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We are down to our second last day before heading home. So lucky to still have sunny weather here in northern Italy so close to the Swiss border. We have had 2 nights in Stresa on the shores of Lake Maggiore - a really beautiful area similar to Lake Como but in some ways much nicer. We have a lovely hotel - La Fontana with a very nice host - Giuseppe is a true Italian gentleman in the old fashioned sense.
We arrived yesterday in Stresa on the fast train from Bellagio via Milan. We got on the fast train which was very nice but were told by the conductor that our ticket did not permit travel on the nice train so we had to pay a supplement.
Stresa is a small town with some very elegant villas and impressive grand hotels on the lake front - most of them are already shuttered up as the season is now over and everyone closes down at the end of October until March when they re-open again. It is not the best time to visit these areas but we have been lucky with the weather - it is cold ie 4 or 5 in the morning rising to max. 17 with sun so it is very manageable.
Today we took a ferry to visit the Borromean Islands - first stop at Isola Bella where we did not get off as everything was closed except for a couple of restaurants and then we did get off at the next one Isola Pescatore which is a small island of about 300 metres long with some lovely buildings including a few shops (where we bought some lovely Italian silk scarves) and a few restaurants - most of which are now closed.
We continued our ferry journey to Pallanza where we walked a few kms to the magnificant botanical gardens at Villa Taranta. They must be wonderfil in spring but now in late autumn most things are dead or dying but the grounds are very impressive.
We are having an early night tonight and packing ready for our final train journey tomorrow morning back to Milan for an overnight stop before heading off early on Saturday for our flights back to Brisbane.
It has been a long holiday for me - 10 weeks - and a lot of the time it has been harder work than having a job because there are no "days off" or weekends when you are travelling - it is a fulltime job to plan your time, be in the right place at the right time and make the most out of each place you visit with ongoing research.
I feel I have covered a lot of ground and seen and done so many things that have been on my list for some time and the experience will leave me with some wonderful memories.
I am looking forward to being back at home in Noosa in my own bed and enjoying the summer . Hopefully a visit to Sydney sometime soon as well to see friends and family.
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Susan O'Connor/Stanton Yes, you did time it very well, weather wise! Temperatures only really dropped this Monday morning! Whew... you escaped! Loadsalove from Liverpool... Sue... X