We said goodbye to Verona and the
B&B’s puppy, “Nut”, after a simple breakfast.
The lake breaking into view
surrounded by the high alps was worth all the paid toll roads to get there. Many
years ago, I had whizzed by the lake on a train bound for Geneva and I promised
myself that I would come back. That was a promise well-worth keeping. We stayed
in the Old Town village of Varenna which is called “The Diamond of Lake Como.”
We splurged a bit for a lake front view and private balcony. It was totally
worth it! The huge lake is dotted with small towns along the steep mountains.
All are reached by boat. By buying an all day pass, we were able to hop on and
off the ferry boat at different towns. However, Varenna by far, was the
prettiest.
I had not planned on doing much in the
village of Lenno, but then we learned that the villa used in the movies “Casino
Royale” and “Star Wars Episode II” was located there via a walking path (more
of a hike), we just had to take a look. The villa was stunning and the gardens
were impeccable. The original owner died in 1988 and left the estate to the town.
The villa was in the final stages of being prepped for a sunset wedding. I have
seen a lot of wedding flowers and floral arrangements in my time, but these
flowers were magnificent, wonderfully romantic and truly inspired. The florist
was an artist! Shooting a wedding at this location would be incredible. Matt
stated going into “wedding mode” shooting some of the details. Guests were
shuttled to the villa via water taxi. All the guests were in black tie, sipping
champagne and were from all different nationalities. It was definitely a
bride’s dream wedding with a major international flare. My only disappointment…Daniel
Craig was not at the Villa waiting for me.
We continued on exploring Tremezzo and
Belagio. We missed the last boat leaving Tremezzo and had to wait and hour for
the next “special” boat. It was late so we enjoyed a lakeside dinner of penne
pasta and salmon which was delicious. We quickly learned that the time table
shown at all docks are on “Italian time”…maybe the boat shows up…maybe it
doesn’t…maybe it’s just late…or maybe you just wait until some type of boat
shows up at the dock and hitch a ride.
We arrived back in Varenna at sunset
and enjoyed the show of color over the lake while having some gelato. Not a bad
way to spend the day!
This
is a bit out of the norm for me to share, but every once in awhile, you
have to wonder what someone was thinking when they were packing for
Europe and considering all their "Must Have" items. I've seen Iron Maiden in concert, but is wearing a shirt with "Killers" on the back really the message you want to advertise?
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