Overnight Coach to Lake Como

We left Dover at 2:30pm and arrived at 5:00pm, Continental Europe time which is one hour later than England so the trip was a very quick one and a half hours. The ferry was packed and there must have been at least 10 packed tour buses, some from Shearings and some from other companies. I sat and chatted with a nice couple so the time flew by and before we knew it we were all back on our coach and driving out past Calais and to the highway in France. The two drives each took turns throughout the night driving and also giving history on the places we were passing. And from about 10:00pm we all pretty much slept until we reached Bellizona, Switzerland at 6:00am. Bellizona is near the boarder of Italy and the only town in Switzerland that speaks Italian/Swiss. It was interesting to find out that there are four official languages in Switzerland and all governmental employees including people like postmen must speak, read and write fluently all four languages and most must also know English. It's broken down as 63.7 percent of Swiss speak German/Swiss, 20.4 percent French/Swiss, 6.5 percent Italian/Swiss and .5 percent Romansh, which is a very old language predating Latin.  It certainly put most civil servants from just about any place on earth to shame speaking so many languages as well as reading and writing them.

Bellizona, from what we could see at that early time of morning, is so beautiful and it's famous for its three castles (Castelgrande, Montebello, Sasso Corbaro) that have been UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2000 and were visible, with intense flood lighting on the mountain sides even though it was dark. There is also an ancient wall that once sperated one side of the road way from the other and was only passible by paying the Bellizona government a toll. Bellizona became a rich town from those tolls so very good thinking on the part of the local government at the time who knew this was an essential trade route.

We drove from there through Lugano, Switzerland which turned into Lugano, Italy and then quickly to Lake Como. It took about two hours to get to the hotel because it's in Griante, Cadenabbia a town along the other side of the lake from the town of Como. It's a gorgeous ride and the mountains are snow capped and the lake is stunning with thoughts of beautiful pastel colored villas dotting the landscape.  The Hotel Britannia Excelsior is simply lovely and just across the small road from the lake. My room overlooks the hills behind but it's so comfy and the lake is visible from one of the many lounges downstairs and from the table they assigned me which is right next to the huge picture window and has the most perfect view of the town across the lake as you can see I the pictures. I'm seated with two very nice couples from up near Wolverhampton which again my mother and sister will remember from our visit two years ago.

I got myself settled in my room and then right on the bus again to go with the group to Milan, and included tour with our trip. It was a little early but having just had a nice breakfast and having gotten a few hours of sleep on the bus I was ready for a walk through the city and it's Sunday so I was hoping I would get to go to mass at the Duomo.

The trip to the city took about an hour and half and I chatted with a nice couple and an older lady sitting next to me who was traveling alone and who amazingly came from Norwich which is that town in Suffolk, not far from Tunstall that I got to visit on my last day in the country. It is a small world.

We arrived in Milan and stopped at the Castello Sforzesco (English: Sforza Castle) is a castle in Milan, Italy, that used to be the seat and residence of the Duchy of Milan and one of the biggest citadels in Europe. It now houses several of the city's museums and art collections.  The original construction on the site began in the 14th century. In 1450, Francesco Sforza began reconstruction of the castle, and it was further modified by later generations. A number of the rooms originally had elaborate internal decoration - the best known of these being the Sala Delle Asse, which contains ceiling paintings by Leonardo da Vinci.

I walked along the grounds and saw a group of stray kitties which at first upset me than looking closer to them playing in the grass below they were so huge and well fed and clean so hopefully they are being taken care of by the staff at the castle. What gorgeous animals, I'm surprised someone has stolen them.

I left the castle to walk the 10 minutes to the Duomo, which you'll remember from my earlier blog in September when I first visited Milan. It's ornate façade and massive structure is so impressive as you make the approach from one of several avenues and today they had the large Christmas tree up in the piazza in front. Very pretty but I expected many more decorations. I guess the Milanese people are just too practical for something so frivolous. There were some lights here and there and some stores had nice displays but over all it was pretty sparse.

I did make it to mass just prior to it beginning and it was a lovely mass with a full boy/man choir and about 12 priests presiding which admittedly seemed a bit much but when you consider the size of the cathedral it almost requires so many people on the alter to make it seem less cavernous. It's gorgeously ornate inside as well but with dark stone block walls and pillars unlike the light cream color of the façade.

After mass I found a Christmas market and I just wanted to eat everything. The cheese and meats and fruits all looked so good and I won't even get started on all the desserts. I know the German Christmas markets are all about food as well but there is just something different about the selection of Italian foods especially the cheese vendors who all had multiple samples which I of course sampled happily and which I couldn't help but think my mom would love as well.

I finally found the perfect thing to eat for lunch at the Sicilian delicacies tent where they had a mozzarella and ham pizzotte (something like a calzone) and it was delicious. I ate and walked which at first I thought would be taboo as mom and I had discovered a few years ago in Savona when an Italian lady spoke harshly about us eating and apple and walking through the market but today everyone, Italians, Spanish, American and Asian all strolling down the street eating everything from pizza to cookies, so I felt totally comfortable and devoured the perfect handheld meal.



I just spent the rest of the afternoon before meeting the bus strolling around the town and even stopped, as I'm in Italy so I felt obligated, to have gelato and oh my goodness this was some of the best I've ever had from a rather fancy looking gelateria and they even served the ice cream on a petit wafer cone made in Bologna only 3 inches high. It was only me and the adorable young man who was working there and an older women who is originally from Venice. She told me Bologna has the best food in all of Italy and I'm sure she would know and then we chatted about how fabulous Venice is and about Christmas Eve tomorrow night and the feast of the fishes which they don't do here according to her and the young man. I guess it's different up north.  It was lots of fun listening to her talk about life in Italy she was so animated and the young man seemed to get a hoot of her as well. You just never know who you'll meet and what experiences you'll have even in a gelateria.

There is so much to look at in this great city and on my second visit, despite the overcast sky, the city has grown on me a bit more and I found time to appreciate the architectural beauty of all the diverse apartment and office buildings and the beautiful old brick buildings that lined some of the smaller more intimate streets. And I couldn't help but take a picture of the tiniest card I've ever seen, how cute but it looks like one tap from even a bicycle would make it crumple.

I met the bus at 3:00pm and before we knew it we were off for the hotel and this time we saw the scenery so much more clearly than earlier this morning. Como is stunning far below the motorway and the villages built up against the mountains surround the lake are breathtaking and numerous.

The women sitting next to me was telling me about her upcoming cruise from LA to Australia and how she's looking forward to relaxing and putting up her feet "and thinking of England." That expression "and thinking of England" made the man near me start laughing and the women and he told me that it's well know that in Victorian times the women would say, when they had to perform their wifely duties in bed, that they would just lay back and think of England. I thought it was funny but more so when I got to dinner and sat at my assigned table with the two couples from near wolverhampton and the conversation turned to one of the women, the one married 40 years, telling me just out of the blue that she had to get married back then because she was pregnant. Really, it's amazing to me what total strangers will tell me, no matter how often it happens it's still a surprise and her husband told me that he had to ask her father's permission to marry her and he had to tell him the truth about the pregnancy and he figured there wasn't too much to worry about because he could out run his soon-to-be father-in-law if he went crazy over the news. The other couple has been married 48 years and I think that's how the whole conversation began with the husband saying he had to ask his father-in-laws permission and it was pretty scary because her father was a tough man.  Anyway, I started to tell them what the women had said about "thinking of England" and before I could even get the words out the two men started to laugh and then the women because this is just an expression they've all grown up knowing. And back to the older couple married 48 years, the wife decided to tell us about her sister who got pregnant at 15 and had to get married and how her father never forgave her not even before he passed away and also how she married her husband all those years ago because she just wanted to be able to stay out past 9pm which was her curfew but her dad was too strict so marriage seemed like a good alternative to his tyranny.  They're a very funny group and the two husbands, although years apart in age, worked together at the Goodyear plant in the north and the two couples have traveled together a lot.

So now I'm here typing my blog down in the lobby, the only place with wifi, and enjoying watching people and the lovely decorations including the nativity scene on the large credenza.

I'm getting a little tired so I'll head to my room soon but I'm so amazed, astounded actually, that I'm here in Italy again and already my 2 months in the United Kingdom seems like a dream. I haven't been in Italy for Christmas since I was a child in the 70's living in Gaeta.  I'm so grateful to be in this beautiful place but truly wish I had my family and friends here to share it with. I know I'll be kept very busy over the holidays but it's not the same without loved ones to share it all with. The one good thing is this incredible group of people I'm with, including the bus drivers and tour guides who have been so great and because I'm the only American I have already been getting lots of attention and people are always coming up to chat like they did in Newquay. And our bus driver Patrick announced to the whole bus this morning that a Colonial Cousin from the States had joined the tour and introduced me and then realized that another Colonial Cousin had also joined, but this one from Australia, although I got more attention because he had people talking about their experiences having visited New York City and people are so happy to tell me all about their trips which I must admit I love because you all know I adore talking about my wonderful city even if it makes me a little homesick.