I asked for oatmeal or porridge at breakfast. Not sure exactly what it was, but I ate it anyway. Chris had this amazing chocolate-filled chocolate muffin. Pretty much dessert for breakfast. I did, however, find some fresh dates that were tasty. My family would never eat them because they “appear” awful looking, but appearances deceive.
We met with Chris’ coworker, Luigi, at 9 am outside the hotel. We had an hour plus drive to get to Varenna. I believe both Chris and I dozed while Luigi drove. I thought we were in a hurry to drop me off in Varenna and Chris and Luigi to continue on to their morning meeting, but apparently not. We were meeting up with another coworker, Sebastiano, in Varenna where the three of them would continue on to meetings in Sondrio. Sebastiano wouldn’t be arriving for a awhile, so Luigi was kind enough to help me figure out the ferry to Bellagio. We also walked about fifteen minutes to get to the tourism office. Varenna was simply amazing in its beauty.
We returned to the ferry parking area and met up with Sebastiano. I figured the guys would leave then, but no, first a coffee. Chris and I shared a bottle of water and a pastry at La Cambusa.
I wasn’t really looking forward to them leaving since I would then be exploring on my own, but it was time. Chris was wishing that he could spend the day sightseeing with me instead of making presentations. Varenna drew us both in from the moment we arrived. I purchased my ticket to Bellagio, Italy a short distance across Lake Como, with a return later in the day to Varenna. The day was overcast with low hanging clouds that never really cleared throughout the day. Lake Como was beautiful as were the small towns hugging the sides of the mountains surrounding the lake.
The ferry didn’t take too long before I walked off the ferry to Bellagio. Before continuing on, I stopped for a couple of minutes to update my notes. So much to remember, and so much to confuse if I didn’t write it down. Early morning in Bellagio was not terribly overcrowded with tourists which was perfect because the town and side streets were so picturesque.
I actually stopped for lunch in Bellagio, ordering a thick minestrone soup. It was mid afternoon, and the tourists and residents had finally emerged to make the streets a lot more crowded. I was glad for the pictures I had been able to take in the morning. I watched the 3:30 ferry load and decided that I would wait for the 4:10 ferry back to Varenna. It was about this time that Chris texted and said that instead of returning at 5 pm, they wouldn’t be getting back until after 6 pm. Boo.
The 4:10 ferry gave me enough time to get a few more pictures of Varenna before the sun set. They switched to Daylight Saving a week before us and the sun set very early. If it was setting at 4:30 in November, imagine how early it would get dark in December?
It was chilly and dark and I was grateful to find the heated waiting room next to the ferry ticket office. I sat there for about 45 minutes to an hour waiting for the three gentlemen to return. We said a quick goodbye to Sebastiano and started the long drive back to Milan. The roads out of Varenna were narrow and wound up the side of the mountain until we joined back up with the main freeway.
Even though it was dark, we still had plenty of time before we wanted to sleep. We took the subway over to the Duomo. Chris was used to sightseeing amazing places in the dark so we just kept with the tradition, enjoying fairly nice weather as we walked around, settling on a pizza and Mediterranean appetizers at Pizza and Cucina. We sat outside on cushions with heaters keeping us warm. Our servers were both from the Philippines and were thrilled to talk with Chris.
