Lake Como

After visiting Innsbruck for one night, we headed down to Lake Como, and stayed in the town of Menaggio for two nights.  The first part of the drive was beautiful, and we enjoyed the beautiful scenery of fall foliage and little waterfalls flowing down the sides of the mountains.  We were so excited when we passed the border, but the kids were oblivious, with their noses in their IPads.  I kept saying things like 'Look kids, Italian cows!  Wow, the Italian Alps are so beautiful'.  Then about 30 minutes later I was looking at the GPS, and said 'Oops, we are in Switzerland!'  Duh.
By the time we got to St. Moritz, we drove into dense fog, and didn't come out of it until we reached Lake Como.  It was a very stressful second half of the drive, and ended up making the drive 2 hours longer. 

By the time we found the hotel it was pretty late for the kids, so we ended up eating gelato for Dan's birthday dinner.  The kids thought this was great.  Thankfully, we had a great room at the Hotel Du Lac that had a balcony, and a separate bedroom for the kids. 



 View from our room

The next day we took a ferry to the town of Lenno, to visit Villa del Balbianello.  The villa was built in 1787 on the site of a Franciscan monastery, and was later turned into a home.  There have been many movies filmed here, most notably Star Wars (episode 2), and Casino Royale, with Daniel Craig.  The most recent owner was Count Guido Monzino, a mountain climber and explorer, who filled his home with artifacts and souvenirs from his expeditions. 

 

 

I was really nervous to take the kids on the house tour, because I thought that they would be bored and have subsequent bad behavior, but as soon as Ryan heard that Count Monzino had climbed Mount Everest and gone to the North Pole, he was enthralled.  The kids also were very impressed by the secret passageways in the house.  I was very impressed by the amazing views and garden. 

 'Padme's' garden on 'Naboo'

(Star Wars, 2)

 

We took the ferry boat back to Menaggio, and wandered around until we found a place to eat.  I can imagine that Lake Como is bustling in the summer months, but it was pretty sleepy while we were there.  We barely saw any other children, which puts a lot of pressure on us to keep the kids quiet when they are the only children in a restaurant.  We felt a little guilty every time we sat down at a café, where the other patrons are all couples sipping their cappuccino or wine, gazing out over the lake, then we sit down with the kids and completely destroy the romance.  Lake Como is definitely one of the most beautiful places I have been, but I was a bit disappointed with the lack of welcome I felt everywhere we went.  I had also been hoping for some amazing Italian food, but almost everywhere we went, the menu was limited to pizza and sandwiches.

 

The drive home was as terrifying as the previous two.  I have no desire to ever drive through the Alps again!  After coming around one of the hair-pin turns on top of a mountain, Dan had to slam on the brakes because there was a her of sheep running down the side of the road, as if they were just going with the flow of traffic!

 

About 4 minutes after seeing the sheep, Ryan grabbed the emergency car-sick bucket, and we had to pull over for a few minutes until his stomach settled. 

By the time we got home, we had driven into 4 countries: Austria, Switzerland, Italy, and Lichtenstein.  The day after we got home, Dan had to fly to China for the week, and then he has to go to Spain in a few weeks.  He has already been to Spain, but this is his first trip to China.  I am hoping that he can start writing a few of his own blog posts, because I know he has a few stories to share with everyone. 

Being able to travel through Europe was one of the big reasons we moved to Germany.  I can't say that this weekend was a huge success, because we felt kind of stressed-out the whole time.  I like to think that we 'got our feet wet' for traveling in Europe with kids, and hopefully our next trip (PARIS!) will be smoother with a bit more planning.  Well, at least a mom can dream...

Innsbruck

Dan and Ryan both had Thursday and Friday off from work/school in honor of German Reunification Day, and Friday was Dan's birthday, so we decided to head out of town for a few days.  We are still trying to keep our heads above water, in terms of getting into the groove of school, work, daily life, and managing in our temporary one-bedroom apartment (we should be moving to our new house next week!), so we didn't do a lot of planning. 

Our original plan was to go to Cinque Terre, Italy, but there were no rooms available!  Instead we decided on a whirlwind trip to Innsbruck, Austria, for one night, then on to Lake Como (Menaggio), Italy, for two nights.  We thought this would be feasible, since Google Maps said that it would be 2 hours to Innsbruck, then 4 hours to Menaggio, the 4 hours back home.  Unfortunately Google Maps lies!  It took six hours to get to Innsbruck!  Six hours to Menaggio! Six hours back home!!  Not to mention that our dear GPS took us on the most treacherous roads I have ever been on in my life!!!
We finally made it to Innsbruck, located our hotel, and found that despite the less-than-appealing décor, we had a fantastic view!!

 

View from our room at the Golden Krone Hotel

Triumphal Arch was built in 1765

 

 

We decided to go explore the city and try to find some dinner.  Maximilian I designated Innsbruck as the capital of Tyrol in the 1400s and has hosted the winter Olympics twice (1964 and 1976).  There were a lot of people out and about, and Innsbruck had a very urban feel to it.  The people seemed to be either elderly tourists or teenagers getting ready for an evening on the town. 

We did marvel at the vivid turquoise waters of the Inn River, which my IPhone photography didn't do justice.  We ate dinner at a café next to the river, which had a great view, and decent food. 

The next day we decided to go to the top of Norkette Mountain.  To get to the summit(7,657 feet), we first took a funicular, then two cable-cars.  The kids loved the journey, and the idea of going up to have lunch in the clouds.  There was an Alpine Zoo at one of the funicular stops, so we spent an hour walking around there before continuing our journey to the top.  The top of the mountain was completely engulfed by clouds, so there wasn't a view down to the city, but the scenery was still breathtaking.  There was a small restaurant up at the top, where we ate lunch, then headed back down the mountain so we could get on the road to Lake Como.

Dan and our 'mountain goats'

I think Ryan is loopy from lack of oxygen!

 

Treacherous!

These kids are NOT afraid of heights!

 

 

We had a fun day in Innsbruck, and probably would have needed another day or two to get a better feel for the city.  Even though we didn't get to see everything, we are happy to have gotten a glimpse, and may return again in the future.

 

Tomorrow I will work on the trip report of beautiful Lake Como.  Ciao!