Milan

We ended the trip with a drive back to Milan and a tour of the city.

At Milan Castle we ran into a gathering of clowns raising money of a children's hospital (I think).

The area around the Milan duomo was the first place I felt crowed.  There were tons of people, and all of these street vendors and creepy peddlers trying to give you string and popcorn.  The line to get in was really long and we kept getting hassled so we left.

Had to finish with a Vespa shot

Menaggio

After Varenna we headed across the lake to Menaggio.  Of all the villages we visited this one probably had the least cool feeling for me, but that could just be because it came at the end of the trip and we pretty much just did lunch before heading back.

Our lunch spot.  OK, not fantastic

Sending postcards back home

Varenna

Today we decided to explore some of the small villages in the middle part of the lake we hadn't gotten to yet, starting in Varenna.  Just like in Bellagio, all Conor wanted to do was "climb up an down the mountain."  The nice thing about being there in the off season was we had all of these fantastic alleyways to explore almost entirely to ourselves.

Poking around Como

Several of the guide books called Como a big industrial town and not worth the trip.  It certainly was bigger than the little villages further north, and if I was staying up there I'm not sure I'd make a special trip to see it, but it did have it's charm.  While Conor, Michael and Marie headed back to the house, Julie and I explored the city a bit with Andrea and Tom.

Italian version of a frappachio called a shakerato.  These were enjoyed a cafe in front of the Como Duomo.

Julie found a cocktail bar called Fresco.  It was literally on the wrong side of the tracks, but had pretty amazing drinks.  The menu was all custom drinks inspired by different things the owners had done/see while making a tour of Italy.  They also brought out these little food plates with cookies, sliders and local cheese.  Helped take the sting off an 8 euro cocktail

Boat to Como

Leaving lunch was a bit of a scramble, we were going to wait for the ferry when a boat showed up an we negotiated a deal to go direct to Como, but we had to leave right away.

Locanda dell Isola Comacina

For Tom's birthday we had lunch at Locanda dell Isola Comacina.  Since the restaurant is on an island you have to take a boat, which we did from Bellagio which turned out to be 40 minutes or so away.  In hindsight a better move would have been to go to Sala Comacina which was within throwing distance of the island, but it was a very pleasant boat ride.

Floatplane

(Or airplane boat as Conor calls it)  We took a 30 minute ride from Como, up to Bellagio and then back.  On the landing approach we took a sweeping turn over the city that gave us great views of the Domo.

Our ride

Conor loved the takeoff, then he was quiet the rest of the trip.