Chris & Kelly's Travel Adventures

Good Morning Varenna~ We woke early and in search of a cup of coffee, we took a stroll to the towns historic center.  Most of the tourists were asleep and only the early morning deliveries or residents just opening their homes were visible.  My favorite time of day...quiet, uncrowded, peaceful.  We stopped into a tiny cafe for a cup of caffe (coffee) and I went in to order among the locals and asked for 2 cups of Americana coffee and a croissant and said we were sitting outside and boy was I feeling pretty confident in my communication skills...then it happened!  I tried to give the barista money and he yelled at me "You go, I work"! It startled me a little, so I did what I was told and left.  Pretty soon, here he came with our coffee and pastry and was very cheerful and chatty.  I paid him (he just had to do it his way and in his good time).  We sat and listened to the church bells.  Then continued our walk...

The pictures do not do justice to this little town, nor the thousands of steps or steep alley ways which you must travel to get anywhere.  In fact the only road is at the top of a steep cliff and the rest of the town is built upon terraces below...all the way down the water's edge.  After our caffe we headed down to the water, to the Passarella (lovers walk) which is full of flowers, arch's covered with flowering vines and views of the lake.  We walked almost completely alone for 20 minutes.

We did meet one local resident.  Say Ciao to Mr. D. Quackers! :)

This afternoon we hired a taxi boat tour to squire us around the lake in his very nice boat.  Unfortunately most of the time he had Italian opera screaming through all the speakers :(. You will notice in the photo below (taken by Chris) because of the breeze it looks like I forgot to deflate one side of my body :D.  Pretty great hat though...somewhere between Sophia Loren and Katharine Hepburn (pff...I wish)

Part of our boat tour included a visit to Villa del Balbianello.  It reminded Chris of a small Biltmore mansion, the owner collected art and furniture from all over the world.  The location is very impressive.  For all you James Bond fans, the last picture was taken on a terrace where a scene from Casino Royale occured.  We finished the day packing for our return trip to Milan tomorrow.