Monday was Lake Como day. After the hotel breakfast (nearly the same as at Hotel Staubbach), we started the drive out to Mennagio. I know Kevin really enjoyed the drive on tiny twisty-turning roads on the side of a mountain, while I was a bit more nervous in the passenger seat with no control. We had intended to take the ferry over to Bellagio from Menaggio, but we somehow missed the ferry station in town. Before we knew it we were already in Griante, which also has ferry service, so we drove on board for the short trip across the lake. Lots of great photo ops from the ferry, as there are so many scenic little towns lining the shores of the lake with the great big green mountains behind them. Sure hope those pictures all look great. We parked the car and explored Bellagio for a few hours. It really is a beautiful place, flowers growing everywhere, cute shops, and that typical Italian look to the buildings. After trudging up at least 150 steps up the mountain lined with shops, we found a gallery selling glass artworks and restrained ourselves from buying the 11,000euro vase. Instead Kevin bought me a beautiful heart-shaped artglass pendant and ring.  Love them, I have them on now. I hope to find a new gold or silver chain in Florence to put the pendant on, it is on a black cord now. When we were tired of snapping pictures and shopping, we bought slices of pizza to-go and went back down the mountain. At the lakeside there are benches facing the lake perfect for picnicking. How idyllic, we are feeling no stress at all. Wish that pictures could do this place justice. When we ran out of euro coins for the parking meter it was time to go.

Back on the road, we started our drive around the lake. Again, little tiny roads passing through villages and winding through the mountainsides. We had a couple of close calls where fast drivers in larger cars took more than their share of the road. And there was the bus which really should not be allowed on those roads. Scary stuff, Kevin couldn’t enjoy the scenery much because it was too hard to drive without paying constant attention. I would just let him know when we should pull over at a turnout to take pictures. Late in the day, almost back to Lugano, Kevin prompted me to take video with my camera showing the roads and crazy drivers. I haven’t watched it back yet, but hope it’s good.

By the way, we were really mourning the “loss” of our convertible rental today. Was a perfect day for it, and would have been perfect for seeing the mountains and scenery above us. Grrrrr.

We were to drop off the car on Tuesday morning before hopping the train to Florence, but since we found the Hertz location on our way, we decided to drop it off immediately and walk the rest of the way back to our hotel. Good decision, it saved a lot of stress in the morning before catching the train. But the guy working at the Hertz location was a jerk. And the uphill walk with our stuff to the hotel sucked.

We decided to eat dinner at the hotel so we would have time to pack up and get to bed early. I washed a few items in the hotel sink using the liquid detergent I bought, and Kevin pulled the pictures of of our camera memory cards to the external hard drive I brought along. Kevin is using the Nikon D40 digital SLR and I’m using the Canon SD870IS digital point-n-shoot.