The weather was in the mid 80s so we decided to head to a lake for the day. We have many lakes close by to choose from. This time, we chose Lago di Garda (Lake Garda). We have been to Lake Garda before but this time we went to Sirmione. Sirmione is on a peninsula and the dominant feature is Scaligero Castle. We took a tour of the outside of the castle and the views from the towers were fantastic.  I wish they had tours of the inside of the castle but they do not.  It felt like we were on a sea, not a lake. The water was very clear and many shades of blue and green.

I’m always the one taking pictures so I got some funny ones of Andy in the castle.

The cute town is located within the castle walls.  You have to walk over the drawbridge to get there. It was hot and humid so it was difficult to see the mountains across the lake. It was very crowded and got more so as the day went on.  I’d like to go back during the week so I can really look around the shops!

We ate lunch and had some cocktails sitting outside by the lake. It felt nice and reminded me of eating outside on Keuka Lake.

Anyone considering a trip to Italy should consider coming North to see the lakes. They are spectacular!

I met our neighbors across the street. Kind of. I was walking the dogs last night and I saw an older man stopped on his bicycle talking to a woman on the sidewalk. When they saw me they pointed and talked louder, in Italian. I smiled because I didn’t know what they were saying (I’ve only had 4 lessons!). The woman was talking to me so I told her that I didn’t speak Italian well. She said (in broken English) “Got postcard from USA. Is it yours?” I shook my head and said “Si”. She ran to her house and came out with a postcard that said the Finger Lakes on it. I said “Si, si, grazie!”. (See how good I’m getting at speaking Italian?)

My Dad sends us postcards from home. We really enjoy getting them. The first one he sent never made it because I didn’t tell him to put ITALY on it. Oops. Andy thinks it ended up in Maryland somewhere. My Dad numbers them now, so we have two-six. The postcards take a least two weeks to get to us. The mail system here is unreliable and expensive. We have to have a lock on our mailbox for fear of theft and everyone says not to get packages delivered through the mail and to use FedEx. Amazon deliveries are non-existent. Yes, I’m dying but we are saving a lot of money!

I’d like to send postcards back but I haven’t yet figured out the post office. You have to take a numbered ticket when you walk in the door and you have to know which counter to get the ticket from and it is all too confusing for me. When I can speak Italian better, I will figure it out!

I guess our neighbors know us as the Americans. Probably because we wear tee shirts and shorts on hot days. Italian don’t. It can be 70 outside and they are still wearing their puffy coats and scarves. We are from upstate NY so 70 is hot to us. It has only gotten to 80 a couple of times here so maybe they are waiting for the really hot weather?

Anyway, thanks Dad for sending the postcards. We really look forward to getting them! I’ll return the favor soon.

Hiking/walking in Italy is no joke. Everything interesting is uphill! But once you get to the top, the views are amazing. We took the dogs to Montevecchia to hike and look around. It was beautiful. We hiked up these steps to get to the Shrine of Madonna del Carmelo (at the top of the second pic).  We lit a candle and enjoyed the view. There were many athletes there running the steps for exercise. I let Sully pull me up!

These steps were tame compared to the path we later took. Hiking on the uneven cobbles definitely give your ankles a work out.  There was a guy on a unicycle on the path. I think he was there just to shame us.  We only hiked a little way and then turned around because we are so gun shy from the hike we took over Easter. We plan to get a map of the trails before we go wandering off next time. We were better prepared for this hike (see the backpack). 🙂

 

A lot of the streets in Italy are closed to most cars (remember the ZTLs) so its easy to walk through them. Most of the cars are really small here because the streets are so narrow. Many times we need to pull over to let someone else pass.

The views were stunning. I seem to say that a lot but it’s true. It is so beautiful here. We came across these cottages and I wanted to move in.

The coolest part were the individual tents serving wine and beer! It was a nice refreshing reward! We tasted and then bought some wine from a local lady who grows the vines in terraced vineyards in Montevecchia. She harvests by hand and makes Chardonnay and Merlot in limited quantity.

 

Montevecchia is only about 15 minutes away from our house so we plan to go back when the sky is clear. We could barely make out the Milan skyline in the distance.

We go to Lago di Como (Lake Como) a lot. We live less than an hour away and its a beautiful drive. Last weekend we went to Lecco on Lake Como. One of the reasons why we were excited to come to Italy was so that Andy wouldn’t have his two plus hour commute every day to get to and from work (Penn Yan to Ithaca). We now live literally 10 minutes away from where he works but if you catch the train crossing than its 20 minutes and I always catch the train! When we first found out that we were moving here I wanted to live in Lecco because it is on the lake but then he would have had a two plus hour commute again. Having a shorter commute was more important so we live in Biassono.

Lake Como is shaped like an upside-down Y. They say it looks like a man walking. Andy found these magnets in a store and changed one to look like Keuka Lake. Ha Ha! Lake Como even has a Nessi monster like Keuka too.

It’s fun to drive to one of these lake towns, eat lunch outside and walk around. Shopping in Lecco is like shopping in an outdoor mall. There were many stores to chose from and they were only a block from the lake.

The towns on Lake Como are connected by a ferry service. We are headed back to Lake Como on Wednesday to spend the day. We will probably start in Como and then take the ferry to Varenna and Bellagio. We found that parking is easiest in Varenna so sometimes we will put the car on the ferry to park it in Varenna and then hop back on the ferry to go somewhere else and come back to get the car later. Varenna and Bellagio are my favorite Lake Como towns. So far…

 

Andy picked out our house as I was still in Penn Yan. He did a great job. Our house is really cool. It has three floors, three bedrooms, three baths and two fireplaces.  He made sure that it has air-conditioning and a washer and a dryer. The yard is fenced in which is great for the dogs. All the houses here are fenced and gated. I guess there is a big problem with robberies. All the windows and doors have shutters that have to be closed when we leave the house. Italy is not know for violent crime but they will break in and you have to beware of pick pockets in crowded tourist areas. You can see one of our guard dogs looking through the gate!

The house is way too big for us but it will be nice when we have family and friends visit because it sleeps 8 comfortably. There is a weird room downstairs that is called the “tavern”. It looks like a tavern with a wet bar and a fireplace. We don’t use it at all. The cat’s litter box is down there.

We call this “Billy’s Room” because he was the first one to stay in it!

The laundry room is way too big and it has a full bath. Italians do not use clothes dryers. They hang everything (including their under garments) from their porches and balconies. It’s weird. The washers and dryers are so small here. We are really spoiled in the US with our massive washers and dryers.

The upstairs bath is huge. The kitchen is a separate room with it’s own door.
It does have heat but it does not have air-conditioning so I’m curious to see how hot it will be in the summer. The dishwasher is full sized but the stove and refrigerator are apartment sized which is hard to get used to when you are a food hoarder like me. In the Bath Road house I had two full size refrigerator/freezer combos and one full size refrigerator and one full size freezer in the the garage. I also had a full pantry stuffed to the rafters with food. That was fun to clean out when we moved. Not.  I shopped at BJs Wholesale Club weekly to feed my addiction. Now, we go to the Esselunga (grocery store) every couple of days because I can’t stock up. Maybe this adventure will break my food hoarding addiction?

This house has a lot of cool features. The gutter down spouts are gargoyles. There is a porch balcony off of each bedroom. It really has a park like setting with all of the gardens and flowering trees. I can’t wait until the roses bloom. The wisteria looks beautiful.

On a clear day, you can see the mountains from our house. I think they are the Dolomites which are part of the Italian Alps. Most days we can not see them because of the smog/fog.

We’ve all settled in nicely.

Bergamo is a large city about 40 minutes from us. We went there this past weekend for the second time. The Città Alta (“Upper Town”) is surrounded by Venetian walls built in the 16th century. The lower city is bigger and newer. We parked in the lower city and walked up hill to the Città Alta. Bergamo is not an easy city to navigate because you can’t just drive to the upper part because of ZTLs. ZTLs are everywhere in Italy and we have no idea when they will appear. A ZTL is a restricted traffic area that does not show up on the navigation system in the car but they must be avoided. If you pass through a ZTL a camera will take a picture of your license plate and you will get a ticket (a very expensive ticket, we hear) in the mail. The signs are confusing because some have times on them and we haven’t figured it all out yet. All we know is we turn around when we see one.

We parked down here and walked all the way up the hill. This is one of the reasons why Italians are thin. There is soooo much walking.

We had a great lunch in one of the piazzas. We ordered a beer that came in a wine bottle with a cork and it was so cool. The waiter made a keychain for me out of the cork. Oh, and it is served in a wine glass. The picture is of the meal Andy and I shared which is a very typical lunch in Italy, cold cuts and cheese. It was delicious. We took Sully with us. We are realizing that as Lucas gets older he enjoys staying home alone without his younger, annoying brother. He just seems happier at home sometimes.

The piazzas in Bergamo are gorgeous. This fountain has lions with the chain in their mouths. If you’ve ever walked with Sully you know that he likes to carry his leash in his mouth but the one time we asked him to do it so we could get a picture, he wouldn’t!

It was beautiful day and we really enjoyed walking around. Here are some pictures from this visit and our previous visit a month ago. The view from the upper city to the lower city is like no other.

Over the Easter weekend Andy and I took the dogs to Monterossa al Mare, one of the five villages in the Cinque Terre on the coast of the Italian Riviera. We stayed two nights and even though it was a rainy weekend, we all enjoyed ourselves. The vistas of the sea from the hillside were spectacular. The dogs were welcomed everywhere and they loved the attention. The following pics are of the dogs at dinner. They were very well behaved. We were pleasantly surprised!

When we checked into the hotel, the desk clerk told us of a lovely hike we could do with the dogs and the view of the five villages would be worth it. She said she used to hike there when she was in school and have a picnic lunch. She gave us a map and we were on our way. It was rainy so we wore our raincoats, sneakers and grabbed a bottle of water. We were totally unprepared and she totally mislead us. The hike was up a mountain with thousands (okay maybe hundreds) of steep steps and cliffs. Think of Watkins Glen but much steeper, longer and no railings! We literally hiked up to where the arrow is.

Andy and I are not seasoned hikers, yes we walk the dogs every day and we take the occasional weekend hike but we are both extremely stubborn so we continued. There was a hotel midway that we stopped at to buy some more water for us and the dogs. We probably should have turned around there but as I said, we are stubborn. As we were on the trail we passed real hikers prepared with backpacks, trekking poles, etc. If we were told how difficult the climb would be we definitely wouldn’t have gone but with hindsight, I’m glad we did. The view was breathtaking and the exercise was good for us!

The next day we were all pretty sore so we stayed in the village and enjoyed the more tame hiking trails and paths.

We did not check out the other four villages because the trail between them was closed due to the rain and we have not yet figured out how to take the train with the dogs. We know that they can go on the train but they need a European Pet Passport and we have not gotten that for them yet. Once we figure the train part out it will be much easier to travel with the dogs as parking the car is a nightmare. We lucked out and found a spot in the only parking garage in Monterossa. There are no cars allowed in Monterossa. You park the car outside the village and walk. You can’t even take a car to some of the other villages because there is absolutely no parking. The train, boat or the hiking trails are the only way to get there.

We hear that the Cinque Terre gets really busy and crowded in the summer months so we are planning a trip back in the fall to see the other towns. It’s abut a 3.5 hour drive for us but totally worth it! Maybe we will try taking the train!

Wow Stresa on Lake Maggiore, you impressed me. I was so confident that Bellagio on Lake Como was my favorite but now I’m not sure. Lake Maggiore is stunningly beautiful and the food and shopping was to die for and I could still live on my private island (Borromean Islands). Even with the parking issues (it took us over an hour to find a spot and Andy literally found one as we decided to give up and leave) you are still in the running for my favorite place.

We ate lunch at Ristorante Bar La Botte. I had the risotto with gorgonzola and pear and Andy had eggplant ravioli. Delizioso! Then we went shopping! Holy cow! I was in heaven! The shops were amazing!

When we moved here I told Andy that I wanted to get some handmade Italian dinnerware and I’ve been looking everywhere for something that I liked. I walked into Ferri Cristina and there it was. The pottery had the beautiful blues and yellows that I’m always drawn to.  Andy was waiting outside the store in the piazza and when I went out to get him to show him I was thinking that I really hoped he’d like it because if he didn’t I would be really sad. He reluctantly came in the store and as we were looking at the pieces of pottery that I liked, we noticed that the artist was Tassi. Andy’s mom’s maiden name is Tassi! SOLD! The store owner, Cristina, and her staff helped us pick out some amazing pieces. I can’t wait to go back! Upon further research, we discovered that the artist has a shop in Deruta, Italy which is about 4.5 hours from us but I’m sure we will make a visit to the shop on our way to visit Southern Italy. Maybe we are related?

Along the promenade, there were amazing palatial hotels. Hemingway stayed at the Grand Hotel Des Iles Broromees and it’s gardens were incredible. Maybe I can get Andy to make it an overnight next time we go to Stresa?

I’m not sure where we are going next weekend but I know Stresa and Lake Maggiore will be hard to beat!

The weather has been wonderful. I hate to rub it in to my Penn Yan friends but it is true. It has been 75 and sunny all week and next week looks like more of the same. We have had some rainy days but that is to be expected because it is Spring.

There is a small park at the end of our street and we walk there multiple times a day. The town provides trash baskets for the dog waste. It really keeps the park clean and it is so convenient for the dog walkers. I really appreciate it!

 

There is outdoor dining everywhere in the piazzas. It seems like every restaurant has outdoor seating. Which is very convenient when we have the dogs with us, even though they are allowed in restaurants, we prefer to eat with them outside. 🙂

We live right down the street from the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza (Monza Racetrack) which is in the Parco di Monza (Monza Park). We can hear the cars on the track from our house. It’s so cool. We walk there every weekend to see what is happening. There is a race there this weekend. The Monza Park is the largest walled park in Europe and we can walk there in 10 minutes. Also within the Park is the Villa Reale (Royal Villa) of Monza. When we were visiting Italy last year with no knowledge of living here one day, we went to the Park and now we live next to it. It’s funny how things work out.

There are many more things that I enjoy about living here. Stay tuned.

Andy and I went to Lake Garda on Sunday. I looked at the weather report all week and Sunday’s forecast was 70 and sunny. I reserved a tour to Isola del Garda which included a boat trip to the island and a tour of the gardens and villa, all with the perfect weather forecast in mind. Yeah, right. It rained and was really, really windy. Good thing we threw our windbreaker jackets in the car on the way out the door.

We had lunch at the Ristorante Da Rino and we shared a wonderful pumpkin ravioli. It was delicious. Kind of an Autumn season dish but it fit in well with the gray weather. This was my view at lunch. Still pretty spectacular.

Isola de Garda was amazing. Did I mention that I want to live on a private island? It is owned by the Borghese Cavazza family and four members of the family (3 siblings and the mom, Lady Charlotte) and their families live there year round. The kids take a boat to the mainland every day to attend school. They have renovated part of the villa to house four apartments for them. The first historical documentation of the island was in 879. Not 1879. That is not a typo. It was a monastery at one point and then the government including Napoleon was involved and then in 1800 it was sold to a private owner.

When we got off the boat we were greeted with this sign…

There are at least three Maremmano Sheepdogs on the island. They were huge. I couldn’t get a picture of them because they were under shelter due to the rain. These dogs are known for their fearless protection of their flocks. They were contained while the tour was there but there was white fur on the trails so I assume they have free run of the island . How cool for the dogs!

On the man-made part of the island there are gardens and a lawn area where I assume they hold their large events. The island can be rented for weddings and they hold concerts there. There are all of these really neat wood carvings to enhance the trails.

The Borghese Cavazza family opened the villa and island to tours to help pay for the upkeep and renovations constantly needed. I can’t even imagine how much it costs! Even though the weather was not ideal, it still was a fun day. Exploring Northern Italy with Andy is a lot of fun!