Day 15 - Varenna - Milan

             We had the most amazing breakfast at the hotel.  It was the best “breakfast included” at any place we stayed.   We were a little bit out of our element as all the other hotel guests were dressed in suits and ties and we were in our travel clothes.

Our clothing matches perfectly with that of the housing behind us.

            After wandering a bit this morning, we meet Luca for our Water Taxi tour.  Luca was all business.  Although young and handsome, he was serious and not much of a joker (nothing like Bernardo).  He had a script and an agenda and he stuck to it.   I suppose a good comparison of Southern and Northern Italian personalities.  His boat was nice and I’m sure he had taken many fancy tourists out on a ride.  One of the best pictures of our trip was of our group that he took looking back on the beautiful, colorful buildings that lined the water’s front in Varenna.  We headed south on the Lake enjoying his dialogue of the lake and the extravagant properties that lined its edge.  The highlight of the boat ride was when we stopped and took a tour of the Villa Balbianello.  It was an amazing place.  Two familiar movies, Casino Royal and Star Wars II had memorable scenes from its gardens over looking the lake.  We enjoyed this relaxing way of seeing Lake Como and enjoyed its grandeur.

Standing where Anakin kisses a queen Amidala from Star Wars II

amazing mansions along the water's edge

            For lunch we went to a place Luca recommend – the same place where he has dining the night before when Lara had called.  Rather than relaxing after lunch we decided to make our way back to Milan.

Just making sure we get the right kind of luck, spinning on the testicles of the bull.

            Since John had been to Milan several times we put him in charge of our dining experiences.  After getting settled in our hotel, grabbling a gelato, wandering around by the Duomo and window shopping once again at fancy shops at the Galleria, we headed off on our trek to dinner.  And it was quite the trek.  We ended up in a trendy dinner area alongside a canal.  There were several restaurants to choose from.  Ours was good, not great, but we had a nice big table around which we could all enjoy each others company.

            This was the first hotel we had where our bathroom was not in our room.  We had a shower, but no toilet.  Our toilet was just outside our room, lucky for us.  But it still required walking into the hallway in the middle of the night if one needed to.