ITALY--Day 1, July 8, 2011
Dear Friends and Relatives,
Writing you finally from Mezzegra and the Hotel Lario, facing the beautiful Lake Como and the town of Bellagio across the way. I can't believe there have only been a few hours from the time I left hot Dallas and made my way to northern Italy. At the airport on time, I had met Nancy, my travel companion, and we had sat down to a light lunch before boarding a Delta flight to Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta. No trouble there--the plane left on time. The potential problem did not arise until the arrival in Atlanta.
Due to all the gates being occupied in Atlanta, we sat at the tarmac as the minutes ticked away before we had to leave for the second leg of the trip, from Atlanta to Malpensa Airport in Milan. When we finally got to the gate, we were at Terminal C, and had to fight our away through about 20 gates and catch the train to Terminal E and international flights. Once we reached E, we had to troop another 10 gates before we reached the proper gate for our flight, as the final boarding call was announced. We sauntered in looking cool as cucumbers, but that connection had been too close,and I was uncomfortable.
Once the plane took off, we settled back, watched “Jane Eyre” and read, and Nancy actually slept through the entire night, though I hardly did, but read instead. After about 6 hours, a catatonic state of nothingness prevails and you feel as if you are literally flying around in a crazy cigar. And with the sky getting progressively lighter and lighter in the process, the time warp element set in as well.
We landed safely at Malpensa Airport in Milan at about 9:05 a.m., had our passports stamped by a less than welcoming passport agent, who looked like he would much rather be sleeping than sitting there looking a bleary-eyed travelers. What communication was carried on was perfunctory and simply consisted of unintelligible grunts and counter-grunts. After that unwelcoming reception, we were off to get our luggage, which arrived soon after without incident. Then out the doors into the welcoming lobby. Several of our tour travelers had already arrived, and in the midst of all of them there was Gloria Clementoni, a tour guide from Rome who now lives in Athens and had been touring with GoAhead for 18 years. She was extremely hyper for the early morning, and when she saw me she whirled me around in an embracing hug. This typical type of southern European ebullience you will see nowhere but places like Italy, Greece, and Spain. And of course, 90% of the talk was accompanied by hand gestures by the zillions, so that after a while you glaze over.
Of course there was another dilemma, and that consisted in how we would get from Malpensa to our hotel in Mezzegra, on Lake Como.
Mezzegra is a tiny, charming town right on the water, but the night before there had been heavy rains accompanied by a rock slide covering our road, so we had to enter from Switzerland and the town of Lugano, then make our way south along a narrow, windy road hugging the coastline of Lake Como. Lugano was basically under all kinds of construction, so traffic proceeded at snail’s pace, particularly because the road was so narrow. Later on in the game, we speeded up a bit, and the driver kept hugging his side of the road, traveling at considerable speed, honking occasionally, and then there would be a sudden stop, and a car or motor scooter would slide by the bus with only inches to spare. In my jetlagged state, I hid my eyes when things got too interesting! To top it all off, when we finally got to our hotel, the Lario, in Mezzegra, the bus driver stopped all traffic by backing the bus into the parking lot—a feat which everyone applauded and which the bus driver accomplished with a great deal of daring and savoir faire.
Our room has a wonderful view of houses, a lovely church, and the mountains in the background, and we even have a small balcony built for spending an hour or two reading and enjoying the view.
As Nancy and I had not eaten since the early morning hours, and it was now 3:00 p.m., we had the restaurant fix us sandwiches. I had an interesting crepe-like concoction filled with sour cream and prosciutto, and had an orange drink as well. Then Nancy and I felt like walking, so we inspected some of the neighborhood behind our hotel and listened to the church bells along the way. We sauntered through the little downtown, and Nancy bought a nectarine, before we returned to our room, washed and dressed for a group meeting with Ms. Clementoni as well as dinner afterwards. We have an ingenious little sonic device so that any guide who speaks to us will be able to be understood by us all. Logistics were discussed, and we had some wine before going to dinner, also at the hotel. We sat at a terrific table for eight, and our fellow six travelers who sat at that table were at first a little reticent and shy. However, Nancy and I loosened them up and by the time we had finished with them, we had all laughed and told great stories, and we decided that we would be tablemates from then on. Three of the women at the table were teachers, so we had some particularly fun tales to tell.
And then we went upstairs, and were in bed by 9:30, having taken some Motrin PM to ease us into some much needed rest. We slept without incident and like the dead (or so it seemed) until the morning hours. At this point in time, we feel like ourselves once again, and there is hope for us yet. Stay tuned for Day 2! As ever, Sylvia
Writing you finally from Mezzegra and the Hotel Lario, facing the beautiful Lake Como and the town of Bellagio across the way. I can't believe there have only been a few hours from the time I left hot Dallas and made my way to northern Italy. At the airport on time, I had met Nancy, my travel companion, and we had sat down to a light lunch before boarding a Delta flight to Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta. No trouble there--the plane left on time. The potential problem did not arise until the arrival in Atlanta.
Due to all the gates being occupied in Atlanta, we sat at the tarmac as the minutes ticked away before we had to leave for the second leg of the trip, from Atlanta to Malpensa Airport in Milan. When we finally got to the gate, we were at Terminal C, and had to fight our away through about 20 gates and catch the train to Terminal E and international flights. Once we reached E, we had to troop another 10 gates before we reached the proper gate for our flight, as the final boarding call was announced. We sauntered in looking cool as cucumbers, but that connection had been too close,and I was uncomfortable.
Once the plane took off, we settled back, watched “Jane Eyre” and read, and Nancy actually slept through the entire night, though I hardly did, but read instead. After about 6 hours, a catatonic state of nothingness prevails and you feel as if you are literally flying around in a crazy cigar. And with the sky getting progressively lighter and lighter in the process, the time warp element set in as well.
We landed safely at Malpensa Airport in Milan at about 9:05 a.m., had our passports stamped by a less than welcoming passport agent, who looked like he would much rather be sleeping than sitting there looking a bleary-eyed travelers. What communication was carried on was perfunctory and simply consisted of unintelligible grunts and counter-grunts. After that unwelcoming reception, we were off to get our luggage, which arrived soon after without incident. Then out the doors into the welcoming lobby. Several of our tour travelers had already arrived, and in the midst of all of them there was Gloria Clementoni, a tour guide from Rome who now lives in Athens and had been touring with GoAhead for 18 years. She was extremely hyper for the early morning, and when she saw me she whirled me around in an embracing hug. This typical type of southern European ebullience you will see nowhere but places like Italy, Greece, and Spain. And of course, 90% of the talk was accompanied by hand gestures by the zillions, so that after a while you glaze over.
Of course there was another dilemma, and that consisted in how we would get from Malpensa to our hotel in Mezzegra, on Lake Como.
Mezzegra is a tiny, charming town right on the water, but the night before there had been heavy rains accompanied by a rock slide covering our road, so we had to enter from Switzerland and the town of Lugano, then make our way south along a narrow, windy road hugging the coastline of Lake Como. Lugano was basically under all kinds of construction, so traffic proceeded at snail’s pace, particularly because the road was so narrow. Later on in the game, we speeded up a bit, and the driver kept hugging his side of the road, traveling at considerable speed, honking occasionally, and then there would be a sudden stop, and a car or motor scooter would slide by the bus with only inches to spare. In my jetlagged state, I hid my eyes when things got too interesting! To top it all off, when we finally got to our hotel, the Lario, in Mezzegra, the bus driver stopped all traffic by backing the bus into the parking lot—a feat which everyone applauded and which the bus driver accomplished with a great deal of daring and savoir faire.
Our room has a wonderful view of houses, a lovely church, and the mountains in the background, and we even have a small balcony built for spending an hour or two reading and enjoying the view.
As Nancy and I had not eaten since the early morning hours, and it was now 3:00 p.m., we had the restaurant fix us sandwiches. I had an interesting crepe-like concoction filled with sour cream and prosciutto, and had an orange drink as well. Then Nancy and I felt like walking, so we inspected some of the neighborhood behind our hotel and listened to the church bells along the way. We sauntered through the little downtown, and Nancy bought a nectarine, before we returned to our room, washed and dressed for a group meeting with Ms. Clementoni as well as dinner afterwards. We have an ingenious little sonic device so that any guide who speaks to us will be able to be understood by us all. Logistics were discussed, and we had some wine before going to dinner, also at the hotel. We sat at a terrific table for eight, and our fellow six travelers who sat at that table were at first a little reticent and shy. However, Nancy and I loosened them up and by the time we had finished with them, we had all laughed and told great stories, and we decided that we would be tablemates from then on. Three of the women at the table were teachers, so we had some particularly fun tales to tell.
And then we went upstairs, and were in bed by 9:30, having taken some Motrin PM to ease us into some much needed rest. We slept without incident and like the dead (or so it seemed) until the morning hours. At this point in time, we feel like ourselves once again, and there is hope for us yet. Stay tuned for Day 2! As ever, Sylvia
It's so nice to be able to read your blog like this! I'm loving it
ReplyDeleteSounds like yall had a decent time of getting there with too many hold-ups. --Plus, hold-ups like the traffic around Como can't be tooo bad amongst such beautiful scenery! I wish I could be there with you two to see it all! I'm glad yall loosened up your dinner mates and might make some great new friends out of them :)
Can't wait to read your next post! Love you!