Just after waking up I made for the swimming pool. I had been a swimming streak - a dip a day - and I had a feeling that this would be the end of the line. I took a few lazy laps back and forth before returning to our quarters to shower and pack.
We had another chatty breakfast with our hosts, who insisted on giving us a bag of hazelnuts from their garden before we left. As with everything we picked up on our trip, we were wary of the space and weight needed to take anything home, but we couldn't refuse.
We were back on
the road by 10:30, the car heading east. We passed through greater Nice and realized that we'd missed the best part of the town on our first visit a few days earlier. Too bad, no time for revisits now, we had a long day ahead of us.
Around noon we pulled into Monaco and parked the car in an underground lot in the city. As walked toward the city center we heard clapping and yelling ahead of us, and soon found ourselves on the sidelines of the final stages of an ironman triathlon course. Of course David was fascinated, so we spent some time watching and cheering those poor exhausted athletes.
We continued on, taking in the luxury of Monaco as we walked. We tried to visit a small Dali exhibit that ended up being closed, and continued on to the famous Monte Carlo casino. The only thing I know about the Monte Carlo casino is that it's in the Bond film, and that makes it cool enough for me.
David wasn't so easily impressed, so he hung around in front of the neighboring hotel while I took some photos. When I joined him again, he was smirking at something over my shoulder.
"I think I just saw Jennifer Lopez in a white Bentley"
Maybe it was the flashy reputation of Monte Carlo that skewed his imagination, but who knows. A later Google search didn't deny or confirm that J.Lo was in Monaco that day, but that's how hyper-famous celebrities roll, right? Incognito.
Regardless, we trekked back to the car and continued on our way. Soon we passed into northern Italy, and after a picturesque drive through coastal mountain passes we finally turned north and said goodbye to the sea.
The stretches of highway in Italy were dull and flat. If it weren't for the road signs in an unfamiliar language and the distant mountains looming ahead of us, we could have been driving through southern Michigan. We had five hours on the road that day, and by then I was restless and irritable.
As the sun was setting we finally entered the mountains, and were stunned by the landscape change. Green mountains rose on all sides of us, and the still waters of Lake Como
lay below.
The road became narrow, winding us along harrowing curves through villages along the edges of the lake. Dave suddenly cursed the size of our rental as he navigated the streets while I oohed and ahhed out the window.
It was Sunday night, so many people were finishing up their weekends on the lake. In the opposite direction the traffic was backed up for kilometer upon kilometer, which made the already difficult roads even more stressful. Fortunately we were traveling against most traffic, and finally came upon our hotel shortly after nightfall. And not a moment too soon - David was a ball of nerves.
We first heard about Lake Como from my colleague Francois, who raved about his summer vacation there last year. He gave me the name of Hotel Rusall, which - for lack of any better proposals - we booked blindly a few weeks before arriving.
Well, we weren't the least bit disappointed. Most hotels on Lake Como were placed directly on the lake. Which seems like an obvious advantage, but the problem is that the hotels are between the busy road and the lake, with not much real estate to spare. Hotel Rusall is placed halfway up a hill, away from the noise of the road, but still overlooking the water.
And wow, never have I overlooked such water. We had the amazing luck to get one of the best rooms of the house, on the corner with windows on two sides. The view from our bathroom alone left us speechless.
The hotel was a cozy, family-operated place, and we were warmly welcomed to dinner with our fellow residents. We had opted for a demi-pension, which included breakfast and dinner with our room. It turned out to be a great idea, as we didn't have to worry about walking into town and finding a restaurant every night. We had our same little table every day, and our hosts waited on us with such genuine niceness.
Dinner that first night was the full salad-starter-main course-cheese-dessert affair, and by the end we were stuffed. We wandered out of the dining room double doors onto the terrace with the other guests, and gazed at the landscape hidden by the darkness. A shooting star streaked over our heads we decided to head to bed, full of hearty Italian food and smiles.
Note: never heard of Lake Como? Chances are, you've seen it. A bunch of movies have been filmed there, including:
- Casino Royale - Bond recuperates at Villa del Balbianell
- Star Wars Episode II - Padme and Annakin are married at the same villa
- Ocean's Twelve
And, if you're a Gwen Stefani fan, her video for "Cool" was filmed there. Even if you're not a fan, you can mute the sound just to see the scenery.
Of course, I didn't know any of this until I got home and Googled it. Now I kind of wish I'd seen Star Wars Episode II in advance. But to be honest, I think I preferred the surprise, of not knowing what to expect.
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