Lake Como

Although I will be writing about my 4 day, 3 night trip to Lake Como, I will not even begin to do it justice. Like most, if not all of Italy, one must come here and see & experience everything for themselves.

Firstly, my ma arrived last Wednesday and we have been rollin together ever since. After 2 nights in Bologna (So ma, over here on the left is where my class is, this is where I get pizza...), we took the train up North to Como.

When we first arrived at the train station, although sad to admit it, I got a slight feeling of being at Lake Tahoe. I would soon find out that Lake Como makes Lake Tahoe look like The Oakland Raiders and their fans:bad. We took an hour long bus ride to our Bed & Breakfast with the road being right along the water. Fortunately for my ma, she snagged the window seat. Nevertheless, my face was still glued to the glass the whole ride.

After checking in, ma and I decided to relax a bit. I opened our window to get some fresh air and was treated to a fantastic view. We laid down for about an hour and then took a ferry to the island of Bellagio. (Yes, that is where the hotel in Vegas took its name). Two minutes after exiting the ferry, we walked past a group of girls. One of them yelled out: 'Ooo, San Francisco'. Taking one look at my ma (she neither heard nor noticed anything) all I could respond with was a weak 'Yeah'. Maybe that was moment to swoop in and strike up a convo about SF and what the city, along with myself has to offer. However, I never broke stride. In retrospect, I was glad I didn't. Being there with ma and without anything to think about was truly enjoyable. We walked throughout the town and, after recieving direction assistance from a man in an eyeglasses store, settled on a restaraunt. We split pizza, pasta carbonara, and grilled vegetables. We took the ferry home and knew this was going to be a cool 4 days.

Via Balbianello

Before even coming to Lake Como, both my ma and I knew we would have to see where they filmed Star Wars. For those of you unfamiliar, in Episode II: Attack Of The Clones, the final scene where Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen get married is at this villa on Lake Como. There are also other scenes throughout the movie from here (Later found out that Casino Royale was also filmed here) As we missed the ferry to take us there, ma and I decided to walk it out. We got to see a lot of the town and test our arm flexibility as our hands were constantly reaching for the water bottles in my North Face backpack.

Upon arrival at the villa, I knew this was going to be amazing. The small house is perfectly placed on a hill so that every room has a unique and slighlty different view than the next. The trees and hedges on the grounds are exceptionally well kept. Every few steps we were both snapping pictures. I, with my 7 lb digital camera with unrechargable batteries ( I know, I know) and my mom with her one time use disposable from Rite Aid. As a family, we like to keep things old school.

The colors on the villa itself, along with the statues on the grounds, made this day great. To just stand or sit and look at the water, mountains, boats, and houses, was something extremely unique. I kept telling myself that people actually lived here and how unbelivable it must have been. As ma and I left, I thought the day couldn't have gotten any better. But oh, how I was mistaken.

The Bed & Breakfast we were staying out had a restaraunt downstairs. There is only a price fixed menu every night and, upon first reading the menu posted outside, I was not feelin it. As my ma made me look at it some more, I got a sensation that this was the place to eat that night.

When we walked in, we were greeted by the chef who is a rather large man with a white beard and white hair. Tiziano is his name. Ma and I decided to each get the first plate, second, and share dessert. For the first plate, we had cocoa pasta with Goose Ragù. For the second, we had stewed rabbit with chestnuts and small, whole onions. For dessert, choclate and hazlenut fudge. Everything that night as well as every night is made by Tiziano. He only had one other person who works with him (clears/sets tables, etc.) and does all the cooking himself. I cannot even begin to describe this meal. It was however, the single best meal I have ever had. To give you an example of how good it was, I requested a copy of the menu in English and Italian to hang up in my room and bring home.

The next few days were very relaxing and enjoyable. We walked around some more, took in views and relaxed. As I said before, I cannot do Lake Como justice by writing about it. The pictures will be up as soon as I come back from Florence and Venice.

All I can say is that Lake Como was too beautiful. And I'm going to have a house there.