2015 ITALY Varenna 37 - Today is Mike's Birthday, da da da da DA da

Well, most of the group was flying home today (except Lynn and Sandy who were spending an extra day in Florence). I did not want to fly home on Mike's birthday, so we were staying in Italy a few extra days to celebrate on our own.

We met our groupies and Chef in the lobby at 09:00 for goodbyes. Hugs and a few tears all around. Back in our room we finished packing and then headed to the train station for our trip to Lake Como.

The route took us to Milan for a short layover. The station was incredible with many shops and trattorias. There was a huge, well-stocked bookstore where we spent most of our waiting time.

Our final destination today was the quaint town of Varenna (not Verona, were the famous Romeo and Juliette balcony is located). We had originally booked to the town of Como, but Chef John said Varenna would be a more pleasant place to wind down. Apparently Como is quite industrious and not "romantic." Chef also recommended this hotel where he had stayed with his tour group last year.

Varenna was indeed quaint and romantic, just how we pictured a town on Lake Como. We took a cab from the small train station to the hotel where we were met my a nice young lady. She said the hotel had been kept open for an extra week in the season just for us and that we would be the only guests. The entrance is the unassuming arched door behind the tree.

We had the largest unit in the building. It consisted of a nice L-shaped kitchen, living, and dining room.

There were two balconies--one in the big room. It had just enough room for two to sit and gaze out onto the red tile roofed houses, town square, and the lake.

There other was in the bathroom(!!) with a sliver view of the lake. Not really usable.

The bedroom was large with a substantial armoire for clothes. Light and airy with a window that opened onto the piazza. It had a ceiling fan, but it never got warm enough to use. In the evening I did use the heater in the main room for a bit. 

One floor up was a community room with TV, bar, lounge, library, fruit bowl, and extra kitchen. Again, we had the facility all to ourselves, so we didn't really use it. Our room was quite big enough.

There was art hung throughout our room and the common area. This cute monkey was over our dining room table.

The kitchen was fully stock with all kinds of cool and colorful Italian kitchenware. Here is just one cabinet and drawer. There were more like this and a number of full-size appliances like coffee grinder. This was not a hotel because you could live here permanently, if needed, without buying a thing.

If anyone can tell us what this does, we would love to know.

Here's a view looking up onto our balcony, the left of the two.

Well, it was Mike's birthday today, but things did not work out the way we expected. The inn keepers had left a bottle of spumante (sparkling Italian wine) to help us celebrate. But Mike had become sick from the train ride. He sat on the balcony a bit trying to recover in the fresh air, but it was not happening. I think we were also just worn out by our rigorous travel schedule (although there is NOTHING we would have left out). So he climbed into bed and slept through the night.

So to keep things quiet, I went exploring. I got a cup of cappuccino and watched the people pass on the sidewalk and the boats pass out on the lake. Actually after 12:00 you are supposed to order espresso, but I really love the cappis and ordered it anyway. 

I ended up ordering a mushroom pizza as well to take back if Mike was hungry, but it was not so much to our taste (a bit soggy). He ate a half piece and went back to bed.

I went to the restaurant Chef recommended and set up a reservations for the following evening. We would delay Mike's birthday dinner til he felt better. I cruised the area a little bit, but it started to cool off and rain and many of the stores were closed. I hurried back to our little piece of heaven to warm up and read up on what was happening in Varenna.