como, milano, brunate 8/30-31/07

we woke up to a beautiful day on thursday, with the threat of rain defying the clear skies above us.

the como of the daytime was even more beautiful than it was at night; we were anxious to explore, but we were more anxious to get rid of the tiny matchbox car of doom. so we drove to malpensa airport, our first stop in italy a few days before. we filled the car up at the last gas station before the airport. the rental clerk informed us that he was charges us a refill fee even though it was only slightly under the full line, the amount of gas the car burned to drive ten minutes from the gas station to the airport. nicki was irritated, but agreed, just to be done with the car.

finished with the rental office, we walked upstairs to the malpensa express train to milano. it was a quick 30 minute comfortable ride.

upon our arrival, we started wandering around. it was approaching lunchtime, so one of our first thoughts was of food. nicole had done some research online and had figured out the streets to visit for the best shopping. milan, after all, was one of the fashion capitals of the world, where it all began, and she was expecting to have some fun shopping. although we ended up doing some shopping, mostly i ended up snapping photos of random things i saw.

one of the first things we noticed was that it seems that everything in milano is covered in graffiti. we saw this in paris, too, and of course at home, but in milan it seemed to be everywhere. it’s sad, really, some of these buildings were hundreds of years old. for us, milano mostly seemed to be a really bad art gallery.

nicole began to doubt the status this city carried in the fashion world when she began seeing people like this woman:

then, amongst the trolleys, graffiti, clothing stores, and modern buildings, you’ll see ruins of buildings left standing from the era of the roman empire, two thousand years ago. parts of the city were amazing and exciting to see for that reason.

there’s still an amazing appeal to see that sort of history, especially for an american, who rarely sees anything man-made older than, at most, 400 years old. chicago is a rather young city, and doesn’t have anything near that old.

we stopped at a jewelry store and bought me a new watch, since i’d stopped wearing my old watch after losing weight because it didn’t fit well anymore. we paid a pretty penny for this new watch, but i like it a lot. it was my biggest single purchase in europe; nicole would buy plenty of stuff in the coming days for herself, too. hey, it was our honeymoon. that’s what you’re supposed to do! i’m wearing the watch as i type this, and i’m still just as keen on it as i was in milano, so it’s all worth it.

we stopped off at an italian restaurant, which was our first mistake. italian food was beginning to wear thin by then, because all restaurants over there serve the same things. i ordered gnocchi that had a sauce that looked and tasted exactly like campbell’s tomato soup. what, are they kidding? i’m paying what for this? and nicole ordered a pasta dish that disappointed her as well. it was full of seafood, including shrimp with legs, which pretty much put her off the meal entirely. once we were finished (by the way, the waitress was also rude at this restaurant), we ended up going to a nearby mcdonald’s so that she could eat something…and she didn’t like it either! we went to mcdonald’s in paris last christmas, just for the fun of it, and it tasted better than it did at home. in milano, it was worse. oh well. we moved on, and continued wandering.

as we wandered, we passed by a cuban restaurant, a chinese restaurant, an argentinian restaurant. they taunted our awful meals with their deliciousness. why didn’t we see them first?

we stopped at a pay phone and called our parents. we spent a little time updating them on the trip and then continued along our way.

you don’t see too many cities these days with functioning trolley systems!

we passed the big duomo of milan, which is a breathtaking piece of architecture.

nicole managed to find some shopping, and ultimately ended up picking up a few items of clothes. before long, we were ready to head back to como. time flied, and it was already almost evening. we hopped the local commuter train back to como, which happened to be leaving from the same station we arrived at earlier that morning.

the train was again brief, only about 30 minutes, and we were back in como ready to enjoy a full evening. that particular train arrived at its station, a mere few blocks from our hotel. we walked back to our hotel, taking in the romantic view.

that evening we enjoyed a wonderful meal in the hotel’s restaurant with spectacular, friendly service.

by this time, we were starting to get feedback from the tuscany pictures i’d uploaded: “more pictures of you two!” okay, okay. for the rest of the honeymoon, we began to include more and more pictures of us.

the following morning, our last day in como, we explored. the day before, we’d noticed a thing that looked like a train go up the side of one of the mountains, so we headed in that direction. a little online research before we left our room revealed that the funicolare would take us on a seven minute journey up the mountain to the small town of brunate, where visitors would be afforded a spectacular view of como (and other towns beyond the mountains) from about 715 meters above sea level. sounded perfect to us.

first thing was first, though. we wanted to eat, and were actively avoiding anything italian. after walking by a dozen italian restaurants, tucked away off the beaten path, we found ourselves a chinese restaurant. eureka! what an excellent change of pace. we were beginning to think about the cruise at this point, with all of the variety of food available on board. we gobbled our chinese food like we hadn’t eaten all week.

fully satisfied, we walked back to the funicolare (we’d located the station before locating food) just in time to catch the next ride up.

it’s bizarre. the train car is actually designed to go up the mountain; the climb is so steep, the car seems almost vertical when you’re in it. the seats are oriented so that they are right side up in relation to the earth, but they are at a crazy angle compared to the outer dimensions of the car. in order to walk up or down the train car, you have to take stairs up or down. even to board the train, you must walk up steps to meet the doorways.

the car is pulled up by gigantic cables. as we ascended the mountain, we took plenty of pictures and video. we’ll feature the videos soon.

nicki asked me if i was scared, since i don’t like heights. nah. i only don’t like heights when i’m not protected, like on a ladder. a giant train is my shell, protecting me. heights don’t bother me when i’m inside, either. i get a little crazy on a high bridge, though. or anywhere that’s outside and high and there’s a risk i might fall. i won’t fall far in a mountain village. the houses and trees will stop my fall. besides, even if i was scared, the view would’ve been worth it.

the view was truly spectacular.

if i was scared, would i stand on this ledge?

oh, what a view.

brunate was an interesting little town; it kept going up from where we were. walking the streets were an exhausting affair.

after we took the train back down, we took a picture from como of one of the buildings way up on the mountain in brunate that we had just stood in front of to overlook como. in the photo, you can barely see it.

we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping. nicole made out like a bandit, with a number of clothes, a purse, and some jewelry. i didn’t do so bad myself, with a nice pair of black leather italian sneakers. we returned to the hotel, packed for tomorrow’s train ride from como to milan, then milan to our next stop, venice. our short week in italy was over, now it was time for our second week at sea. we ate a romantic dinner at a nearby restaurant to bring a lovely end to our last night in como.

we followed dinner with a romantic walk along the lake. we finally stopped for some dessert at a bustling cafe in the town square before heading back to our room.

como is worthy of a return visit. despite the weather reports, we didn’t see a drop of rain after the night of our arrival. once again, we were lucky in that respect.

next: the port of venice, the splendour of the seas, and a lesson in croatian economics.