Thursday, November 6, 2008

Comatose in Como

The trip to Lake Como was the whole reason Mama and Daddy planned our trip and spending a week there was really fun.

We took a train from Zurich across the Alps and into Milan before meeting up with our friends. The train was really smooth and, according to D+M the countryside was very pretty. I spent a lot of the time reading my book, playing on my DS and sleeping.

The plan was to surprise our friend Karen for her (Daddy's note: don't embarrass Karen across the internet by revealing her age) XXth birthday. She had already met various friends - their arrival arranged by her husband Norm secretly over more than 12 months - before we arrived but she was still really surprised to see us and I ran away when she wanted a big hug and a kiss - yuk!

We then jumped aboard Norm's party van and went in search of Varenna, a small town on Lake Como. Our house - called Casa Pupa - was straight up the hill from Varenna and was really good. There were about 15 of us staying there and I had a great time as mascot for the week. I stayed up until at least 10pm every night and the latest night was about midnight. It was great except most of the television was in Italian, German or French - anything but English. Except that is for CNN, BBC and Fox news. So I did keep up with Barack Obama's bid for the US presidency but that was about all I was really interested in.

We went to lots of the small towns around the lake and one of the best was Bellagio where I had gelato and, yes, a milkshake. (more on that later) We also travelled to Argegno where a friend of my mama's had his ashes spread. It was a long day and a long climb but worth it to visit his grave.

On the Wednesday we all went into Milan and that night Mama, Daddy and some of the others went to see AC Milan play in the serie A soccer against Siena but I took the night off and went with the other Karen (who thinks she is also my other mama) and the rest of the group back to Varenna. The soccer hooligans came home really late and talked about the stadium. It was soooo boring to hear Daddy go on and on about the size of the place and how little entertainment there was for the crowd at half-time.

Two days of rain and Thursday and Friday meant we didn't get out much but on Saturday it was nice and clear and we could see snow on the nearby mountains.

On the Sunday we said goodbye to most of the party people but promised to catch up at Christmas. We discovered though that Norm, Karen and Cath were also going to be in Venice at the same time as us and so we agreed to meet up in the city that is sinking. Mama and Daddy says that after all the planning, secretly keeping Karen in the dark and then finally getting there it was a big disappointment that it was all over.

MILKSHAKE
The Bellagio shake was cold, creamy and possibly lacking a little flavour. But nevertheless it was still a four. I think London looks like the place to really test my tastebuds.

Til next time.

Mac

3 comments:

Garbie said...

Bonjour Mac,

By the time you read this you should be in my favourite city. Loved reading about Lake Como and Zurich. Not having much luck with the milkshakes but hopefully in London you will find the WGM!!

Profiter de Disneyland! (Enjoy!)

Au revoir
Garbagex

Crisscross said...

hey mac its me jack! i've really been liking your blogs so far. Sounds like you've seen really cool places.Sounds like you hav,ent had much luck finding the WGM. My dad has the recipe!!! If you check the other comments you will find that Apo,Brooke,A guy called vilgax,and and your cousin have commented. Bye friends 4ever Jack. P.S. I like pie. P.P.S. I postponed my party for you!!!

JT, Neal and Molly said...

Hi there travelling 'shakers.
Glad to hear that you managed to get to Lago di Como, and that you managed to take the long walk up the hill to see Uncle Jeffy. Top effort. See you soon.
JT, Neal and Molly
(Go Tigers)