We boarded the bus around 8:50 and left around 9:10 due to some latecomers (not part of our group I promise)! The ride to Como was pretty spectacular I must say. The whole way we could see the snowcovered Alps out the window and it was so beautiful.
Snow-covered ALPS
The ALPS!!!
The bus ride was about an hour long and before I knew it we were rounding the corner and looking over into the most beautiful lake I have ever seen. Lake Como is Europe's 2nd deepest lake at 440 meters deep. It was pretty much crystal clear and the sun was sparkling off of it.
When we arrived at Como, we took a toilet break and then headed over to explore Como's first cathedral. It was really cold inside because our tour guide told us they don't heat the churches. Another strange thing was that when you walked in, clear in front of you was the outline of a body in a tomb in the middle of the cathedral. That would be one of the bishop's tomb's. I had never seen a real dead body on display like that before. This cathedral also had these beautiful paintings on the back wall depicting the life of Jesus from birth to the Passion. It was pretty cool to look at because the paintings are so detailed.
The Bishop's tomb
Lake Como
Inside Como's first cathedral
That's the mountain we rode the cable car up
After the cathedral, we rode the bus back to the center of the city and started the walking tour. We saw 2 more churches (went inside Como's version of the Duomo) and a little market square. Then our tour guide walked us over to the cable car entrance and we rode a cable car up the side of a huge mountain. We had no idea this was included with the tour so that was pretty exciting for all of us girls. We reached the top and looked out and it was absolutely breathtaking (I feel like I keep saying this but it's true)! We were overlooking this incredible lake surrounded by moutains and the Alps. We walked for about 20 minutes to find the panoramic viewpoint of Lake Como and then our guide left us for about 2 hours so we could grab lunch and explore the city a little bit. Here's a few pictures for ya'll.
Como Duomo
Hanging out by the Lake
Being afraid of heights, I was a little nervous...but seeing the view made me forget my fear
View after getting off the cable car
Cute villa on our way to the panoramic viewpoint
View from up top
I ate lunch with this view...oh.em.gee.
Spaghetti!!!
We ate lunch at this little cafe next to the water. I kept saying to myself "What did I do to deserve this!?" It was such a relaxing lunch just enjoying my pasta, good friends, and a beautiful view of the lake. Then, we decided to head into town to do a little shopping but we found out shops in Como have very strange hours. They open early and stay open till about noon. Then they close until about 3:00pm and stay open until 6pm. So none of the stores were open! So what did we do? We got gelato of course :) This time I think I went with Chocolate and Tiramisu...amazing of course. We went and sat in the sun for a while (oh, did I forget to mention it was sunny our entire stay in Milano!? So sunny and warm that we actually took off our jackets for once!!) and waited for the boat tour to begin.
We also had no idea the boat tour was included in the trip so that was another wonderful surprise. We boarded this cool boat (Kirsten, Monica and I sat outside up front) and were taken around the Lake and shown all these famous villas. If it would have been summer, the boat would have taken us to Bellagio and past George Clooney's villa but hey I was satisfied with seeing Gianni Versace's villa. I think we also saw the King of Saudi Arabia's villa...crazy!! I'll let you see a few more pictures to get the gist of it :)
We love our Gelato!
Can't believe I got to see this
Gianni Versace's Villa
I love this one
Kirsten and I
Villa on the rocks
Lake Como
Our day ended around 5pm when we sadly boarded the bus and started our journey back to Milan...what am I saying...we were going back to MILAN!!! When we arrived back to our little city, Kirsten, Monica and I ventured around to find some yummy dinner. We finally settled on a neat little pizzeria down a side street. It was funny though because once again, they had crazy hours at this ristorante. They didn't open until 7pm!! So we walked around for about 20 minutes until they were ready to serve us.
The waiter was really nice and really like Kirsten. He thought she was Miss America and asked for her autograph. I ordered a ham, mushroom, artichoke, mozzerella pizza (it was a much better portion size), Kirsten had a calzone (the size of her head!), and Monica had seafood pasta (it cost 15 euro which she must have read wrong on the menu ha ha ha). We all ordered a soft drink because we had been craving one all day (fanta for me and coke for them). The meal was delicious and quite lovely. It was a little spendy but since I didn't buy anything on Como, I decided to splurge a little bit.
Kirsten's Calzone
After we paid the bill and received our change (you don't tip in Italy either...they automatically add it into your check) we headed on a mission to find...GELATO. We found a little stand inside a food court that gave you 3 huge scoops inside a waffle cone for under 3 euro. We were sold. I got caramel, vanilla, and tiramisu (time # 4 and it still tasted amazing)! We ate our Gelato as we walked past the Duomo and back to our hotel. I feel so lucky to have experienced this day! It is by far my most favorite day of my study abroad experience yet. When we got back to the hotel room, it was time to clean up, read for a while and hit the hay as we wanted to wake up extra early so we could get the most out of our last day in Milano...oh and don't worry, this time I set my alarm to the right time :)
Ciao!
I may have to steal one of these pictures from you and paint it. They make me feel inspired :)
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