After a short drive, we arrived in Verona. During the trip, both Ian and Carmel fell asleep. Carmel had her head back and her mouth open so wide that a nest of pigeons could have taken refuge in there.

On arrival we parked in a car park and called the hotel as instructed, because much of the city centre is for pedestrians only and our hotel was located directly in the middle. We walked down their busy, cobble-stoned main street to our hotel. The hotel was called Juliet's Dream and the entrance was right in a small courtyard that was teeming with people. This courtyard was created about 25 years ago by the local council who placed a balcony on one of the windows, popped a bronze statue of a girl in the courtyard and called it Juliet's Balcony. Since then it has become a mecca for people to come and see what they obviously believe to be the actual real balcony that Juliet stood on when she caught Romeo roaming around in her garden. A powerful exercise in good marketing. It attracts thousands of visitors per day, many of whom leave letters to Julia about their love lives tacked to the walls of the courtyard using chewing gum or bandaids, and must have their photos taken standing on the balcony and then rubbing the breast of the statue for good luck. That is one statue with a VERY shiny breast. They also write all over the walls, which attracts a 500 euro fine if they are caught.

All of this means it took quite a while to get into the courtyard to the entrance of our hotel, but once inside it was bliss. The hotel was gorgeous with massive rooms furnished with period furniture and balconies overlooking the courtyard.

It took no time at all for Ian and myself to adopt our alter-egos, the Two Gentlemen of Verona. Therefore, Sir Ian Spiffington-Smythe the 3rd and Lord Scott Boffington-Blythe-Twot Sr, took their women-folk for a turn about the town post-haste, during which time we partook in some splendid sightseeing and some jolly good local fare.

Verona has a beautiful arena that was built by the Romans and looks much like the colosseum. They still use it for concerts and operas, but unfortunately nothing was on during our stay.

The next day we spent walking around the city. The architecture is beautiful and the city is very clean and charming. Ian and I had a caffe corretto (espresso with grappa) and it knocked our socks off. We also found ourselves dragged into a photo shoot with a couple who were getting married. We don't know how this happened, but we will feature in some couple's wedding photos somewhere in the world.

We also visited some amazing gardens that inspired Mozart. The hedges and statuary were gorgeous.

We spent the afternoon walking up a mountain to a church with panoramic views over Verona, after which we walked back to our hotel via a Vodaphone store so that Carmel and Ian could pick up a sim card.

The next morning we were about to leave Verona, when Carmel asked Ian for his passport. Turns out he had left it at the Vodaphone store, so he raced down and luckily it was still there.

After this we hopped back into the car and made our way to Lake Como. On the way we stopped off at a tiny town called Borghetto which is famous for it's tortellini. The town was situated on a river and was very picturesque. We tried a tasting plate of tortellini which was delicious but probably too much food. We then travelled onto Bellagio.

We had booked an apartment each in Bellagio and to get there we had to drive along the lakeside. The road was very narrow and very winding. The cars and buses came belting around the corners coming the other way and it made for a very nail-biting experience. We all had to breathe in every time a vehicle passed going the other way.

Finally we made it and checked into our apartments. We were lucky enough to get what we think was the best apartment in Bellagio. It was right on the lakefront overlooking the lake and mountains with villages dotted throughout the hills. We stayed in Bellagio for 5 days and had more than one meal (drink), snack (drink) or just some relaxation (drink) on the balcony overlooking the lake.

On one of our days we took the car and drove along some more terrifying roads to the city of Como, which is a much larger place than Bellagio. It was interesting and the funicular to the top of the mountain had amazing views, but we preferred the small town of Bellagio.

We also took another day to explore the other side of the lake, where there are some quaint little towns and a villa called Villa Barbienello. They have filmed several films here, including Casino Royale and Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. It was a magnificent place with stunning views and perfectly manicured gardens. We then hiked back to a town called Tremezzo where we took the ferry back to Bellagio. On the way, Ian decided he would like to take a swim in the lake. We had warned him that nobody swims in Lake Como until at least July because it is far too cold, but he was keen. The water was only 11 deg, but Ian stripped off to his togs and walked straight into the lake. He started to swim out to a buoy, but didn't quite make it that far before he had to turn back. I think he was worried about hypothermia. We were all very impressed that he actually went for it. Unfortunately he didn't have a towel, so he had to dry himself off with his hoody and walk around wet for the rest of the day.

Not satisfied with his little swim, the next day Ian decided he wanted to swim out to a pontoon near our apartment and dive off a diving board. This time he came prepared and had a towel. We got off to a rocky start when he stripped off and found a sticker stuck to his ribs saying "Please wake for meals" (Who knows where that came from), but managed to swim out to the pontoon in the glacial waters. Unfortunately the water was too shallow to dive off the diving board.

After 5 days of relaxing bliss on Lake Como, we got back into the car, braved the road back to Lecco and drove to a tiny village called Sessame in the Asti region of Italy. We had read that on the first Sunday of each May they have a risotto festival. So we drove 2.5 hours to a village that was so tiny I reckon they all share one donkey. We expected there to be a town alive with different stalls selling all different risottos. What we got was actually a tin-pot town with an old hall packed with locals, lining up for a ladle of one type of risotto which was made with boiled meat. They then gave us a plate of boiled meat to go with it, a cup of wine that would burn a hole in the stomach of an orc and a wedge of goats cheese that tasted like the bottom of a pond.

The seating was a free-for-all, with benches lined up in the hall. We tried to get four together, but the only free space was reserved rigorously by a short woman with a face that brooked no argument. So we had to go outside in the cold and eat our risotto, look at our boiled meat and choke down our wine. We went back inside when we had finished to get our slice of apricot tart for dessert to find that the short woman was still standing by herself at the empty table for 10. So we went back outside and decided to go for a wander around the town. This took exactly 5 seconds since you could probably throw a wet sock from one end of the town to the other. So we stood like the penguins in Madagascar when they finally made it to Antarctica and said "Well. This sucks."

The day wasn't entirely wasted though, because we drove on to a town called Acqui Terme, which is famous for their hot springs. It was a lovely place with a huge fountain in the main square filled with thermal water that is 75 deg Celsius. There was a local concert band practicing in the square. They weren't very good, but their conductor was very entertaining: a big guy with a huge mop of grey hair who kept throwing his head back like a whiplash victim causing his copious locks to fly around his head. It was great.

We then found a local enoteca who stocked local wines and had a wine tasting. The young guy who served us was really friendly and we decided to enjoy a bottle of sparkling rosé while we were there (and buy a couple more for the road). I know what you're thinking: "Rosé! Eeew." But seriously, the rosé in Italy is fantastic. I wouldn't drink the rosé in Australia in a pink fit, but Italy's rosé is a whole different kettle of fish. It's awesome.

Anyway, after this we went back to our hotel, which we weren't expecting to be great. We had to book near Sessame so we booked a small hotel in a tiny town called Bistagna. When we got there, we were pleasantly surprised. The hotel was new, modern and extremely well appointed. The concierge was a lovely girl who helped us enormously during our stay by doing all kinds of research for us on wineries in the area. She also recommended a restaurant for dinner a few doors down that we decided to try.

We walked to the restaurant and the owner was sitting outside. He took us into his restaurant and we were the only ones there. In fact, we were the only ones there for the whole night. It turns out his name was Enrico and he was the owner, chef and waiter. He was the only staff member there. We asked him for his menu and he explained that he didn't have a menu and we could eat whatever we wanted. We asked him for suggestions and he basically made up a menu for us on the spot. He then proceeded to bring out the most delicious food you could ever eat. He started with a warm chicken salad, which was divine, then gave us some sort of quiche and a puff pastry thing which was scrumptious. He finished with a dessert that was to die for. Semifreddo, mousse and something else that he invented which was kind of a semifreddo, gelato thing with a hint of ginger in it. Super tasty. He then brought over a bottle of mirto, which is a digestivo made from myrtle berries, and shared a few glasses with us. He was a really friendly guy and we had a fantastic evening.

The next morning we were due to drive to Turin. I noticed back home that the road between Bistagno and Turin goes right through the heart of Barolo country. Barolo is universally accepted as being the best Italian red wine you can get. It would have been remiss of us to drive through the region without stopping to try the local specialty, so we went straight to the town of Barolo and did an enoteca crawl. We went to a couple of enotecas, did some tastings and bought a couple of bottles for the road. Ian also bought a bottle of grappa, which he has been quite taken with on this trip.

The drive out of Barolo was stunning, with some of the best scenery we have seen on this trip. The rolling green hills dotted with medieval towns and grape vines were simply spectacular.

We made it into Turin at about 3:00pm and checked into our hotel. We then went out to explore the city. Turin is a big place with almost 900,000 people and was the capital of Italy (only for 3 years). It's a beautiful city where the footpaths are covered with arched walkways to protect the King from rain and sun. There are ancient cafes everywhere that are adorned with ornate wooden facades and ceilings, marble tables and chandeliers. They are famous for a drink called a bicerin, which is a combination of coffee, chocolate and cream. You are not allowed to stir it. We tried one and it was amazing.

The next morning the girls went shopping while the boys explored a couple of museums. We saw the Egyptian museum and the Automobile museum. This one was my favourite. It had hundreds of cars dating back to the first ever vehicles, right up to modern day Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Maseratis, etc.

In the afternoon we took a walking food tour with a guide named Marzia. During the tour we went into an ancient library which was stunning. On the way out Ian yells out to Marzia: "Marita! Marita!" and then asks her some crazy question only a true Greg would ask, like "Did Romans suffer from acne?". We had a good laugh but didn't correct him that he got her name completely wrong. A little later he asked me who Garibaldi was. I said "Why don't you ask Marina?". He says "I thought her name was Marita." I said "No, it's Marina." So he goes up to her and says "Marina! Marina! Why was Garibaldi so important?" We had a huge laugh at this one, but still didn't correct him. Marzia then showed us a building which still has a cannonball stuck in it from the time the French tried to take the city. Ian wanted more information on the siege and Carmel said "Why don't you ask Maria?" I said "Her name isn't Maria, it's Martika." I thought he would cotton on by now, seeing as Martika was a singer in the 80s, but he turned around and starts yelling "Martika! Martika!" Well by this stage Carmel and I had completely lost it. It wasn't until after the tour was over that we fessed up.

We then went to a museum dedicated to tunnels that were built under the city during the French siege in 1705. The Turinese built them out to the fields around the town and laid bombs under the ground beneath the French to blow them up. It was absolutely fascinating and our guide was an old bloke who volunteers there. His name was Pietro and he gave us a private tour. We were so happy we gave him a tip which he promptly popped into the donation box. What a guy!