Lombardy and the Lakes

Travel consumes vast amounts of time, money, and conversation here in Belgium. While buying the most amazing red raspberries in the market last week, I learned all about the vendor's upcoming trip to Dubai, his last year's trip to South Africa, and his thoughts on traveling with a baby--he and his wife are expecting their first child soon. Whenever conversation lags, "What trips do you have planned?" never fails to perk things up. And thanks to school schedules, we have lots of time to explore.

At the beginning of the year, we asked the kids where they would like to go and then wrote as fast as we could as each threw out suggestions that ranged from Paris to Egypt to a Mediterranean cruise. After throwing out the odd balls and completely unrealistic (I don't think we'll make it to China this year) we had a master list of Passey Possibilities.

With October break on the horizon, we decided on Milan and Lake Como for the simple reason that roundtrip airfare for our whole family (seven bodies) came to a grand total of 84 Euros. One of these days I will have to devote a post to the treasure hunting that is European travel planning. We found an adequate apartment on the lake, rented a car, and set out to explore and eat.

We started off in Bergamo, a really great town with an upper city accessed by a funicular railway. The morning was misty and grey, but we found the city strikingly beautiful. There was a great cathedral complex and plenty of gelato. I am constantly amazed by the number and splendor of Churches throughout Europe. Italy must have more churches per capita than any other country.

Lake Como is spectacular. The lake is long and narrow and ringed by tree covered hills and craggy peaks. There are small villages dotting the shore and ferries criss-cross the lake carrying cars and people from village to village. This has been prime real estate for centuries, and there are Villas enough to attest to the wealth and taste of Italian aristocracy. All along the lake you can glimpse terraced gardens with marble statues and hidden alcoves. Many towns are almost completely car-free. The houses are built on the steep slopes of the lake and narrow passages lead from the main street through the maze of dwellings down to the lake. The houses are painted the warm colors of the mediterranian: shades of coral, sienna, and deep, rich, yellow. We hiked up the steep hill on the outskirts of Varenna to the old fortress overlooking the town. Surrounded by olive and cedar trees and encircled by an impressive wall, the castle had its own collection of armor and weapons ready for use. Benjamin cannot resist a good sword or spear and he soon had Julia and Anna outfitted and ready to spar. Anna held her own pretty well, but Julia was a little top heavy and kept wobbling around like a drunk.

By far the favorite activity was finding and sampling the best gelato. There are gelato stands everywhere and we got pretty good at finding the bargains and comparing the quality. Stracciatella and Amarena are the favorites, although I think Matthew sampled every lemon flavor he could find. Gelato and shoes seemed to be the big sellers in Italy. I don't think I have ever seen such delicious boots in my life.

We spent our final day driving through Northern Italy into Switzerland. We love Switzerland. Since we didn't have a set itinerary, we just drove toward anything that looked interesting. We found a ruined church, a small monestery, an impressive waterfall, and St. Moritz, the famous ski town. We got stuck on an unrealistically narrow street, searched far too long for an affordable lunch, and admired the clean, free toilet facilities. We decided that we definitely want return to Switerland. Therein lies the problem with Passey Possibilities--the list just keeps getting longer!