Italy 2002

We've arrived! 9/5
We came in early Thursday and pretended to be fresh and alive. We were about 20 hours in the air and truth be told, really slept through most of them, so we actually did feel pretty good. However, after a few hours catching up with cousin Laura and a few hours of walking around downtown in Milan exhaustion came down upon us alike a heavy fog.

Seen on a plate today: Salad Caprese: fresh mozzarella tomato and basil, roast chicken with rosemary and polenta, spaghetti cabonara... Chianti and espresso

Jane in the Piazza del Duomo with the Galleria in the background 9/5	lounging at Laura's 9/5	Francis ~8 and John ~5 Laura's youngest... 9/5
Zeph and his friend Ian arrived from a few days in Florence. Zeph has been working in France for 5-6 weeks as a "migrant farm worker". Ian is just seeing Europe before starting college in Edinborough. 9/6	John never misses a chance to show any guy who shows up all his toys and cool stuff 9/6	Click the thumbnails....

Stresa on Lago Maggiore [Lake Maggiore] Sat. 9/7
Forgetaboutit! I was wrong in the paragraph above, NOW, we've arrived! Left Milan yesterday and Laura drove us and the boys up to the lake district.

Seen on a plate today: Veal cutlet with tuna sauce, capers and mayonnaise. Sounds strange for sure, but it is served cold and really is quite tasty.... For dinner; insalada mista, spaghetti cabonara, spaghetti bolognaise and Chianti and espresso...

First stop, a little ristorante on the lake about 3 kilometers from the town of Stresa.	Then we hired a boat to take us out to Isola Bella	The whole island was only about a 1/4 mile long and half as wide. Just big enough for a palace and some wonderful gardens...	I'll never do this island justice.... The gardens were fantastico!
In the summer the family would spend time down in the grotto because it was cooler. The grotto walls were surfaced with rocks and pieces of coral giving it a very rustic feel.	They offset that with beautiful sculptures and collections... This nude and the bed she lay on was carved out of a single piece of marble.	The outdoors were as ornately decorated as the indoors. At the foot of this "edifice" was a lily pond and triple fountain that sprayed over statues of men and women sunbathing in the water.
	There were scenic views everywhere, each more beautiful than the last....

Stresa [~on Lago Maggiore] to Switzerland via train and back via boat.... Sunday 9/8
We took a train from Stresa up through the Italian Alps and into Domodosola, Switzerland, caught another train from there into Locarno. The ride up to the top of the towering mountains and through the pass was beautiful. The train between Domodosola and Lacarno was easily the most serpentine, circuitous route I have ever taken on rail. The wheels squealed on every bend and when going through the tunnels, of which there were many, the squeals reverberated off the walls of the tunnel compounding the effect. From Locarno our leisurely boat trip home began at the very top of Lago Magiore meandering back down the lake stopping 5-6 times along the way to Stresa.....

Seen on a plate today: calamari and shrimp, insalada mista, spaghetti and pomodoro sauce, Chianti ~ of course, taramisu and grand manier and espresso...

Waiting for the train...

No, not really. This was about 25' tall at a train station on the way to Switzerland....

The stone houses were awesome. Many had stone roofs made of slabs about 2": thick. Quite a few were patched with brick and had thick moss growing on them....

On the west shore returning to Stresa

Leaving on a jet train,
don't know when I'll be back again.....

Not sure of the name of the town, but this is directly across the lake from Stresa....