Hanging out at Lake Como

We rented a house in Colico, near the very top tip of Lake Como, and made a temporary home. It was a lovely spot, and a great place to holiday with a toddler - low key, with all the necessities like supermarkets and playgrounds, but still plenty of dramatic scenery for our eyes to feast on.

The two snaps above were taken from the front porch of our holiday house.  The mountains and snow were amazing to our Western Australian-ised eyes.  Not really what first comes to mind when you think of Italy, is it?

The holiday house interior: not flash, but very comfortable and cosy.  And effortlessly functional.  How do the Italians do it?

Local fruit and veggies:

We shopped well, ate well, rested and played at the "beach" at the edge of the lake.

We probably wouldn't have thought to come and visit by ourselves, without the drawcard of good friends living nearby.  And I wouldn't have imagined it could be so pleasant to stay in one comfy spot rather than zooming all over the countryside trying to see all the tourist sites (for example, we didn't go to Rome.  Who flies all the way from Perth to Italy and doesn't go to Rome? People who want an excuse to come back again, I suppose!)

Back in my younger travelling days, "pleasant" was not a state one aimed for (more "mind-blown!" "amazed!" or "drunk!").  But we're solid mid-thirties with a toddler.  It's different these days.

From Zurich

Tim loved our holiday to Switzerland and Italy.  There were so many, many forms of transport to observe.

From our hotel room in Zurich he could see trams, colourful tourist buses, a canal with occasional boats, and ongoing road works.  Then the next day we got to go on the big train.

Hayden and I didn't mind looking out the window either.  It was pretty exciting to be back in Europe again, and to be in the land of snow-topped mountains, beautiful green grassy hillsides, and the creamiest milk I've ever tasted.

But I still don't know if the Starbucks staff were having a little joke with Hayden's order.