Thom and I are here in beautiful Varenna! Weather is absolutely beautiful, nicely warmed by spring sun with a freshness to the air perfumed with Wisteria, some early roses, iris. The water sparkles on the lake as we walk the passamegiento browsing in the shops and stopping at every gelateria and bar along the way for drinks, coffee, tea, spumante. That was our goal after all! Ferried to Menaggio for lunch and browsing. No crowds, wonderful. Hello to Nancy L and John! We are keeping good notes. We stay here at Villa Cipressi through Saturday. Lovely!
Ciao!

JoyWriter and Thom, so nice to hear the lovely descriptions of your Italy adventure. Keep us posted. It all sounds wonderful. Have fun. Barb Cabot

Nancy,
I'm so glad you are having a wonderful time.
To me, Lake Como is one of the prettiest places I've ever seen.

Enjoy!

jan

Sounds great - enjoy!

Nancy, I've been thinking of you and Thom all week. 'Have a great time, and take good notes.

Nancy L

Ahhhhhhhh, beautiful Varenna!
This morning we ferried over to Bellagio. Lovely beautiful lakeside village but bustling with many shops ... beautiful silk scarves and fine leather bags. Enjoyed tagliatelle with Bolognese, spumonte, and assorted dolci before ferrying back to Varenna. Varenna now seems like home we feel so comfortable here now! The ancient church bells have just struck 5! The next important decision is where to have dinner! Ahhh the problems of the world! (smile).

Joywriter...lovely to read...keep 'em coming.
Your "joy" is ours! Barb Cabot

I love your posts. We're heading back to Varenna in August and can just picture what you are doing as you describe everything.

Sharon J

Friday we visited Castelli Viezo (?) at the top of Varenna ... a really fine example of a medieval castle. They are rennovating it slowly and it is privately owned. Four Euro per person admission but the views were beautiful and they have birds of prey exhibition ... falcons, barn owl, peregrine falcon ... rather beautiful specimens too! Then Thom thought we would drive a little up the road to Balsano ... and ended up in St. Moritz for lunch! He is amazing! The silvaplan lake was melting and the snow-capped mountains quite spectacular. We returned leisurely and had dinner! Wonderful!

Saturday morning we regretfully left Varenna and took the ferry to Menaggio and drove N340 to Cannero Riveira. Staying at Visited Isolda Bella in Stressa the Barrameo islands this morning. Very beautiful!
Enjoying everything!