In the end, we achieved our physical activity goals (hoping for 3 to 3 1/2 miles per day), but we are convinced we ate/drank back most of the 'slimming' potential. In any case, we had FUN!......almost 95 miles. Next year we are going for 100!
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Epilogue - One Measure of Success......our FitBit Totals
Finally getting around to adding up the stats! The primary 'health improvement' goal was to take advantage of the lifestyle change to get in shape.....possible enhancement of our physical conditioning!
In the end, we achieved our physical activity goals (hoping for 3 to 3 1/2 miles per day), but we are convinced we ate/drank back most of the 'slimming' potential. In any case, we had FUN!......almost 95 miles. Next year we are going for 100!
In the end, we achieved our physical activity goals (hoping for 3 to 3 1/2 miles per day), but we are convinced we ate/drank back most of the 'slimming' potential. In any case, we had FUN!......almost 95 miles. Next year we are going for 100!
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
Time to Return - Nostro Ritorno a Wayland!
We actually woke at 6:15, about 30 minutes before the alarm was set to go off. It is always a bit hard to sleep in when you know you have to arise early. It was actually good that we had some extra time…….as things always take longer than you expect. Our planning had probably been a bit optimistic. The desk staff at the hotel does not arrive until 8:00, so we had paid for the room when we checked in.
Also a bit of a surprise was an apparent rain shower - wet pavers on the terrace.....with our vague recollection of some thunder around 5:00 AM. We jokingly attributed this to "tears of departure."
The dining room was also not open for us (8:30) so they had brought us some basics and left them in our refrigerator the night before. We managed to get packed and I lugged the cases out to the car by around 7:15. We were off and running almost a half hour ahead of schedule, wanting to try to avoid rush hour traffic around Milan.
The traffic was great. We also found a gas station and refueled before arriving at the airport. That is where the fun started. There are two terminals at Malpensa, about 4 miles separate from each other. We assumed that we were heading to Terminal 1, but that appeared to be a bad assumption. We looked at our boarding passes and saw a designation for Terminal 2…….so had to drive back from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2. We found the Avis drop-off lot and went up to the counter, only to find that Terminal 2 was only for ValueJet airlines! We jumped back in the car and headed off to Terminal 1 again. Suffice it to say that some early morning panic was setting in here. We did not have this kind of contingency in our timing even with the 30 minutes jump start.
Anyway, we made it to the ‘other’ Avis at Terminal 1 and had to wait forever to get our car checked in. By this time, the moods were not pleasant. In the end, the check-in was quite easy at the Air France desk and we did not have to go through passport control as our initial leg was only to Paris. We picked up a half an hour and had time for breakfast in the Air France club lounge……which put us both in a better frame of mind!
The flight to Paris was uneventful and on time. Our trepidation of negotiating the Charles de Gaulle airport was only partially experienced. Everything went better than we expected except for a bit of a back-up at the Passport control point. The plane from Paris to Boston was a Boeing 777-300, which I think means it has 300 seats! While we were not flying business class, this plane has a great Premium Economy zone which was quite comfortable.
We will sign off here, because the story does not get more interesting. We landed in Boston to fog, rain, chilly temperatures and a massive rush hour traffic jam (it actually took us longer to go from Logan to our house than it took to fly from Milan to Paris)........a great way to make sure we did not forget how wonderful our trip was, and how lucky we continue to be! Now on to reconnecting and re-engagement. It's tough to adjust to the end of a trip like this, but it is always great to be back home with family and friends.
Ciao!
Andrea and Fiske
p.s. - one final entry two days later! Wednesday was National Martini Day, so we had a great celebration at home with flowers and vegetables from the garden (those that the woodchuck didn't eat) with our best buddies Tessa and Koda!
Also a bit of a surprise was an apparent rain shower - wet pavers on the terrace.....with our vague recollection of some thunder around 5:00 AM. We jokingly attributed this to "tears of departure."
The dining room was also not open for us (8:30) so they had brought us some basics and left them in our refrigerator the night before. We managed to get packed and I lugged the cases out to the car by around 7:15. We were off and running almost a half hour ahead of schedule, wanting to try to avoid rush hour traffic around Milan.
The traffic was great. We also found a gas station and refueled before arriving at the airport. That is where the fun started. There are two terminals at Malpensa, about 4 miles separate from each other. We assumed that we were heading to Terminal 1, but that appeared to be a bad assumption. We looked at our boarding passes and saw a designation for Terminal 2…….so had to drive back from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2. We found the Avis drop-off lot and went up to the counter, only to find that Terminal 2 was only for ValueJet airlines! We jumped back in the car and headed off to Terminal 1 again. Suffice it to say that some early morning panic was setting in here. We did not have this kind of contingency in our timing even with the 30 minutes jump start.
Anyway, we made it to the ‘other’ Avis at Terminal 1 and had to wait forever to get our car checked in. By this time, the moods were not pleasant. In the end, the check-in was quite easy at the Air France desk and we did not have to go through passport control as our initial leg was only to Paris. We picked up a half an hour and had time for breakfast in the Air France club lounge……which put us both in a better frame of mind!
The flight to Paris was uneventful and on time. Our trepidation of negotiating the Charles de Gaulle airport was only partially experienced. Everything went better than we expected except for a bit of a back-up at the Passport control point. The plane from Paris to Boston was a Boeing 777-300, which I think means it has 300 seats! While we were not flying business class, this plane has a great Premium Economy zone which was quite comfortable.
We will sign off here, because the story does not get more interesting. We landed in Boston to fog, rain, chilly temperatures and a massive rush hour traffic jam (it actually took us longer to go from Logan to our house than it took to fly from Milan to Paris)........a great way to make sure we did not forget how wonderful our trip was, and how lucky we continue to be! Now on to reconnecting and re-engagement. It's tough to adjust to the end of a trip like this, but it is always great to be back home with family and friends.
Ciao!
Andrea and Fiske
p.s. - one final entry two days later! Wednesday was National Martini Day, so we had a great celebration at home with flowers and vegetables from the garden (those that the woodchuck didn't eat) with our best buddies Tessa and Koda!
Monday, June 17, 2019
The Adventure Continues!
No sense in slowing down now!
We had a bit of a trek in front of us for our last day. Since we were leaving from Milano Malpensa airport (north of Milan) we knew that it was a reasonable trip to the airport from the east shore of Lake Como. We worked out our plan to stay at Relais Villa Vittoria in Laglio. This was a hotel we discovered three years ago and really enjoyed our stay.
Lake Como is a three hour drive from Cogne and we wanted to try to make it to Laglio and the hotel by 1:30 or so……in time for lunch and some time in the afternoon by the pool. This meant trying to leave the Bellevue by around 10:00. This actually worked out well without any rushing around. The breakfast buffet is hard to resist and I think we both ate too much (again!). We joked that we would work it off in our bouncy little car going back down the mountain roads!
The day brought bright sunshine again. It’s funny how the views and perspectives change going back down……rather than climbing up. It seemed easier somehow, and we also caught glimpses of Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn – which we had missed in the other direction.
Once out of Val d’Aosta, the scenery and driving gets a bit flat and monotonous. Other than stopping for gas, a pit stop and expresso, we just cruised along for a few hours, around Torino and around Milano and finally in to the Como area around the lake. Last time we went this route we made a couple of wrong turns at the bottom of the lake and got a bit lost. This time we were better prepared and were lucky to make all the right turns! We got to the door of the hotel right at 1:30.
A brief note here in that the hotel literally reveals itself as a door (more accurately a gate) with no windows or major signs on the street. There is no sidewalk and the street is only about 20 feet wide (we should have taken a picture!). They have two small parking spaces for unloading. You would never think this is a hotel! Once through the gates, the view is amazing.
The building was originally a private villa overlooking the lake. It now has about 15 rooms? and a small ‘cottage’ as they call it, which is basically a tiny converted outbuilding with two rooms……a small sitting area on the ground floor and a steep stair to a second level bedroom and bath. It is small but very romantic.....perfect for our last night of the trip.
The best feature of the 'Cottage' is a private terrace overlooking the lake. Of course, enjoying all of this to its maximum depends on the weather! We have been so lucky…….and the good fortune continued today.
In fact the temperature got up into the low 80’s, the warmest of our trip. We checked in, I parked the car up the road and we headed down to lunch on the lowest terrace, where there is a shaded bar in a wonderful ‘grotto-like’ space adjacent to the pool area. Lunch was great, and since the pool area was quiet we ran up and got into our suits.
When we got back down for our swim (2 levels below the main level and our cottage) it had become very crowded and quite lively. The pool area is not that large and this 'group' had taken virtually all the chaises. Initially we were a bit disappointed, but we decided to just to barge in and cool off. It turns out that the entire group of about 15 were part of a wedding party from Canada (Toronto and Halifax). They ended up being very friendly and we were soon part of the group!
It was quite fun and enlivened our afternoon. The wedding was actually a dual ceremony which was happening tomorrow (Tuesday) and included twin sisters! We learned more than we could have anticipated, but the discussion was engaging and they were fascinated by our travels in Italy…..all this while hanging out on the steps of the pool.
We also had fun talking about the fact that the Obamas were heading this way later in the week. George Clooney’s villa is actually only about 100 yards down along the lake. Apparently the Clooneys have invited the Obamas to stay at the villa, which has a separate guest house. There was a lot of speculation and joking about the security measures that might be put in place in this small town.
A small group of us decided to try swimming in the lake, so we headed down the steps to the boat dock and dove in! It was great fun and the water was not too cold. After a while we retreated into the shade of the grotto terrace and almost fell asleep in the lounge chairs.
Around 5:30 we headed back up to shower and relax on our terrace, particularly since the hotel had left us a bottle of prosecco on ice……a great way to close out the afternoon.
Dinner was outside on the dining terrace, also overlooking the lake. When we were here before it was too cold to sit outside…….so this was a special treat. It was a wonderful evening. Our table was surrounding by jasmine vines and the view was beautiful. We were lucky to sit down and order just before the entire wedding party arrived. It was clear that they would have an impact on the service staff, so it was nice to be two steps ahead. The mood was celebratory and they kept waving over to Andrea!
Speaking of Andrea, we have a 'rule' with the blog........he/she who writes that day gets to pick the pictures. Below are a couple of images (we have energized discussions about showing pictures of each other!)......which Andrea might like to edit.......but I think she looks beautiful! Such a nice way to remember the last night of the trip!
We wandered back to our room around 10:30 and faced the inevitable organization of a bit of ‘repacking’ and a painful discussion about setting the alarm for the morning! We were really glad we made the effort to go a bit out of the way to revisit Relais Villa Vittoria.
We had a bit of a trek in front of us for our last day. Since we were leaving from Milano Malpensa airport (north of Milan) we knew that it was a reasonable trip to the airport from the east shore of Lake Como. We worked out our plan to stay at Relais Villa Vittoria in Laglio. This was a hotel we discovered three years ago and really enjoyed our stay.
 |
| mornings like this make it hard to leave! |
Lake Como is a three hour drive from Cogne and we wanted to try to make it to Laglio and the hotel by 1:30 or so……in time for lunch and some time in the afternoon by the pool. This meant trying to leave the Bellevue by around 10:00. This actually worked out well without any rushing around. The breakfast buffet is hard to resist and I think we both ate too much (again!). We joked that we would work it off in our bouncy little car going back down the mountain roads!
The day brought bright sunshine again. It’s funny how the views and perspectives change going back down……rather than climbing up. It seemed easier somehow, and we also caught glimpses of Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn – which we had missed in the other direction.
 |
| crazy line for the rest rooms at our pit stop......fortunately got in before the bus unloaded. Most of the toilets were out of service! |
Once out of Val d’Aosta, the scenery and driving gets a bit flat and monotonous. Other than stopping for gas, a pit stop and expresso, we just cruised along for a few hours, around Torino and around Milano and finally in to the Como area around the lake. Last time we went this route we made a couple of wrong turns at the bottom of the lake and got a bit lost. This time we were better prepared and were lucky to make all the right turns! We got to the door of the hotel right at 1:30.
A brief note here in that the hotel literally reveals itself as a door (more accurately a gate) with no windows or major signs on the street. There is no sidewalk and the street is only about 20 feet wide (we should have taken a picture!). They have two small parking spaces for unloading. You would never think this is a hotel! Once through the gates, the view is amazing.
The building was originally a private villa overlooking the lake. It now has about 15 rooms? and a small ‘cottage’ as they call it, which is basically a tiny converted outbuilding with two rooms……a small sitting area on the ground floor and a steep stair to a second level bedroom and bath. It is small but very romantic.....perfect for our last night of the trip.
The best feature of the 'Cottage' is a private terrace overlooking the lake. Of course, enjoying all of this to its maximum depends on the weather! We have been so lucky…….and the good fortune continued today.
In fact the temperature got up into the low 80’s, the warmest of our trip. We checked in, I parked the car up the road and we headed down to lunch on the lowest terrace, where there is a shaded bar in a wonderful ‘grotto-like’ space adjacent to the pool area. Lunch was great, and since the pool area was quiet we ran up and got into our suits.
It was quite fun and enlivened our afternoon. The wedding was actually a dual ceremony which was happening tomorrow (Tuesday) and included twin sisters! We learned more than we could have anticipated, but the discussion was engaging and they were fascinated by our travels in Italy…..all this while hanging out on the steps of the pool.
We also had fun talking about the fact that the Obamas were heading this way later in the week. George Clooney’s villa is actually only about 100 yards down along the lake. Apparently the Clooneys have invited the Obamas to stay at the villa, which has a separate guest house. There was a lot of speculation and joking about the security measures that might be put in place in this small town.
A small group of us decided to try swimming in the lake, so we headed down the steps to the boat dock and dove in! It was great fun and the water was not too cold. After a while we retreated into the shade of the grotto terrace and almost fell asleep in the lounge chairs.
Around 5:30 we headed back up to shower and relax on our terrace, particularly since the hotel had left us a bottle of prosecco on ice……a great way to close out the afternoon.
Dinner was outside on the dining terrace, also overlooking the lake. When we were here before it was too cold to sit outside…….so this was a special treat. It was a wonderful evening. Our table was surrounding by jasmine vines and the view was beautiful. We were lucky to sit down and order just before the entire wedding party arrived. It was clear that they would have an impact on the service staff, so it was nice to be two steps ahead. The mood was celebratory and they kept waving over to Andrea!
Speaking of Andrea, we have a 'rule' with the blog........he/she who writes that day gets to pick the pictures. Below are a couple of images (we have energized discussions about showing pictures of each other!)......which Andrea might like to edit.......but I think she looks beautiful! Such a nice way to remember the last night of the trip!
We wandered back to our room around 10:30 and faced the inevitable organization of a bit of ‘repacking’ and a painful discussion about setting the alarm for the morning! We were really glad we made the effort to go a bit out of the way to revisit Relais Villa Vittoria.
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