Month: November 2018

Some people went off on a trip to Milan for the day. Mal and I didn’t want to go, it seemed a lot of time around the shops. There was also a trip to a Swiss lake but we were quite happy with our lake! Instead after breakfast we played cards, waiting for the rain to ease.

Later we walked along to Griante in between showers. There are some really lovely villas and the autumn colours look pretty in the gardens. Eric came some of the way with us. All very atmospheric with the low flying cloud!

Watching the news, I feel the UK has gone mad, the Iceland  Christmas TV advert has been banned!!

We started to pack, had dinner and then went into the bar with Linda, Pam and Eric. There is a pianist every night who plays all sorts of music and sings.  He has the most amazing voice and usually finishes the night with “Nessun Dorma”.  It was our last night and so quite sad we’ll be saying goodbyes, we made some good friends.

Thought for the Day – “You don’t meet people by accident. There is always a reason. A lesson or a blessing.”

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Another busy day. In the morning we had a trip to Como market, a huge market selling all sorts of things.

We walked through it and then went back to the Cathedral as we had missed the frog on the “frog door”. It takes a long time to find it . There is a frog carved into the door surrounds and he is eating a buttercup. It is said to be lucky if you rub his stomach. It is small and difficult to find but we did! We missed it on the previous visit to the Cathedral.

Back to the hotel for lunch . There was still a lot of low cloud around.

After lunch we went on a river cruise and saw some of the beautiful houses lakeside.

We had an Italian guide around the lake and no matter where you sat on the boat, you couldn’t understand a word and yes she was speaking in English! At the end of the tour we stopped off in Bellagio. It is the opposite side of the lake from where we are staying and just a very short ferry ride. So, we wandered up and down the steps, a very pretty place and also went into the church.

In the evening Hayley and Graham (a lovely couple from the sister hotel) came to join us for dinner. Linda asked at reception in the morning if we could reserve a table for 7 and they told us they won’t reserve tables! OK, so we decided to meet in the bar and be one of the first people in the restaurant as soon as it opened. We found a table and the waiter told us it was reserved, OK, so we will push some tables together….no we are not allowed to do it. So, we than said in which case we would go and sit on the first table as we had been told tables can’t be reserved, so please take the German reserved notice off it as we were going to sit there. Eventually they said OK the manager will let you. This was after us having a row with them, saying either tables be reserved OR NOT!! The Germans who obviously had reserved the table gave us daggers and complained to the staff…. we were not going to move! 1-0 to the Brits! I’m very surprised we didn’t find any towels on the seats.
At the sister hotel they only have half board so we all offered to get Hayley and Graham drinks…..Hayley had quite a few!

Thought for the Day – “Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave and impossible to forget.”

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We had a trip to Bergamo for the day. It was torrential rain as we boarded the coach and it didn’t ease up during the two hour drive. There were three coaches and seeing the weather was still as bad a whole coach load wanted to go back to the hotel (snowflakes!) So, one of the drivers took them. Another lot decided it was far too wet to see the sights so another driver took them to an indoor shopping centre. The rest of us did what we had intended to do which was seeing Bergamo and going on the funicular railway. I have to say we were forced into buying umbrellas even though we had waterproof coats on, the rain was so heavy. My new “waterproof” rucksack proved not to be and we were often wading through lakes which were the main roads.

We were drenched, I don’t think any one on our coach had dry feet. My jeans were also wet where the rain had cascaded off my waterproof coat. I haven’t seen such torrential rain in a long while.  But we managed to ride the funicular  up to the pretty part of the town and visited the Cathedral ,churches and other interesting places. It was difficult taking outdoor  photos as everything was so wet.

It was a very tiring day but we still met Linda and Eric in the bar after dinner. Pam said she was too tired.

Thought for the Day – “Kindness can make a bad day good and a good day better.”

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The weather hadn’t improved much. A lot of our coach went on the optional tour to St Moritz. The fact it was minus 2 and snowing, we decided against it and anyway we didn’t want our holiday on and off coaches all the time, so we had a day off starting with a leisurely breakfast with this view!

Yes, I know it would look a lot prettier in the sun but we knew the weather was not guaranteed.

We sat in the lounge with a drink and played cards until lunchtime. So many people were on trips, so the huge restaurant was nearly empty but what a choice of food. They even had cuttlefish on the buffet but I have had that before and not enjoyed it. In the afternoon we went for a walk as the rain had stopped and in fact it was really warm. We hoped to go in the Anglican church along the road but it was all locked up.

The hotel we are staying at has a sister hotel in Tremezzo where we can eat and drink if we wish (part of our all inclusive), so we walked there and sat outside having a couple of coffees.

On the way back we met a couple who are staying at the sister hotel. They said they preferred our hotel as it was much more opulent but we told them the coffee was better at theirs!

In the evening, after our dinner, we joined Linda and Eric but Pam said she was only going to stop for one drink. That was 7pm. She was still with us at 11pm and totally drunk! She had been drinking double Limoncellos!! Oh dear, we saw her to the lift with a cup of tea. She may have made her room but I don’t think the tea would have.

Thought for the Day – “The secret of being happy is accepting where you are in life and making the most out of every day.”

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Today was  our tour of Lake Como. We did the whole circuit of the lake stopping off all the way round at significant landmarks. We had longer time in Lecco and Como. We also had George Clooney’s house and the Beckhams house pointed out to us. The day could have been better, it rained all morning. And where Mussolini was shot and killed.

We went to Thomas Becket’s church, in Dervio, where he was said to have stopped on his journey to Canterbury. I lit a candle for Torin. We also went into the very beautiful Como Cathedral. Surprisingly only 1€ entrance fee….a lot cheaper than Canterbury!  The Police came to remove some homeless guys who were under the arches, while we were there.

The hotel gave us a packed lunch. The food is very good in the hotel, the packed lunches aren’t!! We fed a lot of ours to the ducks on the lake.

It was a long day but once we were back at the hotel a quick shower and then a long night! Dinner and then in the bar for the music and dancing. I don’t think Pam could decided what to drink!

Thought for the Day – “We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid or we can let them soften us and make us kinder. You always have the choice.” ~ Dalai Lama

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One of our early morning/middle of the night stops was in Lucerne………..5€ to spend a penny!! That’s inflation for you.

The drivers also told us about additional trips during our stay, like Milan, St Moritz but we have opted just for the lake cruise as we didn’t want to spend another 6 hours on the coach and we have three other trips included anyway.

We reached our hotel at 8am, the check in was so efficient. There were three other coaches arrived about the same time as us. Our keys were handed to us and within 15 minutes our cases were delivered to our room. That saves all the carrying cases at the airport!

We phoned Ollie as soon as we arrived as it is his 12th birthday today.

We went into breakfast and then back to our room and we both fell asleep!

Out for a walk in the afternoon.

Then we were in the bar chatting to some people from our coach and  it was dinner time! Back to the bar where they had music and dancing.

Thought for the Day – “Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” ~ Joshua J Marine

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A while back Mal and I said that one place we had been keen to visit was the lakes in Italy, so we found a coach holiday and booked it. We have had so much flying and waiting around airports and so decided to try a coach trip.

We took Ellie to Lou and Rhys’s and Lou drove us into Canterbury. Canterbury was a nightmare, lucky we left early as we sat in stationery traffic for so long. We eventually joined our feeder coach to Hythe. Another feeder had been caught up with heavy traffic on the M25, so we were delayed. When we did get going, it all went smoothly but we did take advice and took memory foam neck pillows and they were really good. Two drivers and when one wasn’t driving he was making us teas/coffees or soups. Also telling us the football results and quoting facts about places of interest. We had frequent “comfort breaks” often seemingly when we had just dropped off to sleep. The time went by quickly.

Thought for the Day – “Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.” ~ Mother Theresa