Lake Como

Over Memorial Day weekend, we had the pleasure of spending our holiday with friends at beautiful Lake Como.  The pictures say it all.....it is truly an amazing place, this lovely blue lake with snow capped Alps for a backdrop, and picturesque villas and villages dotting the shores....so gorgeous!

restaurant window with a view
 



friendly swans...



...getting closer...

....maybe not so friendly after all...  eek!



We rode the ferry boats around to view the lakeshore from the water and to stop off in a few of the villages, one of which was the original Bellagio.  We were lucky to have a beautiful sunny day after the unseasonably cold weather we'd had. 

 

Paul was of course very excited to search for the villa that part of Star Wars episode 2 was filmed in, but the boat didn't get very close.  Here are a few of the shots from afar:

Since the likes of George Clooney, Madonna, Daniel Craig, Paul McCartney and many other super stars have homes along Lake Como, a favorite theme throughout the trip was pointing out which villas belonged to which stars.  Of course we had no idea, but we had fun with our imaginings.  Statements like: 'oooh, that one.  That one is most definitely George Clooney's villa.  I believe I just saw him sunbathing on the front lawn,' were thrown around regularly (substitute Madonna above if one of the males in our group made the statement.) Ha! 

And good thing I had my telephoto lens with me, because I definitely felt like paparazzi taking these next photos: next to the swimming pool inside the floating dock in the lake, there was a swimsuit model shoot taking place.  Seriously, it was hard to return to real life after a few days in this place. 

Our favorite part of the trip was the spectacular views overlooking the lake,
 after ascending in the funicular (glass elevator/gondola/cable car ride).  What a view!

We soaked in the scenery and enjoyed some of the best pizzas and calzones we've had in all of Italy.  Fantastic!  Truly an unforgettable place.  As was our journey back down the mountainside: after lunch we returned to the funicular for our return trip only to find that the winds had picked up and the cable car had been shut down. The operator told us that we could walk down, which would probably take us several hours down the meandering, switchback road (or longer, with four small children including a 2 year old) or wait to see if the winds let up.  Since several locals were waiting, we figured we would wait it out too.  About 30 minutes later, the operator told us we could "try" to descend - what?!? What exactly is the alternative here??  As we embarked, we noticed that all the locals were looking at us a bit skeptically - certainly they thought that the ignorant tourists should be guinea pigs in this endeavor and 'gallantly' let us go first.  Ha!   The ride down was rather sketchy- they stopped the funicular several times, quite suddenly, and we sat swaying in the wind until the breezes died down enough for us to continue.  Paul, who has a bit of a problem with heights and confined spaces to begin with, was close to hyperventilating.  Yikes!  But we made it, safe and sound - though they shut down the ride behind us.  They certainly know how to put the 'fun' in 'funicular.' :)  What a memorable journey, indeed!

Buona Festa della Mama - Happy Mother's Day!

So, I still have many pictures to post from our trip with Anne.  And even more from our adventures with the Juergensens....but, I also want to include more of our day to day happenings here in Italy.  I'm going to try to update more regularly with our typical weekend stuff, etc, and then fill in with our trip photos as I can.  Here goes!

BUONA FESTA DELLA MAMMA!    --   HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!  

My friend Jana told me that each Mother's Day, she asks for a 'frame-worthy' photo of her and her children. I thought that sounds like a fantastic idea, especially since I am usually the one behind the camera, and we end up with  more pictures of Paul and our girls than me.  So, before church on Sunday we headed out into our village for our own little photo shoot.  Funny thing is, when we opened our front door, someone with a big camera and huge lens was taking a picture of our door! And our house, and all the buildings around it, and our street in general.  And then we saw not just one, but many photographers!  There must have been some sort of photo club event in our town.  Consequently, we were the subject of quite a few strangers' photos!  At least the girls were - and I really can't  blame them since they both looked so adorable in their little matching dresses.  All in all, we felt a bit like celebrities.  Only here in Italy will we find bicyclists slowing down as they ride by to call out "bellissima!"  ("beautiful!") as we pose for our photos.  :)  And quite a few of those photos turned out quite nicely, if I do say so myself.  Paul was an excellent photographer.  Enjoy! 

Our house is the one at the end of the street.  

Clara was looking at the strange man who was also photographing this shot.  :)  

Our front door makes a picturesque back drop.  

I would be remiss if I did not also mention that my wonderful husband and children made me breakfast in bed (Paul likes to pretend that he doesn't know how to cook anything, but he whips up a mean omelet once a year on Mother's day)  :)  and we walked up the road to eat delicious Italian pizza for dinner.  Yum!  With my sweet girls Vivian and Clara, I have so many blessings to be thankful for this special day.  

Polcenigo and beyond with Anne

Well Anne, nearly one month since 'part one' of my posts on your visit and almost two months since your arrival...whew I am way behind.  But here it is.... :)  Many pictures to share.

Anne's first morning with us started out with a walk to the panificio: the bakery.  We love meandering our way to the tiny bakery, following the delicious smell of fresh bread and pastries.   Yum!  It was a cool morning but the sun was peaking through the clouds.

Our usual routine on the return walk from the bakery:

petting our friendly neighbor doggy, 

walk down our narrow, cobblestone street, 

admire the view of the river from the bridge, 

            

and arrive back home at our doorstep.  

Later in the day it warmed up enough to have  a picnic on the castle ruin grounds and show Anne our favorite spot that is so close to home, just a couple of minutes walk up the road.  

This was the first day that the weather was truly nice enough to spend any amount of time outside, and Vivian enjoyed it to the fullest.  She brought tears to our eyes with these sweet words: contentedly full after our picnic lunch, she laid back on the grass and closed her eyes, sighed, and said this in her most precious, poetic voice:

"I love the way that the grass tickles my fingers, and I love the smell of the dirt, and I love the way

 the sun feels on my face."  

Clara follows her big sister everywhere - she will not be left behind in any adventure.  :)

sweet sisters enjoying the view

 

Smiles all around! 

The next day we drove up into the Alps to beautiful blue Lago di Barcis and beyond to the town of Claut.  With abundant sunshine, we had spectacular views!  

Claut is a little mountain town that we discovered one of our first weekends here.  We returned to the yummy pizzeria there and played in the snow a bit :)  What a gorgeous, sunny day it was! 

pizza topped with hot dog and fries 

They had so much fun in the snow! 

love this little girl's eyelashes

.

For our evening meal out, we dined at Allo Chalet and had delicious pasta and fish.  And we could not pass up these delectable desserts: 

 (although the roaring fire had sadly gone out by the time we took this picture, it still shows off the unique fire place - I think it is very Alpine Chalet looking, appropriately.)

and the dolce did not disappoint!  

Anne had arrived here in Italy on the 14th of February, just after Carnevale ended.  She considered coming early to try to experience Fat Tuesday (or Martedi Grasso) in Venice but the timing just didn't work out.  And probably a good thing too, since the weather was awful - it snowed in Venice and they had record flooding on the night of Fat Tuesday, one of the biggest celebrations there!  I was very surprised to see many of the Carnevale parades and celebrations rescheduled to the following Saturday - several days into the season of Lent!  Hmmm....but we were happy to take advantage of the rescheduling!  We drove about an hour away to participate in one town's festivities.   The parade far exceeded our expectations!  After experiencing Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans, I feel that no parade will ever live up to my memories from good ole' NOLA....but this Italian celebration was pretty impressive!  The parade theme was some sort of fantasy-fantasia and they all had music BLASTING and dancers/singers/etc.  Our favorites were the floats that gave away food!  No kidding, actual decent food like meat on a stick and beans and popcorn, none of this simply candy rubbish you see in the states.  There was even a float giving away beer!  The pictures really do not do justice to the size and complexity of the parade, and the festive atmosphere all around, but they will give a glimpse into our fun evening.  

 We had an awesome view of the parade coming around the corner and the church steeple.

"Pipa corn" - pop corn giveaway! 

 The mother nature float was amazing- this view of her backside ;) shows off her exquisite flower hair!

Naturally, it was Paul who pointed out that this 'fantasy' float wasn't just for kids, since you could see up the skirts and down the shirts of the blue and red dressed women statues. Ha!  Oh, Europeans.  :) 

masked Anne enjoying our vendor food dinner 

Perhaps my least favorite part of the celebrations was the confetti.  Now, this was no ordinary confetti the likes of which I have ever seen before - no, they mean business.  Parade participants ruthlessly throw it at the bystanders by the bucket and bag-full.  I was grumbling about this WEEKS later as I still found pieces of it in  our jackets, hats, bags....but, the children of course thought it was hilarious.  

Confetti storm - no that is not snow, it is in fact confetti.  

Vivi didn't think that Clara had enough confetti and contributed more.  

My lovely hairdo compliments of Anne's braiding skills, covered in confetti.  

  The evening was topped off by a truly spectacular fireworks show.  Really big fireworks 

that lasted for quite awhile!  

 We returned to our parking spot, tired and content after the fun was over, and found that even our car had taken part in the festival and was decorated with confetti - it may be difficult to see the decorations but I wanted to include this picture of our tiny Euro car with our small children in front of it.  :)

What a great time we had!  We were so glad that they rescheduled Carnevale, just in time to coincide with Anne's visit!