Day 5 - 20 April, 2005: Bellagio, Menaggio, Varenna

Thankfully, the kids staying in the hotel weren't too obnoxious last night. I guess the manager had a little "sit down" with their chaperones and told them to get a handle on their charges; since he didn't want to issue a bunch of credits to the complaining guests.

It's our last full day in Bellagio, and Angela wanted to get some shopping done at some boutiques that she'd seen during our evening strolls through town. We also wanted to take the ferry over to some of the other smaller towns in the "Centro di Lago" section of Como. The lake is shaped like an inverted "Y," with Bellagio sitting right in the middle. There are about 6 or 7 small towns on the eastern and western shore, and the ferries run pretty much all day between them. After spending a little time in the other towns, Bellagio is definitely the jewel of the lake. Menaggio was just big enough to lose any charm. Varenna was cute; but the waterfront was small and very sleepy. I think that we've become a little desensitized to how pretty this place actually is.

When we returned to Bellagio, the siesta was over, and Angela could get down to business. We must have stopped in every leather and silk shop in Bellagio. Fortunately, our time was well spent and Angela found some pretty silk scarves that were made in Como.

We ate dinner in a nice trattoria that we had seen last night. We both ate "Osso Bucco," which is basically a large veal chop in gravy. It was spectacular. For dessert, we shared a dark chocolate mousse that was spiked with a little orange zest.

We're heading down to Rapallo tomorrow. I'm not expecting it to take too long to get there, but we're going to leave early anyway. We'd like to make it by lunch so that we'll have plenty of time in Portofino.