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2:00pm - waiting on the lake for the (expensive!) fast boat from Como to Varenna. Woke up around 7 with the five minute ringing of the church bells, got breakfast, and made it t the docks for the 8:30am bus to menaggio. Made it just in time to catch the 9:05 c10 bus to Como. That bus takes the lake route, which is a tiny narrow road that circles the lake. Cute towns and pretty views. In Lenno there was a fun looking food market and in Como there was a bizarre looking flea-type market. The road is so narrow the whole way that the bus has to honk all the time and cars often have to reverse and most of the people on the bus were little old Italian ladies. Quite funny and the journey definitely part of the experience. In fact experiences like that makes feel badly for people on bus tours who get carted around and don't experience the fun of public transport.
Bus arrived a little before 10:30 and I walked to the huge duomo and in the pedestrian streets in the old town. Bought a silk scarf at A. Picci, where they guarantee ecerything is made in Como with Como silk, which used to be a huge industry here. Of course, that means like the glass in Venice that a lot of what you see is imported.
Wandered a bit more and grabbed lunch at a cute cafe on the square by the warmer, where some huge exercise thing for kids was going on. The sandwich was 8 euros for a mountain of aged prosciutto and local buffalo mozzarella. I couldn't even finish it!! I think the waitress knew how huge it was since she laughed when she tom my plate away.
Wandered on the walk by the lake for a while. Como is at the bottom end so the town circles around the end of the lake. Got a sorbetto combination of wild berries and lemon that was refreshing and delicious. The busiest place on the waterfront is a little area behind a construction nice where a swan has set up a huge nest and has her babies. Even construction workers and old ladies are stopping to take pictures!!
One thing I noticed in Como that was rampant in Milan and I've never seen before is the amount of African immigrants just wandering around the streets trying to sell random books to people. I mean, roses, jewelry, ok...but random books, why? And I can't imagine anyone actually buys them.
5:15pm - back at the b&b for a pre-dinner rest. The boat ride was in eventful but it was cool to be on the hydrofoil goin so fast up an arm of the lake where you can see both sides. A guy who works for the boat company pointed out clooneys villa so I naturally snapped a picture. Got back around 3:30, went to the produce store and got some strawberries for later. Took a walk towards the castle but only partially uphill and before the trail part started. Came back down and sat on the view terrace for a while to relax and enjoy the view until the sun started peering through and it got hot.
8:30pm - sitting outside after a delicious dinner at vecchia Varenna. No one else is eating here. Cannot understand why. Everyone is eating at the touristy places that are almost as expensive and don't look good. It's also been much quieter the past couple days. Maybe this is a big weekend destination for people so the week is quieter this time of year. It's nice, though almost every person walking by is speaking English. Anyway, I had gnocchi with local cheese and potatoes (yes potato gnocchi with cubes of boiled potatoes) similar to, but way better than, the buckwheat pasta I had the other night. It also had snow peas in it. It was cheesy and delicious. I tarted myself to a dessert of semifreddo made of carmelized almonds with a dark chocolate sauce. It came out not as a slice or scoop of semifreddo but as three balls of frozen deliciousness on top of amazing chocolate sauce. All while looking right into the sunset for a worthy splurge indeed.
11:00pm - sitting on the roof speaking with the lovely john and Stephanie. Enjoyed a very nice evening chatting and watching the lights come on across in Menaggio after the stunning sunset.
Tomorrow it's off to eat and eat and lots of chocolate at my last stop in Torino :(
Total walking today (light day) 19167 steps, 27 stairs, 7.67 miles.
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