Day 3 (Thursday)
Today we took a trip on the famous Lake Como to see the sights (Including of course George Clooney’s villa -- no personal sightings however). First however we went to a beautiful Villa that had some of the most incredible gardens. The azaleas were at the least 8 feet tall and camellia bushes the size of 2 story houses. We saw some wonderful art as the original owner was trying hard to impress all because he wanted Napoleon Bonaparte to name him the first president of Italy, but alas it was not so as the man across the lake in Bellagio must have impressed him more. Como itself is a busy city with 90,000 inhabitants. The city obviously has some very old sections and many cobblestone roads. It was fun to walk along thinking that the same stones had been walked on in 1200. We took the Funicula to the top of the mountain over Como to look out aat the view. Sadly, the weather had clouded up and the views were not as spectacular as they could have been, but still was loads of fun. Dinner tonight was in a small water side restaurant in the small fishing village below our hotel. It is the only restaurant down in this area and no wonder. Although the food and the ambiance is unmatched, and the tourists were few there is a reason. The pathway (steps) going back up to the street was straight uphill, dark twisting and at least 250 yards. After a bottle of Tocai Fruillano (wonderful new white wine find) and a full dinner . . . . . . .