Italy Trip- Days 5-7: Lake Como, Part 1

(FYI, due to my iffy/variable internet, pictures aren’t always posting correctly. Trying going to the website: Mommie2zs.com for best chance. I’ll correct maladjusted pictures after we return home.)

We had the basics taken care of: Italian cell phone coverage, shoes that Monkey could walk in, a beginning of sleep transition, a rental car with a full tank of gas, and excited hearts. We waved goodbye to the Hilton Garden Inn and headed for Lake Como.

There were a fair number of one-lane roads to get to our apartment well up in the hills of a little village called
Pina. Here’s the official listing of the apartment, with photos of all the rooms. Where the crib is there was a child’s cot for Yessa. And the car we drove took up a lot more room in the garage.

The Italian woman who checked us into the apartment had thrown open the three French doors to give us the full panoramic scope. The balcony looks out over Lake Como, toward Varenna on the right, Menaggio nearly straight across.

We stayed four nights here, and it was a relaxing, peaceful way to really kick things off.

A tour of the apartment:

Tucked in Pina, up on a hill, we were in the midst of an everyday neighborhood, which I loved. Around us we had:

Our first afternoon, Buds, Yessa, and I wandered into town to find a grocery store.

We thought the road we lived on might be a one-way, since it was definitely a one-lane in several parts, so we headed down and around in the opposite direction where we came in.

Very tight curves, but we managed to do it:

Then we came to this tunnel:

Buds got out of the car to help guide us through. We pulled in the car mirrors…we were willing to give it a try. I got the front two feet of the car in, and we realized we had a very bad feeling about this. It may have been an optical illusion, but it looked the tunnel got thinner as we drove in.

Luckily there was no one behind us, and a little bit of an area for a turn around, so I executed a ninety-seven point turn, and we headed back the way we came.

Later, Yessa and I walked down the road and saw two tiny little cars go through the tunnel of terror.

Turning around was a good decision.

After that bit of excitement, we continued on into Varenna to hunt for food.

We parked at the first parking garage we could find, and then began to wander.

We didn’t find a grocery store, but we found an opening down to the Lake and we got our feet wet.

When we realized the grocery store in Varenna was closed, we drove 45 minutes in the other direction to find a grocery store open on Sunday. It was a large supermarket, inside a mall, and there was a child’s train driving around in the mall and grocery store.

We had great fun wandering around choosing foods we’d never tried before, picking foods that looked semi-familiar, and watching and smiling at other people.

We’ve learned a few things:

1) It is impolite to touch fresh fruits and veggies with your bare hands. Plastic gloves and bags are provided for produce for this reason. You bag up what you want, weigh it, and print out a scan code before you take it to the cash register.

2) We’ve not been able to find yellow/cheddar cheese here. That’s been rough on the boy, who loves his cheddar.

3) If you expect things to taste the same as at home, you’ll be disappointed. If you expect things to taste sort of the same, you can find lots of great options.

4) Pantomime is a great way to connect with people, and people LOVE to try and help. Yessa and I had the woman who was handing out samples telling us about which pasta we’d like best and which sauce was the simplest, which is what our crew prefers. Luckily the jars of pasta have pictures which tell you the ingredients, which helps a ton.

5) I was acting out eating food off a plate, then washing the dishes in the sink with a man and his son because I couldn’t tell if the soap was kitchen cleaner or dish soap. Yessa had wandered into another aisle, or she would have been dying of laughter and embarrassment.

6) People here shop much more frequently than in the U.S. Fridges are smaller, and we haven’t seen any grocery carts of any substantial size. It’s worked out great for us since we’ll be in one spot for 10 days at the most.

After our grocery store adventure, we headed back home to settle in. Buds created some fantastic meals for us in the tiny kitchen:

Also in those first few days, we discovered a delightful tiny playground a short walk from our home:

Buds had to balance being at home to work in the afternoons, so often our time out would be first thing in the morning.

We had a funny day where we had planned to catch the ferry, get some lunch in one town, take the ferry to the next town, grab some gelato, then head home. The timing on the ferry didn’t work out, so we came up with a new plan where we drove way, way, way up into the hills on exciting (harrowing) roads to dine at a fantastic place.

Fantastic place was closed.

The girls did find some scarves they wanted to purchase from a street vendor, and she gave me a gift of earrings, so it was a winning day overall.

Sometimes your day needs a reset.

We headed back home, and tried a similar routine the next day, but with more knowledge this time.

Buds and I did have a fun outing that night when we walked down to The shortest river in Italy.

Next up: we take the ferry, meet some swans, get a family photo, try more gelato, and laugh.