Is this a Hollywood Set or are we in Italy

These Mountains are unbelievable. Lake Como is quite lovely. We cant beleive we are experiencing this after the busy cities; Milano, Venice, Bologna and Rome. Feels like a different country. We are so glad we added the Lake Region of Northern Italy to our list of must do.

The train arrives in Varenna. Off and two streets over to our hotel.

Rain, rain, rain.

We check in. The couple that runs the hotel are the perfect little Italian couple. He meets us, "no english, my wife she come, she speak english, here is key". He is the chef and travels to Cuba every year as a featured guest and to teach cooking classes. Seems he travels all over the world when Varenna shuts down in Dec-Jan. His wife is great. We want to hug her.

We drop our luggage and head out to explore. More rain, the streets are all cobblestone and run along the lake. We walk around the town a little then duck in a bar to dry off. The interior of the bar is all stone. Beautiful, will dark wood.

We have a new friend the barista AuGuisto. We talk politics, travel and what it was like to grow up in town of 800. Good times. He recommends a restaurant down the street. He calls to get us in, tries but no luck. They are booked. The chef is known to be very particular and choose all of the ingredients for his menu. We are disappointed. AuGuisto asks more than once and still no luck. He recommends a larger restaurant. Nine tables. New. It was great. Only one waiter, and the place was busy. But our meal was excellent.

The walk back to our hotel, we find the 4 table restaurant to try for reservations. We have decided we will extend our stay for one more night if we can get in. How great to be on vacation with no schedule. We stop in but they are full tomorrow night as well. oh well back to the hotel.

Wait Gelato. We havent had gelato. The search begins. The search ends. First Gelato of the day. That was close. To bed.

Good night.