Upon arriving in Ancona we had to find the car rental agency and pick up our wheels for the next leg of the trip. We had to drag our luggage along the port, into the city, then figure out which bus to take (quite an unpopular choice) to the railway station. The place we were looking for was across the street from the station and they were expecting us. This time with a Volkswagen wagon. It was already early afternoon when we got off the boat so we had no time to visit anything on the way to the Dolomite region of Italy, a place so obviously of Austria that one nearly yodels involuntarily.
We had reservations in Castelrotto (also known as Kastelruth), a little town high in the mountains. Unfortunately, the place where we were supposed to sleep was being remodeled and they had neglected to cancel our reservations! Eventually, after abandoning Vivianne on a dark street all by herself, we settled into a nice two bedroom two bath apartment. We made it up to Vivianne by permitting her to sleep in the living room, directly in front of the television. The World Cup was in progress and from that point on we saw several of the matches though we couldn't understand any of the commentary. The next morning was Brigitte's birthday (June 6) so we celebrated indoors as it was raining outside. Warm soup was on the menu. Everyone had a lot of journaling to catch up on. On the far right is the chicken and his yodeling backpack that Nikki chose to give Brigitte as a birthday present.
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The following day it was raining pretty hard so instead of going for a hike as we had planned, we decided to head down to Bolzano where there was a large fresh fruit, vegetable and flower market in the streets. After what seemed like hours without success, we abandoned the hope of finding hiking boots for Nikki. The highlight of the time spent in Bolzano was the visit to the museum in which the remains of a perfectly preserved Ice Man is stored. See description of his finding and preservation at the museum . This museum has an excellent exhibit about the people and life in the Late Bronze Age.
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After a second night in the apartment in Castelrotto, we determined that it was not going to clear up and we elected to explore the mountains of the Alpi di Sisusi and the Siusi Allo Sciliar range by car instead of on foot. Surrounded by clouds, these rocky peaks and lush green valleys had terrific ambiance and we found the whole atmosphere (clothes of the people, the architecture, the spoken language) very Austrian.
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From the Alpi di Sisusi, we continued west via some more mountain passes and what became a very long day drive on to Lake Como. We had reservations at the Hotel Olivedo in Varenna. We arrived in time to clean up for the dinner in the communal dining room. Early the next morning Greg and Christine returned the Italian rental car in Milan (another exciting adventure finding the rental return garage and making it back to the station in time for our return train back up to Varenna).
Our rooms at Olivedo had big windows facing the lake. We were looking out of the parents' room when we took this nice picture of Nikki on the deck outside the girls' room. To the right of the terrace is part of the ferry dock. Boats came and went several times every hour.
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Unfortunately, the weather remained overcast and rain threatened us every time we went outside. We had come equipped and we braved the elements for many hours on both days we were in Varenna. One of our excursions, well documented below, was the visit of the gardens of the Villa Monastero. The flowers were in bloom and perhaps due to the weather, we were once again practically the only tourists in the entire park! We had a nice picnic lunch and then headed up the hill. On our second day on Lake Como we visited Bellagio and found it terribly touristic.
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By comparison to our experience of Varenna, Bellagio was jammed with Americans and shops, most of them filled with very expensive goods we didn't need. After about 1 hour walking around Bellagio, we hurried back on to the next ferry back to Varenna.
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For our last day (and night) around Lake Como, we moved across the lake to the larger, more working class but equally attractive town of Menaggio. We found two comfortable rooms in the hotel Il Vapore (image on the left). We dropped off our bags in the hotel and grabbed another ferry over to Villa Carlotta. This majestic property, now owned by the government and maintained as an art gallery and gardens, had about 14 acres of beautifully manicured grounds which boast over 500 species and varieties of plants. Some of the highlights were the fern valley, the rhododendrons and azaleas and the bonzai collection. The turtles were very cooperative, as were the three daughters who hung out for over an hour on this beautiful veranda while the parents admired the art inside.
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Upon our return we took a 90 minute walking tour of the old part of Menaggio. It took us up the mountain, past beautiful carved doors, to a church, around some lovely old streets and back to the main plaza near the Il Vapore.
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The next morning we packed up our bags and caught a bus from Menaggio to Lugano. Here we once again left the girls with all of the luggage in a park while Greg and Christine went hunting for the Swiss rental car agency. It turned out to be quite a hike although the scenery was outstanding and the sun was showing among the thin high clouds. From here on out we had excellent weather. Once we had the car we crossed a low pass and headed towards the Simplon Pass, pausing briefly for a much needed picnic lunch on the shore of Lago Maggiore in the Lucarno city park where we met some very friendly swans.
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