Italy, Day 10

08 Apr 06

Leaving Vernazza this morning, but we had to stop for breakfast at our favorite place...

Another find from "the bible".

Here's hint: when traveling in Italy, travel with a blond.  As long as we went to breakfast with Robs, we got served very quickly - those Italian men couldn't wait to flirt with her.  The gentlemen at the Blue Marlin were so kind and forgave my butchered Spitalian (that would be spanish-italian).

(Sadly, on October 25, 2011, Vernazza was hit by a massive flash flood and essentially wiped out.  The Italians are resilient and are digging out, but my heart breaks just thinking about all of the beautiful places and friendly people who were devastated by the flood.  Should you feel moved to help, click here.)

The trains that cover long distances look like they're straight out of Harry Potter.  The commuter trains are plain ole trains like we rode in England, but the regional trains are exactly like the movie.

Kev and Shannon went their own way for this portion of the trip, so the six of us fit perfectly into one compartment.

Lake Como is, of course, beautiful.  A bit overcast, so the pictures won't do it justice.

Squid wanted to see the castle, so off we went on our castle hike.  It's a good thing we've spent the last 1 1/2 weeks doing nothing but stairs here, because the hike up to the castle was a bitch!

I had to stop several times to rest my burning legs and lungs.

The hike kicked our arses.  This is only halfway to the castle.

Once we got to the top, it was so worth it.  We took lots of pictures around the castle and Brandy played with the drawbridge.

 

Up we go.

Finally at the top!

The views - I say this a lot - were fantastic.

Busted! Cranking the drawbridge.

Doesn't move much, though.

Squid playing with the armor.

The 78 stairs back to our room after our hike were not a lot of fun, though.  I'm thinking that I was such a big wuss in England, complaining about 50-some stairs when we don't even start to "feel the burn" until well into 60 steps now.

Pay attention to the towels over the bidet - those are important

Notice the lack of towels here.

The set up of the bathroom was ... odd.  The bidet faced the toilet, so if one wanted to use the bidet, one would have to do his/her business in the toilet, then crab walk/swivel to the bidet.  On the wall between the toilet and the bidet was bar soap.  Now, I'm sorry, but I ain't using anyone's bar ass-soap on my bum.  I love Robs, but maybe not enough to share ass-soap with her.

After the hike, we each needed a shower, but didn't see any bath-sized towels.  The only towels in the bathroom were the ones hanging over the bidet.  Not wanting to be "those Americans", we didn't say anything, just made do with the slightly-larger-than-hand towels that were there.

Our hotel is right on the lake front and would offer magnificent views were it not for the fine Irish weather we're having.

Lake Como

We made time for gelato and look who made another friend...