The place George Clooney calls home.
11 August 2008
Sasha and I had to wait for a taxi for quite a while at the little train station in Como. Once we got a taxi, we helped an American couple who was needing a taxi find a way to get to their destination, which turned out to be pretty far away. I had found a nice little hotel outside the city 
of Como in a place called Laglio, where our driver took us. We had a very nice taxi driver, who we talked to in Italian the entire way to our hotel. As it would turn out, he has a son around our age, who was willing to show us around the city the next day. Hmmm.... what were the chances?? When we arrived at our hotel we were extremely pleased to find that we had a LAKE VIEW room!!!
The next day after a nice relaxing breakfast with a lake view, our tour guides, Fabio and his friend Davide, showed up to give us a personal tour of the area. They started driving towards Como, and asked us what we were interested in seeing. We said that we didn't know, just the city of Como, and jokingly said George Clooney's house. Davide immediately turned the car around. We thought we had offended them and they were taking us back to our hotel, but it turns out that George lives very close to where our hotel is. Who would have thought? Needless to say, we got a close up view of George's villa.
After that they took us to a historic villa on the lake that was hosting a modern art exhibit. That was followed by a light lunch, more walking/driving around the town. In the evening we went to an amazing restaurant that was recomended by their father (our new friend and personal taxi driver). The restaurant was fantastic. There was no lake view, but the food was some of the best that I've ever had. Toward the end of our dinner the boys were getting a bit antsy, because they were missing a big soccer match while having dinner with us. Fabio was even recieving score updates from a friend on his cell phone!! Once we finished with dinner Sasha and I agreed to go to a place where they were broadcasting the game live. This turned out to be a crowded festival type thing right on the edge of the lake, where we watched the end of the game on a huge screen. It is quite an experience even watching a soccer game with a big group of Italians.
The next day, our last day in Como, sasha and I took a boat ride up the lake to Bellagio, which is just about mid-way up the long skinny lake. We had checked out of our hotel, so we both had our little rolling carry-on size bag with us all day. The boat ride was beautiful, and we got to see the extravagant villas and hotels all along the lake. Once we got back from our boat ride, we took the funicular up the mountain to the town of Brunate, which was quite lovely. I think we were the only tourists up there, and we just walked around with our luggage for a while. Finally we stopped for dinner and a very cute hotel/restaurant. Sasha and I turned out to be the only customers in this cozy family run restaurant. A bit to our suprise, this ended up being one of the best meals we had. Our pasta was homemade. Sasha's had
mushrooms inside the pasta itself, and mine had basil. We followed our main course with dessert, as always. At those two dinner's on lake Como, I had the best panna cotta (cooked cream) of my life. They were both amazing, but in different ways. I could go on and on describing the food, but I will refrain.
Here are photos from our first full day in Como, and here for the rest of Como & Brunate.
Our little weekend getaway had a bit of a bumpy ending. Sasha and I our very relaxed with our time, and wern't about to rush anything. So, after our fine meal in Brunate, the funicular didn't arrive to take us back to Como until around 9 pm!! Now we were starting to get a little worried, because we still had to get back to Florence that night! Sasha called our new friend Fabio to find out what we should do, and he ended up finding out the train times for us, and picked us up from the funicular and drove us to the train station! We made it to Milan, but ended up being stranded there for the night. The customer service at the station helped us find a hotel, and got us a discount, so we didn't have to worry. Luckily for us, the next day was a holiday in Florence, so we didn't have to work, so we got some sleep and caught a train around 11 am.
of Como in a place called Laglio, where our driver took us. We had a very nice taxi driver, who we talked to in Italian the entire way to our hotel. As it would turn out, he has a son around our age, who was willing to show us around the city the next day. Hmmm.... what were the chances?? When we arrived at our hotel we were extremely pleased to find that we had a LAKE VIEW room!!!The next day after a nice relaxing breakfast with a lake view, our tour guides, Fabio and his friend Davide, showed up to give us a personal tour of the area. They started driving towards Como, and asked us what we were interested in seeing. We said that we didn't know, just the city of Como, and jokingly said George Clooney's house. Davide immediately turned the car around. We thought we had offended them and they were taking us back to our hotel, but it turns out that George lives very close to where our hotel is. Who would have thought? Needless to say, we got a close up view of George's villa.
After that they took us to a historic villa on the lake that was hosting a modern art exhibit. That was followed by a light lunch, more walking/driving around the town. In the evening we went to an amazing restaurant that was recomended by their father (our new friend and personal taxi driver). The restaurant was fantastic. There was no lake view, but the food was some of the best that I've ever had. Toward the end of our dinner the boys were getting a bit antsy, because they were missing a big soccer match while having dinner with us. Fabio was even recieving score updates from a friend on his cell phone!! Once we finished with dinner Sasha and I agreed to go to a place where they were broadcasting the game live. This turned out to be a crowded festival type thing right on the edge of the lake, where we watched the end of the game on a huge screen. It is quite an experience even watching a soccer game with a big group of Italians.
The next day, our last day in Como, sasha and I took a boat ride up the lake to Bellagio, which is just about mid-way up the long skinny lake. We had checked out of our hotel, so we both had our little rolling carry-on size bag with us all day. The boat ride was beautiful, and we got to see the extravagant villas and hotels all along the lake. Once we got back from our boat ride, we took the funicular up the mountain to the town of Brunate, which was quite lovely. I think we were the only tourists up there, and we just walked around with our luggage for a while. Finally we stopped for dinner and a very cute hotel/restaurant. Sasha and I turned out to be the only customers in this cozy family run restaurant. A bit to our suprise, this ended up being one of the best meals we had. Our pasta was homemade. Sasha's had
mushrooms inside the pasta itself, and mine had basil. We followed our main course with dessert, as always. At those two dinner's on lake Como, I had the best panna cotta (cooked cream) of my life. They were both amazing, but in different ways. I could go on and on describing the food, but I will refrain.Here are photos from our first full day in Como, and here for the rest of Como & Brunate.
Our little weekend getaway had a bit of a bumpy ending. Sasha and I our very relaxed with our time, and wern't about to rush anything. So, after our fine meal in Brunate, the funicular didn't arrive to take us back to Como until around 9 pm!! Now we were starting to get a little worried, because we still had to get back to Florence that night! Sasha called our new friend Fabio to find out what we should do, and he ended up finding out the train times for us, and picked us up from the funicular and drove us to the train station! We made it to Milan, but ended up being stranded there for the night. The customer service at the station helped us find a hotel, and got us a discount, so we didn't have to worry. Luckily for us, the next day was a holiday in Florence, so we didn't have to work, so we got some sleep and caught a train around 11 am.
