Bolzano, Italy

No pictures today. Not enough time to do them. We traveled for about 6 hours today to a small town outside Bolzano, Italy. We're on our way to Austria for a few days. The drive, again, was up the mountain on curvy, winding switchbacks. We're in snow country--brrrrr its cold. Talked to John yesterday---sure good seeing him on the computer. He's a busy man these days with his building business. Talked to Jeff over the weekend and Jen on Tuesday. We did get our debit card yesterday from the bank in Michigan!! Yea. I can shop, now. Not much to report--will write tomorrow.

Paying for the food

Well, since Jim is so set on a budget, I decided I would work for my keep. We are staying in little, family run hotel at the top of the mountain. It has only 8 rooms. The couple that run it are just fantastic--so helpful. If not for them, we wouldn't be able to get our Debit Card sent to us. Anyway, Jim went to get the tire fixed, so I told Mauricimo that I would do the breakfast dishes. There were dishes for 8 people--no big deal. Gave me something to do. So, basically, I washed dishes for our meal--since we can't afford to pay for it. That Jim.

Milan

Today we took the train for an hour ride into Milano. The station is right downtown, so we had only a few blocks to walk to the center of the city. We saw Milan's cathedral(we think it's called Mariae Nascenti, the 4th largest church in Europe. I don't know if any of you have read Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth, but if you haven't it's a wonderful book about the cathedrals being built during the middle ages mostly in England. But it gives you an appreciation of the architecture of these massive churches. We walked through the Galleria which is lined with very expensive shops--$750 for a nice pair of alligator shoes!!! Ugly, too. We sat in a couple of parks and watched people and then headed back to the train station and back to Como. Found out our credit card probably won't arrive until tomorrow(Thursday), so looks like we're here for another night. Jim has to find the Peugot car dealer tomorrow to get the tire fixed or buy a new one. I'll stay at the hotel and wait for the Fedex.

2 cents from jim------speaking about money---lets talk budget--- we would be ok but jerry insists that she have lunch every day----check out her picture above eating another gourmet sandwich AND a coke!!!I still am managing on a bagette and water---actually we have gone to a no budget and the little woman gets anything she wants---a vacation budget is a lot like a home remodeling budget---to get what you want it will cost twice the budget---and hopefully will take twice as long----so from now on i'll be talking about 4 cents from jim

Another Day At Como

We left our retreat at 8:15 this morning, drove down to the cable car level, and then took the cable car down the mountain to Como. At 10:00 we boarded the boat for the 2 hour ride to Bellagio. Wonderful scenery. We saw lots of stately villas with amazing gardens. We had a packed lunch(peanut butter and nutella on crackers--yum, yum. Tasted just like Reese Peanut Butter Cups). We walked around and looked in a few of the shops. Jim wasn't feeling so hot, so we jumped back on the boat and came back to the hotel. I've been typing emails and Jim took a nap. Kind of a slow day. I'm having Jen help me with the picture situation, so bare with me a few more posts.

The first picture is from the shoreline of the lake, the second pic is the view from our hotel room window, the third is of one of the villas along the shoreline, the 4th shows the white posts Jim referred to in our previous post (not much of a guard rail), the 5th is of us taken on the boat. Sorry about the order--I'll get it right one of these days. Tomorrow---Milan by train.

2 cents from jim ----
#1-what a day!!!!we had the best breakfast of the trip (and it was free) overlooking lake como-- high in the mountains
#2 by the way these thoughts are not in order of importance---if they were Montserrat Monestary is number 1
#3 we went down the mountian to the town of como via the funicolare---cable car-- and walked along the lake front
#4 went to the bank to get some cash and then came panic!!!!cardo no goodo!!!!
#5 spent an hour on an online chat with the credit union---Sarah was great----make sure you check the expiration date of your bank cards ---and then don't leave home without your computer----fedex is on the way------thanks to the owner of the hotel and sarah
#6 had to drive down the the to the town to get the cable car---what a road---about every 20 feet there was a post to protect you from going over a 1000m drop---picture later--on the real dangerous parts there was chainlink fencing attached to a sturdy 1 inch post
#7 jeff was right----don't drive a car in big cities-----although the other drivers were very friendly----got many big finger waves----must be the italian greeting
#8 the french riviera was very conjested---but no telephone poles on the beach--for ken wyse to walk into
#9 Italy is great---extending our stay on the mountain!!!! ciao jim

Tomorrow we go back down the mountain to Como to catch a boat for Bellagio--2 hours away. We'll spend the day there. Then on Wednesday we go back down the mountain to catch the train to Milan to spend the day. Beautiful country. Jerry

How Many Italians and Americans does it take to change a tire???

It takes 1 Italian woman as supervisor, 3 Italian men to discuss it, 1 American man to fix it and 1 American woman to take their picture. We had a rough driving day yesterday. We were driving along the Italian Riviera and a man behind us started honking like crazy. Jim said something is wrong and sure enough we had a flat tire. We pulled into a huge parking lot, parked and unloaded all our "stuff" in the back of the car to get out the spare tire. We did that and a tour bus man said we had to move because the buses had to back up where we were. So, Jim moved the car and I moved the "stuff". Jim opened the storage area and guess what? No tire. All there was was an air compressor with a canister thingy on it. Jim took of the hubcap and then all the bus drivers came to our rescue. Very nice people. The canister blew white stuff into the tire to seal the leak. We were so thankful!! Then we got lost in San Remo, even with Fifi. She was so confused--recalculating like crazy. We decided no more busy Riviera. We drove North out of town and had a gorgeous drive. Took us about 11 hours to get to Seme something or other. Left their this morning and arrived about noon, here, at Lake Como. We are about 1000 meters up a mountain--once again, curvy, narrow roads. But well worth the drive. We're staying at the Capanna C.A.O. hotel. It's run by a young couple, who are helpful. Our room has a window that overlooks the lake. Jim didn't sleep last night--a very loud band was playing down the street until about 4:00 AM. So, he's taking a nap. There are some benefits to being deaf--I didn't hear a thing!! All for now---