Monday, 16th en route Desenzano to Stresa.
Well despite any trepidations held because of the name of our next destination, it was unbelievably stress free, other than Jean's insistence that we drag our suitcase up the hill from the hotel to the train station.
The train to Milan arrived in Desenzano on time, seats were available, a small glitch with storing the bags, Jean wanted them within line of sight and I wanted them out of the way, and as I was the one who had to manoeuvre them down the carriage, line of sight wasn't!!!!
The train from Milan to Stresa, again on time, this time it was an intercity to Geneva so very smooth. Out of the station, down the cobblestones to the hotel, the only casualty being my suitcase, one wheel gone, so a new suitcase it has to be. Not a job for gaffer tape.
Tuesday
We decided that a quite explore of Stresa would be in order, perhaps a stroll up to the cable car to Mottarone, to check out the times and the deal with bike hire, maybe grab a quick coffee and head back to the hotel. In typical fashion, that was not to be, we'll, not in that sequence. Instead, it was, well, now we are here, why don't we go up and check out the roads down and maybe look at the alpine gardens (says Jean). So up we go, only 1500m and as you will have seen from the photos, it was very alpine, about 1 degree in fact with a wind chill of about minus 5. So to warm up, it was decided that we would walk down. For the most part, the track consisted of loose sharp shale rock, too sharp to step on and so we were consigned to the water course or the bank on the edge.
We had no sooner started and it was time for a tree break ( a quick dash into the trees). I was posted as look out and had a clear view back up the path for about 200m. After reassuring Jean than no one would be come up the mountain, as they would all be walking down, she found a spot right on a bend in the path. The line of sight issue kicked in again and I couldn't see the two groups of people who were coming up the track! Fortunately for me; (a) we didn't know them; and (b) because they were coming up they had their heads down but that wasn't enough to calm the savage beast.
As it turned out, it was a great walk, and very scenic through the different beech and birch tree forests, then into the pines and onto summer meadows, all the while catching glimpses of the lakes below. Nearly 2 hrs later, we reached the halfway point at Alpino, time enough for a coffee and crostini before taking the final leg home via the cable car.
That night we went out to for dinner only to meet a person from Sydney who was on our tour in 2011. As it turned out she is staying in the same hotel as us, goes to show how small the world is.
Wednesday
Another great day. We took the ferry to Isola Bella and spent several hours exploring the magnificent gardens. Leaving there we went over to Isola Superiore and them on to Baverno before coming home.
Tomorrow we are taking the train to Locarno in Switzerland at the head of the lake and then a 3 hour ferry trip back to Stresa, which should be good.
Ciao.