotta has both.

Flower..Turtles

Cupid & Psyche-Canova..Sculpture

Then we entered our own speedboat, which crossed Lake Como to Bellagio, a very fancy vacation spot. All of Lake Como is lined with the villas of the rich and famous: Versace, Visconti, and even George Clooney.

Bellagio..Carol at Bellagio

We had lunch at a lakeside restaurant. It looked like we'd have to break with Atkins completely for lunch, as it was to be pasta only, but when I saw that the day's special was my beloved vitello tonnato, I splurged and ordered it. It was fabulous.

We had some time after lunch to go shopping and pay top dollar for designer silks. Carol wanted some gadgets by Alessio, so we went to a store that featured these. They also had fancy walking canes with silver heads. I asked if they had Giuseppe Verdi, and they searched in back and found him. I had passed up buying such a cane in Florence last year, and have been regretting the mistake ever since, so I couldn't pass this one up, even though it cost nearly three times more. They cut it to size for me. We also admired two canes with heads of Il Duce, Mussolini, on them, one bald and one in glistening helmet. Scary! I asked if they had one of Hitler, also.

Michael with Verdi..Bustione con testa di Giuseppe Verdi

We took the boat to Cernobbio, a town near Como,

Cernobbio

and took the bus into downtown Como, visiting the cathedral there, which is built in three styles, Romanesque, Gothic, and Baroque. Lots of saints and candles, and a large crucifix with a Jesus to which real human hair had been added.

Church..Church in 3 styles

Jesus with human hair

We bought some bargain silk on sale, and took the bus back to the hotel. Dinner was not great, but OK. A pianist in formal attire played light Italian romantic songs.

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