We left right after school on Friday (which is a short day, so just after lunch) and made our way to Lake Como, our first stop. I knew from experience that we could be hitting a lot of traffic on our way out of Munich (the German schools were all off too) so I didn't want to try to go any farther than 5 hours. What luck that this is precisely how far Lake Como is!
We were lucky and didn't hit any traffic until about 30km outside of the city, but even with that, we were walking the streets to our apartment in time for dinner.
The street our AirBnB was on. I booked exclusively through them for our entire vacation with the goal of not seeing a single square white wall the whole time. I wanted fun, charming and different. Which is precisely what we got here - I think of this place as Snow White's cottage:
This building is on one of only 3 streets in Como that have all original structures. Which is quaint and historic but also means small, low ceilings (we had to sit on a stool to shower. I kid you not!) and few amenities. But we all loved it for the two days we were there. In the picture above that is the entire apartment. The adult's bed was in the loft up that staircase on the left side with the bathroom next to it. The kids were sleeping on the sofa bed where I took this picture from. Small - yes but still bigger than a hotel room.
The next morning we were off to explore. The first thing we had to look for was right on the very street we were staying: the lady in the window. She watches the people walk by every day and is on the 3rd story of the very building we were staying in!
Como itself is not a very big town. Most people know of Lake Como - George Clooney's villa purchase made it famous, but it has been the relaxation spot for many of the world's elite for hundreds of years. But the Lake area encompasses not just the town of Como but a plethora of other towns up and down its coastlines (sadly without beaches). And I say coastlines in the plural because the lake is actually shaped like an inverted Y, with Como being at the southernmost tip.
With a day of sunshine called for we were up and on the streets before the Duomo even opened.
That gave us a chance to look for its famous frog. Sculpted on the Northern door of the Duomo back in the 1400's the frog is chasing a butterfly and if you touch it, you will have good luck. Of course, we all wanted luck so off we went...
We finally found it. And got a boost to touch it.
It is difficult to find because it has been touched by so many hands you can barely make it out anymore. Can you see it in the picture below? It's just below the butterfly on the left-hand side.
By then the cathedral had opened, so we went in and took a peek around...
And then popped into another church...
Before stumbling on proprietors setting up a Farmer's Market in the seaside square.
Stinkerbell tasted her way through...And talked her Papa into some sausage, of course.
Have you ever seen cheese with so many layers??? It's called the Cheese of Kings for a reason.
These 3 decided they had been in Italy long enough without having Gelato so off we went at 10:30 for our first taste...
Fortified, it was time to walk to the center of the lake to see the Life Electric sculpture.
And somehow we ran smack dab into friends from school...
The Life Electric was constructed to pay homage to Alessandro Volta, a lifelong resident of Como, who was a pioneer in the field of electricity and power. His claim to fame was inventing the battery and methane.
We headed back to shore and toward the cable car that would take us up the hill and to our lunch. The cable car takes 10 minutes to get you to the top and deposit you in the sleepy village of Brunate. There is not much to do other than have a drink, peep through the fences at the gorgeous and grand old villas and enjoy the stunning view below you.
On our way up in the cable car. It was so crowded this is as close as I got to seeing the view from the cable car.
Same view on the way down as I had on the way up :)
Back on the ground, we decided it had been way too long since we had some gelato, so we remedied that with the best in town...
And we even spied a superhero on our walk back towards our cottage.
We all rested for a bit and then walked across the alley to our restaurant for dinner. We were exhausted by all of the fresh air and sunshine and we were off again tomorrow for our next adventure - Leolandia!
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