Saturday, December 3, 2016

LAKE COMO & HOTEL METROPOLE SUISSE



I'm finally wrapping up the last of our trip to Italy.  From Bellagio, we took a 45 minute hydrofoil boat ride to the small town of Lake Como.   We stayed at a the boutique-style Hotel Metropole Suisse, and the location was perfect as it was directly across the street from the hydrofoil dock--and when you're lugging far too many suitcases, you want to be close.

We checked in, dropped our bags and took in the view.  We had a gorgeous lake view, and the mountains were just stunning.  Such a picturesque spot to stay, and I was excited to get out and explore.


SHOP MY LOOK








Piazza Cavour 19 22100
Como Italy
Phone: +39 031 269 444





This was the view from our room, and at the very left of the picture, you can see part of the hydrofoil boat station.

Lake Como is a small, very walk-able town, and there is tons of great shopping.  They have regular stores, and a few higher end stores as well.  Plenty of restaurants to choose from, so that, of course, was our first stop.




Although it was chilly, people were perched out on patios, dining al fresco, which I loved.  We opted to sit inside, had pizza, pasta and wine. #italiandiet 




Afterwards, Marco went back to the hotel to do some work, and I set out to explore the streets.  Since it's not a huge place, while there were people, it didn't feel crowded.  The sales people in the shops were very Italian, but often spoke English--as the majority of Italy is, as we've found.




That night, after relaxing in our room for a few hours to watch the Presidential Debate, we headed out in search of dinner.  It was cold, so we were bundled up in winter jackets and mitts.  It was a Monday night and everything was dead--it was as if no one eats out on that day, yet all the restaurants were open.

With TripAdvisor in hand, we decided on a small, authentic sushi shop, about a 15 minute walk away.  It was such a nice change from the usual pizza-pasta-and-repeat diet we'd been on for a week.   We needed that variety in our life.




The next morning, we had a great breakfast at the hotel--there were pastries, fresh fruit, eggs, juice and coffee.   We packed up, and were off to the train station to catch the last train of the day to Milan.








We made it to Milan, and since we were staying really close to the airport, it was pretty far outside the city.  I'll be honest, at this point in our trip, it was our last full day, and we were pretty tired and excited to get home.  We had such an amazing trip, but it was tiring with all the moving around.  We did six cities, eight hotels/AirBnBs and six train rides... we were pooped!

We decided to hop in an Uber, head downtown and explore the massive outdoor shopping area.  We shopped all afternoon, grabbed burgers on a heated patio and eventually made our way back to the hotel.  We packed up and the next morning, at like 4am, we headed to the airport to head back home to Canada.




Thank you so much for following along on this trip to Italy, it's been awesome to document and share our travels.  Italy definitely has a special place in both of our hearts and we left this trip so in love and incredibly happy.  

That said, there are always challenges and ups and downs when doing a more, 'adventure style' of travelling, haha, such as when I put us on the wrong train, we lost three hours, and Marco wouldn't let me live it down.  Or sweating as you try to lift luggage on and off of trains and lug it around the cities--Confession: Marco had to lift mine and give me his during these times because I totally overpacked.  And of course the classic, being hangry and lost and trying to find food.  

These are all first world problems, and comical in hindsight, but in the moment can cause some pretty ridiculous arguments!  So all that to say, there are moments, but that is with anything, and they pale in comparison to the awesome memories made.


See all posts about Italy HERE.


Related posts you may have missed:
* Back in Florence for One Night (my favourite day!)



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