Lake Como and Lugano

I awoke early on Monday morning, and inspired perhaps by the runners I had seen in Milan the day before, ran a mile or so around the parking lot of our hotel in the dark.  I realized this was the first run I had completed since October 30, and I felt surprisingly good after such a long lay-off.  I have heard that elite marathon runners routinely take an entire month off after a big event without losing any fitness (in fact, it seems to help them), so perhaps it will work for an old broken-down marathon runner like me.

From our room we had beautiful views of Lake Varese below us, and the breakfast bar had an extraordinary variety of food, including strange things like cold pizza, and something we had never seen in any hotel, ever, bottles of champagne for making our own mimosas.  Not your usual fare at a Holiday Inn.

Our destination after breakfast was Lake Como, very close to the border to Switzerland.  We went for a cruise on the famous lake with Anna, a local specialist, who pointed out the many very expensive homes around the shore which were owned by Saudi princes, Russian oligarchs, and other wealthy owners, including George Clooney who owns three homes.  An average home costs between eight and ten million euros, but we were told you could rent a villa for (only) €175,000 per week.

We had some time on our own for exploring, and saw the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta, yet another magnificent cathedral. 

From Lake Como we boarded the coach again and crossed the border into Switzerland.  Our tour director had told us to bring our passports with us just in case we were asked for them, although tours like ours were rarely stopped.  We spent quite some time in Lugana in the Italian-speaking Ticino region of the country.  Lake Lugano was a beautiful city built on the side of a mountain - you would exit the fourth floor of a department store and find yourself on street level, high above the lake.  In the distance we could see snow-capped mountains.

We had plenty of time to explore, so we had a cappuccino and pastry on a rooftop market, and then made our way back to the coach and returned to the Grand Hotel, where we had dinner.