Ellen and Lee up early to go north for a wine tasting. The rest of us took a ferry to Menaggio, dashing onto the boat in the nick of time.
Menaggio is just like Varenna. Don and Brett loitered far behind the rest of the group; talking, observing, stopping to point and ponder. We did a short wander - found a thrilling grocery store. "Don't touch the fruit!" Don, Lollie, Brett and I stopped for a cappuccino, while Mom and Dad scoped out a lunch spot. There was some fun confusion where the coffee lady thought Brett wanted grappa in in his espresso. The next stop on our mini-food fest was pizza and calzones on a cobblestoned side street. There were lots of local here too which we took to be a good sign. A construction worker at a table nearby had a streak of white hair in his mustache running from one nostril down to his upper lip. It looked like a big, drippy, Italian booger and it distracted Mom for a large part of our lunch.
It rained a little bit while we ate lunch, so the restaurant extended a canopy out into the road. It didn't quite cover the far side of our table, so Mom, Don, and Lollie ate most of their lunch in the rain. By the time we finished our lunch, the town had closed up for afternoon naps, so we wandered back down to wait for the ferry dock.
Lollie and Mom stopped for gelato.
Ellen and Lee got home about an hour after we did and then lo and behold, our luggage arrived! The elation from the four of us... (Mostly just three. Lee pretty much had everything he needed in his carry-on.) Oh to put on clean pants! I took a hot shower, put on clean clothes, and then got in my bed for a nap. The relief was too much to stand!
Up! Up from the nap for a boat tour around the lake. Very beautiful. Massive expensive homes. Ornate lawn care practices. Funny boat captain pointed out pricy hotels, movie set houses, and assorted rich person dealings.
Most stopped for gelato on the way home. Brett and I went to a couple shops to buy pasta and ingredients for supper. Dad, Don, and I frantically put together another big family meal. Dad made Don mince garlic and herbs, and grate heaps of cheese with a defunct grater. I worked on the salad and a fruit platter. Dad buzzed around the kitchen, busy chopping and boiling and this and that. Don sat placidly at the table, grating his hunk of cheese and singing, "cause I'm your laaaaady, and you are my maaaaannn!"
We ate our grand dinner in the dining room. Don was insulted by our thoughts on his inept grating. "You gave me faulty equipment!"
Brett ate a shocking amount of food tonight. Cigars and chit-chat before bed.
Highlights & Quotables
- When Brett and Don's conversation turned from Don's musings to the subject of Brett's life, Don stepped off the road into the traffic.
-At lunch, Brett poured Don and himself one small shot of water into each of their water glasses. Then they'd clink glasses, slam them down on the table, and then throw them back. "Another!" one of them shouted. They did this three for four times in a row.
-Instafluencers are everywhere, posing in wild outfits. We barely hide our laughter.
-Dad visits the grocery store so often, the owner greets him and give him samples.
-"Once again, I sacrifice myself for everyone else ... write that down Lu." - Dad
May 28th
Earlier on the trip Brett and I tried to get coffee from a "real, authentic" coffee bar. We stood politely at the counter but the people who worked there pretended not to see us, so we just eventually left, scorned. Never to return.
This morning, Lollie said she found a "real, authentic" coffee bar to try, so Brett and I pulled up our big kid pants and gave it another try. What a most excellent pistachio croissant! Lollie has been taking tips from Rick Steves. Don said he hopes he never hears Rick's name ever again. We had a great breakfast and then Brett immediately made me climb a mountain.
There's some old fort on top that he wanted to see, and all the research said there's an easy way and hard way to get up there. The easy way takes longer but is more scenic, so that's what we did. Well! It was an Olympic feat for my sandlapper glutes. I had to stop a few times to catch my brea... I mean, look at the scenery. EisenEars had no trouble ascending what I had to assume was a small alp.
The fort had the most beautiful garden areas, a big tower, a creepy dungeon, a sad falcon in a cage...
Brett stopped for a salad and cappuccino.
We ran into Don and Lollie finishing their climb up as we were leaving - sounds like they didn't have near the trouble conquering the summit that I did (they have hills where they live. That's it... right?) We took "the hard way" back down and not only was it certainly less treacherous, I'm suspicious that it's the easier way.
I sat on the porch with Dad, took a short nap, and woke up to wild-eyed Brett. He wanted adventure! We hopped on the train to the next town to look around. It had a beautiful waterfront, big grassy park, and beach! We dipped our toes in chilly Lake Como. Our best find was a children's game called "catch the poop!" (We had to type it into google translate.) "Flush the toilet, catch the poop, win the game!" Then we found an actual grocery store. We'd been needing one of these in Varenna. We bought a handful of things we knew we needed back at the house before deciding we just needed to bring the family back here.
Got home in time for some porch-sittin'.
"Catch the poop" was a real hit with the family. We even noticed the one of the poops was sporting some corn kernels.
For dinner we had a real live Italian person do us a big meal. It was lovely - the best split pea soup! - but we all actually prefer the food we've been cooking. The produce here is so fresh and delicious. Everything we make just tastes so much better than at home.
Tonight we finally started the Shanghai tournament with an accompanying Monopoly card game. Dad serenaded the family with "The Impossible Dream."
We ate cookies and stayed up past midnight.
May 29
Up and back to the grumpy coffee shop for another pistachio croissant. The whole family came too, except Ellen and Lee. Brett and I were warmly greeted by the cranky barista from a few days ago. We're winning her over.
We led the clan back to the town with the grocery store. (Bellano) Visited a big waterfall/aquifer situation. Very cool! Lots of moss! Brett led the family over to the poop game but the shop was closed. I'm not sure who, but I felt confident that someone would have bought it - here's looking at Lollie ... for the grandkids of course.
This town has a beautiful waterfront main street. We had lunch in a little spot where Brett did in fact try grappa in his coffee and Lollie had the most beautiful salad. It had approximately 42 olives in it. We finally made it to the grocery store. The family loaded up with olive oil and coffee beans and this and that, and we hustled our loot back to the train station. Brett and I ran ahead with the refrigeratables. "The train leaves in 5 minutes!" but in true Italian fashion, it was running 10 minutes behind, so once the parents caught up, we crowded the foodstuffs into a shady patch while we waited.
I had a huge nap and then woke up at 5:00 for gelato with Mama, Lollie, and Brett. I write this now on the patio with the rest of the family. We've decided to do an every-man-for-himself night for dinner. "It's date night!" Ellen and Lee went off to a restaurant. Mom and Dad decided to stay-in with a homemade charcuterie board. When Don and Lollie, and then Brett and I caught wind of this we all said, "Well that sounds great!" So six of us enjoyed our date night together.
After dinner we played Shanghai on the patio. Lee joined us for the tournament and Ellen went to bed. For entertainment during the card game, Brett pulled up a YouTube mix of "Name that 60's theme song" and the parents really belted out their favorites. We made it all the way through to the early 2000's before we called it a night.
As everyone prepared for bed, Dad and Don serenaded the family with "Everybody loves somebody sometime."
Notes and Observations:
-Haven't seen much of Ellen and Lee
-The food here is just better. Furthers my gruff with the US food system. The food coming out of our kitchen is the best we're having,
-Don keeps drinking a lot of coffee
-Lee has also befriended a shop owner where he goes daily for sandwiches
-I'm beginning to feel anxious about the flight home. Not sure what to do about that.
