Living Life on Lake Como (Part 1)

This summer we had some fun adventures on Lake Como with Derrick's family.  His dad was able to visit with us for about a week, and his mom was able to stay with us for four weeks.  The first weekend Derrick's dad was with us we had our trip to Paris, so for the final weekend we had him we wanted to do something a little closer to home.  We made the trip over to the city of Como to check out the sights, and to spend some time on the lake.  If you've forgotten what Como looks like, here's the link to the blog I did on it the first time we visited the city: Exploring Como.  Since we're going to make stops all around the lake in this blog post, here's a map to give you guys an idea of where we are.

 

Lecco in the bottom right corner is where we live, and Colico where Derrick works is in the top right. Map from Holiday Lake Como.

During this trip to Como, we were able to take our first boat tour of the lake.  I was antsy to finally get out on the water, so I was really excited about the boat tour.

Derrick with his parents in the background checking out the lake.

 

One of the coolest things I was able to do while Derrick's mom was in town, was we went to a small hotel/restaurant in the town of Varenna to take a cooking class.  (Varenna is about halfway up on the right side if you're referring back to your map).  The chef showed us how to make spring time baked chicken, homemade risotto, and tortelloni from scratch! (Tortelloni is the same as tortellini just bigger.  Tortellini here in Italy is really tiny, so tortelloni is pretty much the same as what we call tortellini in the states.)

Chef Moreno making the dough for the tortelloni

Tina helping to stuff and shape the tortelloni.

Graduates of Il Caminetto Cooking Class!

Since taking the cooking class I have successfully made the risotto (which actually is really time consuming), but I haven't been dedicated enough to try the tortelloni.  I'll have to set aside an afternoon to give it a try, and make sure I have some eaters committed because it makes a lot!

The same day we took the cooking class, Derrick's mom and I were also able to check out a couple of villas in the area.  The first villa we visited was Villa Monastero.  It really was the perfect time of year to visit as the gardens were fully in bloom.

They had everything from tropical plants to cacti in the gardens.

 

Tina taking in the view.

 

You can even take college credit classes at Villa Monastero, but it looks like they may be a little beyond me because the courses being offered were Quantum Spintronics and Related Phenomena and the Physics of Complex Colloids.

Don't think I'll be enrolling in this one.

 Next door to the Villa Monastero is the Villa Cipressi which is currently used as a hotel.  They let us visit the hotel's patio and garden, and we saw that is was all set up for a wedding.

The woman at the front desk of the hotel told us the wedding was taking place at the church just down the street, so of course we went to check it out.  Like a true stalker, I took these photos from across the street.

Can you see the tiny bride and groom?

 

The wedding party was actually speaking English, but we decided they were British because the groomsmen's pants were way too tight for them to be Americans.

 Continuing our tour of the lake, we decided to take a Saturday to visit the resort town of Bellagio (the very center of the lake on the map).  Bellagio is probably the most famous of the towns on the lake, and has lots of fun little shops and restaurants to explore.

Bellagio!

 We actually didn't spend a lot of time in Bellagio that day (don't worry, it will make an appearance in later posts), but instead we decided to take a boat across the way to Menaggio (middle left on the map).  Menaggio is another really cute resort town, but its a little less touristy than Bellagio.

Bellagio from the lake. 

View of Varenna from the boat.

Varenna ferry stop.

Someone's sweet pad.

Welcome to Menaggio!

Menaggio had a really beautiful boardwalk area that included boat docks, cafes, and even a putt putt golf course!

We were all set to take the boat to Bellagio from Menaggio when we had the questionable idea of staying on the boat and taking it all the way down to Como.  We thought it would be a good way to tour the west leg of the lake which we hadn't seen much of outside of Como.  We also may have been motivated by the fact that the boat would take us past George Clooney's house =) .  Another benefit of the boat trip was it let us preview some of the villas you will see making an appearance in "Living Life on Lake Como (Part 2)".

Villa Carlotta

Cool looking park with sun bathers.

Villa Balbianello

Villa Balbianello

Villa Balbianello (can you tell I like this one?) 

Hmm, who could this place belong to?

George? Stacy?  Are you home?

I see a light on, can I come in?

Villa Erba 

Villa I can't remember the name of...but is from the oceans 12 movie and is the house of the other thief.

The trip from Bellagio all the way down to Como ended up taking over 2 hours (a lot longer than we anticipated).  By the time we made it to Como, we literally had to run to catch the final boat of the night back to Bellagio.  The views of the lake were very nice, but its not something I would want to repeat any time soon.

I figured this was probably has much as any one would want to read in one post, so I'm my next post I'll let you guys get up close and personal with Villa Carlotta and Villa Balbianello.  Hope you're excited!