Day trip to Italy - October 18, 2006

Well, it was a great idea to go to Italy for the day! A small group of us went - me, Melissa, Austin and our friends Maaret, her daughter Maggie, Angelia and Ashley. Maaret, served a mission for our church there, and was our "tour guide" for the day! Having someone speak the local language was a definite plus! - OH - I forgot to mention...I do not (may I repeat?) DO NOT like to fly - day trips sound fine, but I broke out in the "plague" because of the nerves from flying!

Our first stop (after a brief interlude at the airport) was Bergamo. Oohh, aahh! Yes, it was awesome! The sights and sounds (not the smells) were spectacular! My first trip to Italy was all that AND a bag of chips! This is a picture in the old part of Bergamo.



To travel to the old part of Bergamo, you can take the funicolare (a tram-type rail that goes up the hillside). We are all excited to go!



Austin enjoyed being in the front on the way down!

Lunchtime! We went to this quaint Italian restaurant - watch out! Yummy food alert! We shared a calzone (a pizza folded in half) - tons of decadant cheese and priscutto ham. Austin had a hot chocolate and may I say - liquid heaven? Yes, I can! It was delightful!

Next stop - Como! We took a train from Bergamo and had a chance to see some beautiful countryside and speak to local people. Maaret and I spoke to a nice man from Tunisia - HA - I was like totally 20 again! ;)

In the center of Como, there's the lake and the Palace Hotel is across the street from it. I would love, love, love to come back here! I can see why it's Maaret's favorite city!

I had my wonderful angels pose near the shores of Lake Como - I love this picture! We had a long day ... we were up at 4:00am and arrived back home at almost 3:00am! We will be doing it again! I really liked having the kids with me (we did miss Jacob - we bought him a tie made in Como!). I think it is really important for them to see different countries and experience other cultures.

Down a side street in Como - the shopping looked great, but we were on the hunt for the best gelato (ice cream)!

Lake Como is famous for famous people - ha, that was funny! Well, a lot of celebrities have home here. It was foggy, true, but that made the area more romantic, more better! ;)

What can I say? Different culture, that's for sure! This is a picture of a toilet at the train station in Bergamo. There were freaky blue lights in there, too! Like bug lights, but bigger! ;) FYI - bring baby wipes and toilet paper!

The gang - Melissa, Maaret, Maggie, Angelia, Ashley and Austin! Ciao!