Lake Como

10/9

Our neighbours pulled up so close, we could hear them lighting their cigarettes inside (never mind their yappy dog and generator!?!).  The rest stop is shared with trucks.  BUT, as we were dropping off a popping sound heralded a fireworks show over the lake to make up for it all.  According to Lonely Planet, this lakes region hosts the world fire works championships at the end of August - just missed it! 

So up early with the clattering and over to the park for our exercise circuit (We do 10 exercises (squats, tricep dips, upright rows, burpees, sit ups, push ups, back extensions, burpees + jump, lunges, star jumps) 4 sets of 20 reps, hence 10BX, that clear it up Uncle Mike?).  The reintroduction of some of the leg things and the burpees+jump with Jen’s recovering Achilles really gets the heart a flutter.

The 24 hour roar of trains, planes & automobiles (+ scooters, dogs, tractors, mowers, garbage trucks…..) is so loud that we can’t hear each other inside Ed. 

Not to disturb routine, we knock off school before some games of volleyball and skating in the park with our second coffee. 

Via the tourist office in Lecco we head north along the eastern Como shore, largely tunneled on the main (high) road, and then peel off/under/around thru another tunnel to drop onto the lakeside village of Dervio, from where we hope to stay a few days and get a ferry to Bellagio.  

Found Camping Europa, right on the shore with a most magnificently scenic, quiet and peaceful site for Eddie to rest a few days.  They don’t do ferries to Bellagio but who cares, this is heaven.   Parked up, Jeff and the kids are straight out into the lake which is cool but not too cold to hang around a bit, sparkling clear water that rapidly becomes too deep to spot the bottom, minimal sedate boating activity and the high hills all round to complete the scene.  

view from Ed's window

There are surprisingly few humans about, having us wondering “what the?”   Anyway, after Swim1 we had a tuna salad lunch, followed by swim2, some reading, some dozing in the sun, some drying (of clothes), Jen and Wil cycle off to the shop and to have a coffee together.Jeff and Kel continue manufacturing fairy dust - a highly sophisticated business of pulverising, chipping, and milling/crushing carefully selected quartzy-granitey type rocks, all the while exploring the ways and means that Beanie Kid’s use this stuff not just to fly, but to make other things fly, keep the baddies at bay, and create great culinary delights. 

Fairy dust factory

Then when the shoppers return it’s time from Swim3, more reading in the setting sun, the Fairy Dust business has risen to a frenzy, a bottle of Peter Lehmann Shiraz for the oldies, spagbol by the lake, lots more photos and wanders along the lake front (still so freakily relatively quiet compared with the last 4 days of frenetic crowd activity), and into bed with the only sound the lapping of wavelets on the pebbly shore, the view out the bedroom window of the village lights all along the lake’s edge glittering under the crystal clear night sky, all ready for a big bike ascent in the morning to the villages above.

Como sunset from Dervio

late shift at the fairy dust factory

11/9

0700hrs: the parents sneak out and onto bikes, up thru the village and beyond!!  The narrow windy road constantly ascends, switching back and around, the quiet morning air punctuated by the intermittent barp of car horns sounded as the drivers speedily and skillfully negotiate the tight blind corners down the hill on their way to work.  Up the side of a steep valley passing through a few villages, after 45min toil we stop by a waterfall for a drink, a chat, and a kiss, before mounting back up for the trundle down hill, stopping at the best photo spots we’d picked out on the way up, and lastly, to buy bread.

At Ed we find a pink post-it note on the door and hear the work of fairy dust manufacture continuing by the lake.  

When the kids spot us we receive the best-ever morning cuddles and greetings and agree on a somewhat novel breakfast - nutella on white bread (not much brown around) and coffee/hot choc in the morning sun.  But all that must come after Swim1 with a few duck dives practicing descent to deeper and deeper gloom.

School was pleasurably executed to the background rhythm of lapping water whilst Jen washed the smalls in a basin the old fashioned way & Jeff jigged the blog photos.

Maths & writing was done by 1330 leaving only an Italian lesson later in the day, and some active drying as the smalls are rotated on the high tech clothes line to track the sun and wind optimally.  Who needs a dryer?

Swim2 is followed by cereal for lunch, followed by reading, cleaning Ed front and back sides, cleaning Jen’s bike, a kip for Jen, Swim3, an Italian lesson, a walk to a nice little skating area on the lake front where the kids have to dodge the precocious 2-5yo cyclists doing front wheel stands etc.

Back to Ed for Swim4 and a light dinner of nectarines, apples, olives, sticks, smoked bocconcini, dried fruits, nuts, then the kids enjoy HappyFeet1 (compliments of Glen and Steve) while the adults share a scotch by the lake with the fringing lights twinkling at us inspiring deeper conversation about life to come.  Packed the outside floor mat in as a storm is predicted and hit the sack with the air noticeably cooler than the last week or 2. 

12/9  Grumma’s Birthday!!!

0630: Funny night as it progressively got stiller and warmer and the storm didn’t come, so still darkish when we got up and left the kids snug, onto the bikes and up that hill again dodging the barping traffic. On past yesterday’s turn point, climbing higher to the next village of Introzzo, beyond a little to the 50min mark where we stop for a drink and spin about to the tune of thunder and the sight below us of lightning and 1 big storm cloud. Heavy rain completely obscuring the lake and Dervio, but there’s nothing for it but to hit it down the hill as the rain gets progressively heavier. Jen’s back tyre flattens (thank goodness we brought the pump), then as we are standing on the brakes to avoid running up the rear end of a small truck, Jen’s brakes cease to grip.So parked up under some palm trees, water gushing around us, local drivers staring quizzically at us, we adjust them to get some more bite out of the skinnied pads, re-pump the back tyre, and roll down thru the village and into the campsite like a pair of drowned rats.  The kids are wrapped in doonas reading in bed. Jeff has Swim1, we phone Grumma and leave a Happy Birthday message and enjoy a marvelous breakfast with a strong coffee, and then another one as the rain teems down around us.  The storm did come!

School done, we pack up and exit north around the lake to Loveno on the western shore from where we hope to get a ferry to Bellagio.  A big shop on the way stocked Ed this time with tortellini, more pasta, great honking chunks of mozzarella & boccincini and enormous juicy tomatoes.

We drove past ritzy villas on the waterfront side & old, authentic villages spreading up the hill in small picturesque clusters on the other.  Camping Europa right on the lake in Menaggio, our jump off point to Bellagio, looked very deserted until the aroma of great coffee wafted from the reception shed.  Taking a choice spot looking across to Dervio on the other side (including the path of our morning bike ride!), we lunched on a huge tortellini.  The town of Menaggio is very pretty and in parts, very old with churches from Roman & Baroque times, beautiful little cobbled stone squares and alley ways winding up the hill with charming views over a busy layered mountainous horizon tightly framing beautiful Lago Como.  It’s also a modern & stylish town with oodles of classy but cute cafes full up with English speaking tourists & boutiques show casing silk garments that originally made this area famous.  Along the esplanade is a spectacular sculptured monument, “La Tessitrice” by Francesco Somaini dedicated to the women silk weavers.

We gathered info on our ferry ride tomorrow, walked the streets and finished off with a gelati on the esplanade.

Back home, our view form Ed is thoroughly addictive as we sit ,cozy and safe with an incredible wind shaking things about. Something about all the tiny glimmering town clusters that dust the hillsides stirs the imagination. Who’s around the dinner table? What gorgeous fresh pasta are they eating? Are they dancing after a big feed? How many generations of families have grown up in those small homes? Little illuminated churches & crosses sprinkle through the towns but reach further up the vertiginous gradients to stand alone as close as possible to heaven. How was the stone taken up there? By whom? Do many people still sit in their pews?

13/9

After mumbling that we sleep in and have a rest day, some 15 minutes later, we were on the beach with exercise mats, sweating & puffing watching colour flood into the day.  As we flopped satisfied into stretches, the sun rose over the mountain making everything warm & golden.

Today’s plan was to explore the wee settlement of Bellagio where most of the outdoor garden shrubs enjoyed in Italy and wider Europe are grown by family groups in large market gardens.  Growing conditions also favour olives with groves fluffy up hillsides in a suburb named Oliveti.  Wil was intrigued by the fact that George Clooney owns a mansion and a great stretch of beach here - until we found out that his villa is in Laglia further south of here on the western shores of Como.  We think we identified his house!  Kel found it easy to imagine BK pockets here being so cute, pretty and cobbled.  She & Wil ran up and down endless steep cobbled Roman lanes distracted from the straining gradients, chasing tumbling acorns and small unopened pine cones. 

Bellagio by Wilsen

This morning, after a great read and a big breakfast, the Conns set out from Eddie to Bellagio. We walked through the little town of Menaggio to get to the ferry station, looking around and (in my case) hopping and jumping around with never-ending energy.

We were all rugged up and cosy, the weather was quite cold. And it wasn’t even the coldest it could get!

Mum and Dad bought ferry tickets, at the stop, while Kel and I peeped over the railing into the tumultuous, wavy lake, spotting big fish.  And of course, we spotted ones this big [spreading arms as wide as they can go].  When the ferry arrived, the four of us watched expensive car after expensive car driving off, and half of them were British.  We all bustled onto the huge ferry, being shoved along with the crowd.  We found places and sat down, and Mum and Dad immediately launched into an endless chat with a pair of Aussies behind us.  Kel and I poked each other, squirmed and annoyed each other (giggling all the way) to the next stop.

Here, all the cars drove off and a (you’ll never guess) bus came on. A big touring one too!  On either side, there was five centimetres between it and the wall, another five between it and the roof!  Kel, Mum, Dad and I were sitting on a high platform which meant that, when standing, my eyes were level with the bus’ roof.  I peered into it’s  tinted windows, and realized no-one was in it . Before that I actually tried to wave at the people (who weren’t) in the bus!

The bus and my family all got off at the same stop, in Bellagio.

We trekked up and around Villa Melzi (a big mansion and gardens you have to pay to walk through) avoiding going in, and back down to the waterfront where we saw two traditional old Larian gondolas, which are not small and delicate like the Venice ones, but big and wide. They were used to transport animals and produce. I could imagine what it would be like to be on one. Rocking, swaying, being splashed in the face. After admiring these giant gondolas, we headed up a set of grassy terraces which I imagined to be Roman gardens. I imagined that there would be different herbs, veggies and produce on each terrace, with stalls selling the produce. It was only at the top I realized that it wasn’t Roman, it was only a thousand years old. Unimpressive by European standards.

inviting lunch stop, not for us Trailer Trash

We meandered down the road to a waterfront area with a church that was from the 10^th Century. It was the first church to be built in Bellagio. Dad stuck his nose into the rowing shed (typical) next door before we all walked up a little road to a café. Mum and Dad had a cappuccino, and Kel and I had soupy hot chocolates! They were too thick to drink, so we had to eat them with a spoon.

more Trailer Trashish joint

When we’d finished our hot drinks, we toddled up Alessandro Volta road, and made our way down the hill to the other side of the peninsula, where we had a hat lunch (nuts, dried corn and apricots served in our hats). Almost everywhere we went, we could hear English being spoken and met more Aussies here than anywhere else in Europe to date. Back in the tourist area of Bellagio several hours later, we were no longer alone. 

the way home to the ferry

Little cobbled steep streets lined with restaurants and shops, heaps of people, and the smell of pizza ever-present all fell down the hill to the main plaza. We managed to push our way through the crowd down to the ferry stop, where we waited ten minutes. This one couldn’t take cars, and it was much nicer. The back was heated and toasty, but, no matter how comfortable and warm we told Mum it was, she stubbornly stayed outside with Dad (looking at things like these……don't understand adults sometimes!) 

Varenna on the eastern shore of Como

tough getting to Mass

Kel and I saw sense and sat in the back, mucking about and annoying each other, giggling as usual. We played a game in which I told Kel a word and she had to swap two letters in it or change one letter to make another word. Kel accidentally stumbled across a bad word when I told her to change ‘bag.’ When we got home, we made the short trek back to Eddie and sat down to read in his warm interior.

Over to Kel -

BELLAGIO by Kibbling Conn 

(Kibbling’s website: KibblingC@followme.conn )

Welcoming breeze, cold and strong,

Warming sun, warming the earth,

Wonderful old houses, standing.  Frail.

Walking humans, licking icecreams.

Rumbling ferries, taking people places,

Rattling old cars, rumbling up behind you,

Ravenous Conn kids, nagging for snacks,

Restaurants full of happy people,

Breezes, whipping human faces,

Blue waters, kicking up small waves,

Bells of churches, donging away merrily,

Boats, docking in to drop humans off.

Different noises, coming from different places,

Dabble and babble of talk, coming from mouths,

Dancing Conn kids, after some snacks,

Docking boats, scraping off paint.

Smiling faces, laughing kids,

Sailing boats, moving soundlessly,

Silly Conn kids, collecting acorns,

Sounds of crunching, coming from feet on dead leaves.

Trees, swaying in the wind,

The humans, walking through the strong wind,

Trees, dropping leaves

Towering mountains, surrounding the little town.

Over to Mum

Dinner was made easy with fresh pasta and left over bolognese after which the kids snuggled in together to watch the rest of Happy Feet 1.  We rugged up and scotch in hand lay on our fronts on a little jetty watching the lights go on in all the wee towns, an ever intoxicating vista - more than if the hills were bare.  The clustered hamlets twinkle like mica and invite more questions about the lives over time of the families living & working there. What does it look like in winter?  Fires must light the small busy kitchens puffing little curls of smoke into the pink sky.  Next to us a floodlight cliff was crawling with little red rock climbing spiders and other campers were cuddled around a fire on the pebbly beach drinking a slow beer.

We talked about possible routes home depending on Ed’s sale and realized that it’s nearly all over……...arguably our best year as a family yet - better than 2006 around Oz???? 

14/9  GREN’S BIRTHDAY - Oooo!

It’s darker & colder in the mornings now, only getting light at 0700.  We were up early despite the wind and in honour of Gren’s exh
uberant birthday consumptions, we flogged it uphill for 50 minutes to the village of Breglia burning gazillions of calories.  This side of the mountain is clearly wealthier as we passed gorgeous sprawling hillside villas fit for kings set in vast terraced gardens...and the road was smooth!  Higher up, the smaller modest settlements were waking up, throwing windows open to the sun, seeing kids off to school on the congested bus that just squeezes beneath the balconies and through the narrow streets, shaking out breakfast tablecloths and baking bread & pasta.  On the way up, the church spires sat quietly in the creases & shadows of the mountains but as we were zooming down, they were taking shape, outlined by warm orange sunshine.

Thanks to Jeff’s amazing handyman Mr Fixit skills, Jen’s bike was overhauled yesterday. He jiggled with the gears, brakes, fixed the puncture and adjusted the cogs with the aim of getting it through the next 8 weeks! 

Back at Ed, Kel joined us for a cold, windy undies swim in the waves (!) before we warmed up with our usual morning feast.  A phone call to Gren for her birthday and then straight on with school.

Ready to go our campsite host guided us form the skinny site leading us to an impossible turn at the exit that required ~18 point turn.  If only Jeff had followed his own strategy that he’d been rehearsing in his head since we drove in here.