Summer 2022 – Installment 2 – July 6
Good morning. Wednesday morning. I checked out of the Hotel Bristol. I did take a look at there breakfast room and it looked pretty good. I didn’t book the room with breakfast because here I usually just have a cappuccino and brioche for breakfast. Normally that does not cost more than 3 or 4 Euro. Why pay the hotel 13 to 20 Euro for a breakfast I am not going to eat. Of course the exception is the Hotel Gallia, which probably has the best breakfast room anywhere, but you need to allow at least an hour to get your moneys worth. Being hungry helps.
I walked through the deserted taxi stand to the train station in just a few minutes. I stopped at the small bar just inside the station and had a cappuccino. I leisurely walked to the gate area and found a place to sit. I didn’t really look up at the board with the various times because I knew I had a half hour before the train would leave. Usually the only post the platform numbers ten to fifteen minutes before the departure time. By chance I looked up and there it was Platform 8. Really a half hour ahead of time?
Last night Mariagiulia sent me a email where she said the train line was closed between Colico and Sondrio. And that it wouldn’t be open until September. Apparently it has something to do with the 2026 Winter Olympics. Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo are hosting those games, but somehow some of the events will be held in Bormio. You get to Bormio on the same line as the one from Milan to Tirano, which is how you get to Sondrio. Currently, at least to my knowledge, the train does not go between Tirano and Bormio. Maybe they are extending the line for the Olympic Games??? Rome2Rio shows you have to take a bus from Tirano.
The question now is do we even go to Sondrio? That will be for Mary to decide. I got on the 8:20 train for Colico. The train was fairly full which is normal for this time of the year. I sat opposite two young women who were going to Varenna for the day. One of the young ladies was from Columbus Ohio. Her companion was from Turkey. I thought the young woman from Ohio was maybe 22 or 23. Turns out she graduated from high school in January. She had been working as an AuPair in Turkey for the last three months and now was just traveling around. She had no idea of what to do with her life, but figured a gap year as good to figure it out. It was an interesting conversation.
The two young women left the train in Varenna, along with most of the rest of the passengers. We arrived at the train station in Colico on time at 9:46. Pietro was there to greet me. We loaded the car with my suitcase and drove to Pasticceria Farris where he bought me a cappuccino and brioche. It was very good, expect I managed to spill the cappuccino on myself.
The owner of the Pasticceria had arranged to have the local music school preform outside the Pasticceria that morning. So, it was full of people to watch me spill my drink. We then proceeded up the hill to the Villa Family Colico Center on Via Villatico where Serra and Pietro had rented a house. There is a lot of construction going on. Apparently the Italian government is paying anyone and everyone for energy improvements to their homes. Installation of better doors, windows, installation, solar, etc. Amazing what a responsible government can do.
The villa is very nice and even has a small pool. We talked for a while and I managed to unpack. Then we walked now Via Giuseppe Mazzini to the Ristorante Pizzeria Per Bacco where we had lunch. They ordered sufficient food for two armies. I got a pizza with prosciutto, but could only finish half of it. We took a lot of food back to the villa. Upon our return I turned my clothing over to Pietro to wash.
I was still fighting the time change and upon our return I went upstairs and took a two hour nap. After my nap I came down and spent some time with Luisa. Then George, Pietro and I went swimming. I took the clothes out of the washer and hung them to dry. I took some of the boiled potatoes we has as contorni, aka side dishes, at lunch and fried them up for my dinner. After dinner I held Luisa for a while and then trotted off to bed. And that was the day folks. Ciao, Enrico
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