How did I get here

Rome (via Ferrara)

Travel day! And wow, what a day…. Pull up a chair for this one.

Up with the sun, pack, out the door to the train station and headed North for Ferrara, for a business meeting …

no matter where you find yourself, there you are

Then back on another train headed South, to Rome!

So I mentioned the Illy coffee plague and the Gucci shopping, but I didn’t mention that the shorts are white – white white – and yes, I managed to cover them with coffee while having a self-made lunch of cheese and salami and wine on the train. It was delicious but messy, and fear the shorts may be light brown ’till the end of days.

And so I am in Rome – nice AirBnB right near the Vatican – and so I go walking. Nothing and I mean nothing can prepare you for the size, scale, and sense of time that you get from the monuments in this city.

how many cats do you see in this picture? 🙂

These structures are vast and timeless. Later a colleague would observe, in Rome you can Smell History. It is true.

Turn a corner and OMG there it is, the Colosseum. You know how sometimes when you see something in person that you recognize from pictures, it is disappointing? (Mt. Rushmore is like this.) Not the Colosseum; it is vaster and cooler than you imagined.

Picture lions eating people? Gladiators doing battle to the death? Wow.

Awesome. I could have walked around forever. (And yes, Rome is big, some objects are further than they appear…)

And so here I am, in Rome. Wow. How did I get here?

Florence: shopping and touring

So you’re in Florence, and you’re me, and you’ve discovered that you’ve stupidly failed to pack any nice warm-weather walking around clothes. What do you do?

Fortunately there are about a million designer clothing shops in downtown Florence, and yes, I found myself in a Gucci (the *original* Gucci store, apparently), and yes, I bought some shorts and a couple of polo shirts. What can I say.

Perhaps fortunately, no pictures 🙂

an Italian hat would be nice?
later I actually did get one … but … didn’t like it. Too … old?

Later had a nice business meeting with a potential customer – nope, not blogging about that, but it *was* nice – and made the mandatory visit to the Boboli Gardens…

lots of garden art
this one is pretty famous – the cracks are supposed to represent strength

definitely a sense of peace and calm
and of time passing, slowly

And then ho hum another unbelievable dinner in the street … truffle carpaccio with truffle ravioli …

Florence by train

Time to leave Northern Italy and head South, to … Florence! Capital of Tuscany. Yay. I drove down from Claino to Milan, dropped off my car at the train station (bye little BMW, we’ve had a good time together this past couple of weeks), and boarded a fast train.

Have I ever told you I love trains? I do. I love them dearly, and I love train stations, bridges, rails, etc. right along with them. European trains are amazing.

I had brought some cheese, charcuterie, and wine along with me from Malcesine, and the wisdom of that was revealed on the trip. Wonderful lunch.

But a quick digression about the 11th biblical plague. Along with the cheese, charcuterie, and wine, I had also brought a little can of Illy coffee. Now if you don’t know Illy is a national treasure and one of the main reasons Italians are so happy. Well as I was riding the escalator / ramp thingie up to the platforms in the Milan station, my bags slipped, and everything went everywhere. In the process the Illy can was unleashed and there were coffee grounds in everything. The cheese and charcuterie and wine, certainly, but also my bags, my clothes, the escalator, everything (likely, that escalator will never run properly again and will have to be replaced).

The Illy plague stayed with me for days and we’ll come back to that in future posts. For now, lunch was great albeit slightly coffee-flavored 🙂

And so on to Florence!

After a quick stop at the AirBnB apartment – excellent BTW – I took off for the city centre and some traveling.

Definition: difference between a tourist and a traveler: a traveler does not know what is going to happen next. I did not.

Palace Vecchio in the main Palazza of Florence, so beautiful and so iconic

I stop at a caffe to have a caffe, and watch …

a beautiful statue in the palazzo – but who is it?

This is where I discovered – ta da – Google Lens. Let’s say you are somewhere – how did I get here – and you are surrounded by visually interesting “stuff” like buildings and statues and monuments, but you don’t know what they are … how do you find out?

The good people of Google have invented something they call Google Lens which is a part of the Google App (not to be confused with Googling in a web browser). You point Google Lens at something – anything – and it does a reverse visual search to find it and explain what it is. And it works!

I was able to identify all the buildings and statues in the Palazzo, despite distance, and it was supercool. I did try it on a pigeon sitting on one of the statues named Roberto, no dice. He was not in the Google database.

Florence is so amazing there are beautiful things on every hand. But one of the most beautiful and impressive is the Duomo, the central cathedral. The workmanship on the facade is transcending and emotional.

… which of course connects up to the Pont du Vecchio

The apartment was great and its best feature was a rooftop patio, so I scurried back to view the sunset.

apartment was the top floor of this building

making my own Aperol spritz to match the color of the sunset

The AirBnB owner recommended a restaurant nearby which was near the Duomo. It turned out to be not-perfect (all rice dishes, including rice cakes as an appetizer) but fortunately there was another restaurant right near by with a much better menu and kitchen … and so it goes …

After dinner snapped a few more amazing shots from the roof. My new iPhone 12 pro camera is being put to the test.

Onward … but I must say sitting up there looking at Florence by night I could only say, well, how did I get here 🙂

Claino on foot

So I’m in Claino – time to explore! It’s teeny and easily walked …

beautiful little church – open, it’s Sunday

and YES an organ
I love church organs, they are so beautiful and also most interesting mathematically and musically
and when they sound, it hits you with solid emotion

another cool mural – the cat in the window

the waterfall for the town’s water supply
right next to a little sanctuary

Excellent little walking tour … and now off … to Tuscany!

Bellagio by boat

So … a whole day to explore Lake Como! Trying to avoid the “checklist” mentality, I do not have to see everything, in fact I don’t have to see anything; I just have to have fun. And so … I rented a boat!

These people rent cute little powerboats for exploring Lake Como!

Yes, after a nice lunch, I took a five hour tour of the lake, with stops for Aperol Spitzes of course, and ending in Bellagio of course. It was delightful. Some pictures…

the Grand Hotel in Terrazo – Western shore, roughly opposite Bellagio – where I began
truly Grand and highly reminiscent of the Grand Budapest Hotel 🙂

some serious mansions dot the shoreline of Lake Como

some adorable towns … just *too* Italian, right?
Although in point of fact until recently Lake Como was Austrian

love love love these towns along the lake
and most are just residential, not tourist-y

After many hours of tooling around – and *ahem* a few Aperol spritzes along the way – I headed back up toward Bellagio…

the town of Bellagio off in the distance
it sits on a peninsula of land between two legs of Lake Como

Fortunately I was able to tie up in the harbor and go ashore…

the teeny picturesque harbor of Bellagio
that’s my boat at the right front – one spot left!

the obligatory picture at the end of the jetty

I took a little time walking through the old town …

And finally ended up with an amazing dinner at the Grand Hotel’s beach restaurant!

the Grand Hotel of Terrazo at night
as seen from the Beach restaurant

Well that was a nice day: How did I get here, indeed!

(By the way, yes, this all happened on Sept 11, 2021, and no I did not forget what happened 20 years ago. Never forget. Wow has it been 20 years already?)

South Garda to Claino con Osteno

Finally it was time! To fly from my little world in Malcesine, where I have spent nearly two weeks sailing, eating, tourist-ing, and [occasionally] working, and where I have had the most marvelous “how did I get here” experiences, to continue the journey.

It began with a car tour of South Garda – focus on castles and churches – and then driving through the North Italian countryside to Como.

Climbing away South East from Lago di Garda

My first destination was the Santuario Madonna della Corona, in the hills to the South East of Garda.

Twelve stations of the cross, rather brutally illustrated
The Santuario Mandonna della Corona

Next up, a visit to Sirmione, which everyone says you have to see. No. It’s a visit to Delray Beach, Florida, with 5 miles of middle-class hotels, crummy beaches, and a million tourists. I say skip it. And after a little investigation, I did.

On to Como, via Salo.

The Ca’ Lojera winery
serendipitous because I just ordered (and enjoyed) their wine

A cute little harbor at Moniga on the South West of Garda
looking at the top of Sirmione peninsula

Tucked in … not a lot of room for maneuvers

Castle at Manerba
There are “normal” houses built inside the castle walls

… and pretty inside (through no organ, boo)

And on to Salo, the largest city on the shores of Garda, and quite beautiful and prosperous seeming, with a lot of gardens in town.

Como sounds glamorous because of the association with Lake Como and cities like Bellagio on the shores, but the truth is similar to Napa vs Napa Valley; Como itself is largish and industrialish, and not picturesque. You can’t even get a proper view of the lake from the town.

After a long crummy drive in which I got lost and ended up on an incredible little winding road above Lake Lugano, I finally made it to my destination in Claino con Osteno. Whew. And of course, made it to a nice Italian dinner with an excellent local wine…

Ciao e avanti

Riding Garda

And so I had an “extra” day in Malcesine, my last after 11 (!), and so I decide to rent a bike and ride it to the town of Garda, about 30km South. It was a nice day, a nice ride, and a good chance to see a little bit more of the lake before moving on…

Most of the ride was right along the lake shore

Some of these houses are just *too* Italian, right?

Plenty of beautiful churches, at least one in every little town

These stripes are so characteristic of Italian churches

Many towns have a teeny harbor, cute and functional
everything is easier without tides 🙂

The town of Garda, as seen from the point above its bay

And some nice little villas … with nice big grounds

And its nice little harbor – with characteristic narrow boats

The Isolo dell’ Olivo right off the coast of Malcesine

Recovery with salumi, cheese, and wine … last evening in Malcesine (*sniff*)

a wonderful creme brûlée caps a wonderful meal

Well good-bye Malcesine, it’s been SO great staying with you..

Tomorrow I’m off to Claino con Osteno, on Lake Lugano, after a long meandering drive around the South end of Lake Garda and then through Como … stay tuned!

Simply Incredible

(This post was *added* on 5/18/24 … I couldn’t find this video – it wasn’t here! – and then I could, and then I added it because it is … simply incredible.)

So I am walking “home” after having a wonderful dinner in Malcesine, after having spent the day on top of Mount Baldo, and anticipating a delightful “last day” riding Guarda, and I encounter this magic:

The adjective “incredible” is perhaps overused, but honestly this level of virtuosity surpasses credibility … a young man in old town, playing a violin, with such skill and such joy, sharing his passion and bringing everyone within earshot together … I get chills remembering it, and remember it often. So so lovely.

How did I get here?

On top of Mount Baldo

Lake Garda is surrounded by tall mountains, beautifully rising from the water and lining the East and West shores of the lake; the tallest peak is Mount Baldo, right above Malcesine.

If you want to go up there it’s easy, there is helpfully a cable car which goes right from the edge of Malcesine all the way up to the top. The views are unbelievable, and mere pictures don’t quite do it justice, but here’s a smattering anyway…

Encountering the other car – guess that means we’re halfway up

A ski hut … this is a ski area in winter

view down the backside … wow … huge cliffs and valleys

Walking out to the edge … feels like there will be a 3,000’ drop at the end

Looking South down Lake Garda …
yep, hang gliders start from up here and sail all the way down

Looking North, Riva del Garda on the left, Tribole on the right

For extra fun, the cable car broke (!) and we all had to stand around in the waning light as it got colder and colder, wondering how we were going to get down, and whether it was actually a good idea to do so in a recently repaired cable car.

All’s well that ends well … made it down in the end … and then had a nice dinner in Malcesine … .

Touring Malcesine Castle

And so I find myself in Malcesine, Italy, on the North East shore of Lake Garda, after having had an amazing time competing in the 2021 Moth Worlds sailing regatta. (So cool that I blogged about it 🙂 ) There are things to see here, and I tried to see them, starting with the local fort: