Chernobbio, Como and Piscogne

Chernobbio

Friday

After our 5 days in Milan we hired a car and made our way to Chernobbio. A darling little village on the edge of Lake Como. Our hotel was so pretty, four flights of stairs and no lift mind you! Poor Barry did struggle with our luggage but he did it. The room was decorated in the style of Pauline. Pauline is a friend of mine that decorated her house in peaches and soft greens and stencilled the walls. All beautifully done and very homely. It was stunning in Chernobbio, we sat and watched and relaxed with our beer. It simply took your breath away after the hustle and bustle of Milan.

Como

Saturday

We could see Como across the lake so decided to go over on the ferry and spend the evening there. We had a gorgeous meal, again people watching and feeling so relaxed and happy. The waiter took so long to serve us, but that was OK, we were in no hurry. We finished our meal and noticed a great crowd of people buying tickets for the ferry. We wanted to take some photos before the light went so we decided to get our return ticket when the crowd had died down. So we went for a walk, merrily taking our photos, and I think Barry took some photos of the ferry. I expect you've guessed what happened? Yep, the ferry terminal was all chained up, the last ferry left at 21.05 and Barry photographed it going! No taxi's anywhere....what to do? Walk? It was a long walk back, about 4 miles so it was do-able but my legs had already had a day's activity and didn't really relish the thought of walking but walk we did... About halfway back I noticed a taxi coming towards us, made Barry notice it too and he waved in the direction that we were going and the taxi driver appeared to acknowledge us, we waited a while but he didn't turn round to pick us up so onwards we walked. I didn't do too much talking, but I was happy even though my legs ached. A bit further down the road though, the taxi stopped in front of us and tooted. Such bliss, to sit down! The lovely man, all twinkly, grey moustached and tired from a hard days driving told us he lived in Chennobio. He dropped us outside our hotel and would take no money, he gestured to us to have a drink on him instead. What a gentleman! Sort of made missing the ferry all the more worthwhile. I always say things happen for a reason....

Piscogne

Sunday


Barry nearly killed me, well us actually....we went for an exploratory drive! Off the beaten track and for some reason he thought it would be a good idea to go up this road, and it got smaller and smaller and smaller and I got quieter and quieter and quieter. He then got out of the car and left me perched on the edge of a dirt track with a massive drop on the driver's side. he ran off down the track, seemed to have been gone for ages but he came back and then carried on driving along this dirt track the width of the Fiat Punto we had hired. I was so scared but I thought that maybe the road widened and carried on a bit further on so I just held my breath occasionally squeaking 'Oh Barry'
but after he said 'Don't do this to me now Marie'
I thought it best to shut my eyes and my mouth and let him concentrate on the road so I didn't ask him what he was doing. So we progressed slowly and a bit further on there was a house. It had a small driveway for Barry to turn the car round in (we are talking really narrow here). After about the 25 point turn he turned the car round and all the time I was thinking that turning the car round meant that we had to travel back along the track again and this time I was next to the edge of the drop and I felt sick, I mean really sick.... I tried shutting my eyes but that was worse so I kept opening and shutting them and eventually we made it back down the road. Barry needed water, he never drank water but right then he did! I was so shocked, angry and bewildered that I continued to say nothing...I think Barry thought I might beat him up or something, it was good to be alive!

We made out way to some pretty little villages and I noticed there were yellow ribbons everywhere, and then red, then green then pink then blue. Each connecting village was dressed in another colour, we ended up at the blue village, Piscogne(I remember that name because it poured with rain there...get it?), where there was an event going on. It was a knockout competition between all the villages, that was where the last lot of photos were taken and the light and scenery were out of this world!

After that we made our way to the airport and had another bad time with the horrid airline that we hope we never have to use again!

Now I am looking forward to my best friend from Southampton coming to stay with us until Friday, I hope the weather is kind to us, but if it's not, we still have plenty we can do to keep up happy...like chatting and stuff! I have knitted her a facecloth and I am just about to sew a bag for her..

sorry about the line breaks...blogger won't let me alter them.....

Have a good week TTFN!