On the Lago di Como and Lago di Lecco

It has been quite nice with the children because life can only proceed at a certain pace and no faster and, at the moment, I'm barely keeping up with the children. I'm just barely conscious and Caron keeps grabbing my hand, not because she's being romantic or anything but just to check that there's still a pulse.

Today we took the ferry from Varenna to Bellagio across Lago Como which actually consists of 3 sections; Lago di Como, Lago di Lecco and the other one I forget but everyone just refers to it as Lago di Como. On the way there we caught the car ferry and in a surprisingly short period of time we disembarked at Bellagio. There are a huge number and variety of motorcyclists here and we saw a pair of old racing Motoguzzi's which look very uncomfortable to tour on as you are pretty much lying down on the tank at full stretch to reach the handlebars.

Bellagio has to be one of our favourite towns thus far, it has steep pedestrianised cobbled streets with beautiful shops that lured Caron in and convinced her to part with money. She purchased a pair of Italian leather shoes which I must say are beautifully made and no more expensive than if we had bought them in Johannesburg. The bonus is that we may now have a box to put the mask in to prevent it from being crushed although how we are going to get this all into our weight allowance is a mystery.

Just as we landed we had a cup of cafe and hot chocolate under the shade of the plain trees, a perfect setting but spoilt by the quality of the chocolate and coffee so while Bellagio may be very beautiful and clean; it's still a bit of a tourist trap.

We had lunch in Bellagio at one of the restaurants and it wasn't bad but the restaurant in Venice is a really hard act to follow. We have been eating way too much and as andre puts it; he's two meals ahead and two dumps behind! I'm feeling quite bloated so once we part I think that we'll be cutting down on the consumption a bit.

The return trip to Varenna was on the luxury passenger ferry which was a far more pleasant experience than the car ferry which is very utilitarian. Arriving in Varenna I walked around the lake side of the town while the children played in a park and I think I've taken my first picture that may make it into print. We'll see but I think it has potential.

The walkway around the lake was very interesting as it had been cantilevered out from the rock face and the walk itself was very interesting and highly recommended to anyone that happens to find themselves in Varenna.

Back home Caron made us some really awesome baked potatoes with a bit of courgette mush on the side. It didn't take long before the four of us were sitting in the lounge reading books or playing on laptops, how serene without the children to make a noise. Before we knew it, it was 10:30 again and time for bed!