Cadanabbia is just a wonderful place to visit and relax and it seems all the Lake Como towns are much the same, some smaller, some larger but pretty much all beautiful, charming and relaxing this time of the year.
Right next to our hotel is a church which I hadn't written about earlier because I had hoped to go in for a visit but it turns out the church is closed for the season much like everything else touristy around here. The Hotel Britannia stays open because they almost exclusively cater to the Shearings tour guests and there were 400 of us this past week. It was strange to be in Italy but hearing mostly British accents but it is one of those fabulously unique things about my journey thus far, all the unexpected pleasures. So the church according to the internet is described "
Welcome to the Church of the Ascension at Cadenabbia on the
western shore of Lake Como in northern Italy.
We have offered worship and fellowship to English-speaking visitors and
residents since the 1880s although the present church was built in 1891. The first Anglican church to be built in Italy in the 1800's
was built in Cadenabbia/Griante due to the popularity of the place with British
people who settled here. Local architect Giuseppe Brentano who took on the
project of the Anglican church also won a competition in the 1800's to design a
new façade for the Duomo in Milan, although it never came to fruition. There are some beautiful mosaics on the front of the church."We were on the road by 8:15am and up a winding road that took us past some lovely homes and villas high up on the mountain and then down to Lake Lugano which is in both Italy and Switzerland and we were stopped at the Swiss checkpoint which is oddly on a small winding road along the lake and after 20 minutes we passed inspection and we were off.
12 hours later we had passed lots of villages, towns and cities and arrived in Reims, France in time for dinner. We're staying at the Novotel just outside the city center and it's modern and very nice and I went to the wrong place in the hotel for dinner, the main dining room where as everyone else went to a banquet room where they served a pre-fixed dinner menu. I told the maître 'd that I was with Shearings and he sat me at a small table and said for me I could order anything I want not to worry and he was so sweet and brought me a bottle of sparkling water, chicken and fries while the other Shearings guests got some kind of rice dish. It is nice to be a women in countries like France and Italy because the men are usually very nice to you. And it was extra nice because I was sitting next to a couple, the girlfriend from Lyons, France and the man from Brussels and he's an artist and she's a scientist. They were staying over night before taking the 3 hour drive to Brussels where she is moving in with him and starting her new job there on January 3rd. They are engaged to be married although he hasn't committed to a date yet she said but she keeps reminding him. They were so sweet and she's a grandmother of 3 but looks likes she's in early 50's and he has two younger children from a previous marriage. Amazing what you can get from people in a short time and it was so nice to talk about life in Belgium and France and hear there thoughts on places you should visit and things you should eat.
So after I finished my meal I went in search of the other Shearings guests and had dessert with a group from my bus. One man is retired but has become a professional actor and does lots of background work in the UK and also some stage work for his local theater so it was also a very interesting conversation.I've met so many great people these last few months and especially on the Shearings tours so I've been very lucky.
And now I'm off to bed.
