All things Como

Finally got a nice long run in today - about 6.75 miles through the hills of Civenna.  It was terrific to get out and pump up those hills after a few days of not running much.  When I got back to the house, C & I shared a pot of coffee on the terrace and watched the sun burn the fog off of the lake.

Showering in the villa is a complex matter.  There are four full bathrooms in the house, but the way the plumbing is set up, if more than one shower is going at a time, only one shower gets adequate hot water. B & A are using the bathroom at the bottom of the totem pole, so if anyone else is using hot water, B & A get an icy shower. Getting the six of us clean in a timely manner requires a lot of water-flow juggling. As soon as one person is done showering, they announce it to the house so the next person can jump in. When everyone is on board with it, it works well and efficiently, but if anyone isn't paying attention and jumps in out of order, cold showers result.

Anyway, we got out of the house in time to get down to town to meet Laura, who was our tour guide for the day. She led us on a tour of Lake Como, stopping at Villa del Balbianello, a beautiful site that was used in in Star Wars Episode II.  Many people owned the Villa, including a gay explorer who lied about reaching the peak of Everest (long story) and a cardinal who was afraid of kidnapping enough to build secret escape stairs.

After the villa, we grabbed a drink (beer, tea, campari/soda, coffee drinks) and hopped back onto the boat for more fun whooshing on down to Como, at the southern end of the left fork of Lake Como. Along the way, we passed George Clooney's house (Hi George!) and saw some stunning villas & gardens. 

B & A on a boat!

When we got to Como, we took a quick ride up the funicular to a town that looks out over Como. The views were beautiful, but it was a hazy. Laura told us that on a clear day, you can see Milano, Torino, and Switzerland. Como is actually only 4km from Switzerland by car, so we could add another country to our trip, if we wanted. And if we had car.

Then, back down the funicular and on to lunch at a lovely trattoria called Trattoria del Gallo (The Rooster Cafe). B had black rice and chicken, A & C had trout, D had ferro, and S & I had spinach/ricotta ravioli. We shared prosciutto & melon. After lunch, Laura took us to the main cathedral in Como:

Yet another awesome church.

… before taking her leave from us. Thanks Laura for a great tour!

We hopped a hydrofoil back to Bellagio, bought some food for dinner, and then took the bus up to Civenna. Once back at our villa, S, C, B, & I jumped in the pool to cool down before supper. Dinner was another potpourri of awesomeness: two brie cheeses, two mild local cheeses, a chevre, a stinky cheese, mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, coppa, prosciutto, tuna-stuffed red peppers, marinated artichokes, white anchovies, bread, olive oil, vinegar, salad, honey, gelato, and some chocolates. Also, red wine, white wine, coffee, water… Yum!

Tomorrow, C has picked out a town with a market on Wednesdays. S and I are going to make breakfast and then we're all going to hit the market! I have no idea what kind of market it is... food? silk? toys? black market jeans? Who knows?

Bellagio

Last night it was damn hot, so we slept with the windows wide open. This morning, the light streaming in, the bells pealing in the distance, and the birds chirping manically outside our rooms woke some of us up early. I thought about taking a run, but instead I treated myself to a lazy morning. A, B, and I went up the road to buy some food for breakfast, and we took our time getting out of the house. 

When we finally departed, the weather had been off-and-on rainy, so we weren't sure what kind of weather we'd be in for. We took a bus down to Bellagio to grab lunch and wander the town.  Lunch was a bit disappointing - we had a number of recommendations, but because we had such a late start to the day, the restaurants we wanted to eat at were all closed for the afternoon by the time we got there. We ended up having a very serviceable meal at a local wine bar, but it wasn't the spectacular meal we were hoping for.

After lunch, we wandered town, shopping for stuff and exploring the streets. Bellagio is postcard-perfect, but it's almost TOO perfect - like the city sold its soul to American tourists. American English was by far the most common language I heard today, and the streets were filled with high-end clothing shops (silk, mostly). C & I both commented on how we were glad to be staying in Civenna, a town that has not sold out to rich America (fully aware of the irony of us having the conversation).

We also found the gourmet shop run by Nico, our chef from last night's dinner. We bought some cheese and meat from him for our light supper. He and his wife were working the counter, and we had a good visit with them.

After our afternoon in Bellagio, we came back to the villa to relax and prepare dinner. Dinner was an assortment of meats and cheeses, along with some honey, bread, vinegar, tomatoes, basil, etc. It was terrifically tasty - a nice snack at the end of a relaxing day.

As the full moon rose over the lake, we were thankful that the air had cooled down, the spirits were mellower, and that we all had a good day. After the intense drama of yesterday, we were glad for a mellow day. Tomorrow is another one, one to spend on the water and in Como!

Some other notes about today:

• We're still not sure where we stand with the rental car company. C isn't sure he wants a car out here after seeing the roads.
• After four trips to Italy, I'm finally getting comfortable with tourism Italian. I can order food, decipher text, buy bus tickets, ask directions. Hooray for me! I can even ask for the bathroom (hint: it's NOT the 'back-ous-a')
• I found an amazing blazer for $450 today. I want it.

well, we asked for an adventure...

When C & I got up for our run at 8am, it was already in the mid-80s outside in Milano - yech. It never got any cooler all day long..

We had breakfast as a group, checked out of the hotel, and headed over to the La Scala museum. We only had a few minutes to spend in there, but we did get to go inside the concert hall, which was a treat - so much great music was performed inside - the room reverberated with musical genius.

Shortly after noon, we picked up the rental car, loaded it up, and packed ourselves off to Civenna, our resort town on Lake Como. The drive should have taken about 90 minutes, but 60 minutes into the trip, as soon as we got off of level roads and into the hills, the car started smoking and we lost every gear except first. We pulled over to the side of the road and turned the car off to let it cool down. We weren't sure what happened - we knew it could be anything from a blown transmission to overheating. Once we got going again, it took us less than a mile to hit the exact same problem, but worse. C pulled the van over to the side of the road by a lake. By this point, the clutch pedal was stuck to the floorboard of the car. C called the rental car company and the woman who was supposed to meet us at the villa. The rental car company sent a tow truck for the car, and the woman who was supposed to meet us organized a shuttle service. Along the day, a few things of ours got left in the van as it got towed off. Including my iPad. Crap.

Waiting for the broken car...

The house here is lovely. A great living space, a pool, a marvelous view of the lake. It's beautiful, but we're going to have to strategize how to deal with the heat. Highs in the mid-80s, no a/c, and the air is super-still right now. The house, for all of its all-inclusive-ness, is missing a lot of things that one might expect. Like extra toilet paper. Or fans. Or condiments in the kitchen.

Dinner tonight was lovely. C & D hired a chef to come in and cook for us. We had a saffron risotto, veal scaloppini with truffles, fried summer veggies, wine, and sorbet with limoncello.  Excellent!  Then, we watched dusk hit the lake.

And now, we're watching Italy get its butt kicked in the European Football Final.  Spain is trouncing Italia. It ain't even funny.

The internet is super-slow here, so I'll be limited in how many photos I post...

Ciao, Bella!

Travel day today: up at 4.15, out the door in Istanbul by 5.30, pulling back from the gate at 8am, three hours to Milano (watched 'Good Hair' - a great documentary!), met more family at the airport (everyone AND their luggage arrived successfully - what are the odds of that?), and at the hotel in Milano shortly after 11am.

The hotel wasn't ready to check us in yet, so we dropped our bags and headed north a few blocks to check out the Duomo and La Scala.

La Scala. Can you hear the cats being strangled?

From the roof of the Duomo.

Along the way, we had lunch (I had an awesome salad with tuna & mozzarella). A and I climbed the Duomo, and S, B, C, & D took the elevator. Amazing views from above, but damn was it hot!

It's freaking hot.

We got back to the hotel at around 3pm and everyone went into their room for a siesta.  At 7.30, we met to go to dinner at a restaurant recommended by the front desk.  The food was excellent - a great meat plate, a Dory fish that we all shared, home-made pasta, wine, proseco, limoncello, and home-made gelato (including the best pistacchio gelato I've ever had). We ate outside at the restaurant, and by the time we were done, we were all sweaty and bug-picked, but it was still a tremendous meal.

Then, a walk home past La Scala and the Duomo.  And a good night's sleep.

A true city experience

A short run and a little bit of resistance training at a local park. I hope I didn't wake the homeless guy.

S slept in, so I took off early to Istanbul Modern, Turkey's only modern art museum. It features primarily work by Turkish artists, but there were a couple of western names in there as well.  The museum is a good size, and the permanent collection has a nice selection of painting, sculpture, video, photography, etc. No sound art, btw.  There were also a few temporary exhibits that were striking, particularly one about photography in Turkey.  Photographs were not allowed inside, but I snapped this from the deck of the museum cafe.  Beautiful!

Apres museum, I grabbed a bite (meat-and-egg pide - thanks again Sinan!), picked up one garment that was getting altered, and headed back to the room to do some packing. S and I headed out shortly after to go to the Chora Museum. The building had originally been a church with some amazing mosaics, and when the Ottomans turned it into a Mosque, the mosaics had been whitewashed. Fortunately, they've been restored and are all sorts of wonderful!

This vaulted ceiling piece is about 12' square.

Cats are everywhere! This one liked to hang out where the altar would be.

This mosaic is in the back of the nave and is about 8'x6'

The mosaics are simply stunning. If you find yourself in Istanbul and like mosaics, check this place out.

BUT, if you do, you'll need to take a cab, and if you take a cab, be careful not to get ripped off like I did!  I got swindled for 50 lira today (about $27) from a duplicitous cabbie. Not the end of the world, but I'm still steamed about it.

The sneaky cabbie left S and I without cab fare back to the main part of the city, so we hotfooted it along the city walls to the nearest tram line. The tram was packed with rush hour riders, so we stood shoulder to shoulder with strangers for the whole 40-minute journey. Along the way to the tram station, we had found a bankomat for some cash, so we decided just to head back to Istiaklal Street to dine at Restaurant Vera, one of the places Anthony Bourdain ate at in the Istanbul episode of No Reservations. The food was excellent! Sarah enjoyed her spicy lamb dish, though she enjoyed my grilled meats more. The mezes were great (especially the white anchovies), though I was hoping they'd have some of the unusual dishes that they served A. B. (no such luck). Throughout dinner, S kept eyeing an old lady selling mini kleenex packs as she wandered up and down the street.

After dinner, we wandered down the street and stopped off for dessert (rice pudding for me, with a funky coagulated seal on top - yum!), then hopped the train back to the hotel.

It's 10pm here, and we need to be up in about 6 hours to get to the airport to catch our flight on time. Thanks, Istanbul, for an excellent visit!  We will be back!