Lake Como, Part 2

Danny & I love Italy. When we made a list of our planned holiday destinations for this year, different places in Italy came up on the list 4 times. We love the food, the landscape, the culture, everything.
It is such a wonderful place to vacation with children, as they are so welcoming towards little ones and really delight in them. I love to people watch, as the Italians take a lot of pride in their appearance and even casual outfits are very chic & pulled together. I often turn on the tv and leave it on, just because the language is so pleasing to my ear. I really haven't a clue what they are talking about, I just enjoy hearing it so. Italian culture centers around food, family & friends. What more could there be to life? (answer: not much, unless you ask Danny, then he would include "Aggie Football")
You've probably already realized that the title of our blog, "La Dolce Vita" is an Italian phrase meaning "the sweet life", which incorporates & focuses on those three (or four) things.


The sole thing I don't love about Italy? The inability to get a cup of coffee to-go.
Everyone knows that Italians take their coffee very seriously, it is almost an art form. There are different coffee drinks for different times of day & different moods. This is all well & good, but sometimes I just want a cup of joe to sip on in the mornings while wandering around. The older I get and the more kids I have, the more dependent I have become on caffeine in the mornings. Small children are not always conducive to sitting in a cafe and enjoying a leisurely drink. But you can not go to a cafe & order coffee to go. Last time we were in Rome, I was so desperate for my morning caffeine fix I went into a McDonald's and tried to order a coffee. I was met with a disdainful look and told "Non serviamo il caffè". No self-respecting Italian would ever drink coffee from McDonald's. Or Starbucks, for that matter. There are none of those either.


So Kate's naughty behaviour on the first day of our trip lost her gelato privileges. I am a mean mom, and still got some and then proceeded to eat it front of her.

Gee, can you tell that my legs have not seen the light of day in almost 2 years?

Lake Como is Italy's deepest lake, which of course means it is quite cold. It doesn't appear so in our pictures, but the water is turquoise blue. There were not many lidos, but rather steps leading down into the lake if you wanted to take a dip in the lake.



It was hot while we were there, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was the first time since we moved to London that I have broken a non-gym induced sweat, and I loved every minute of the hot air. Kate liked it too, and wanted to go splash in the water.
I took her socks and shoes off, and then she slowly proceeded to strip everything else off too. Danny was mortified, but I figured it is the European way and let her have her fun.


We took a boat trip down to the town of Como, which was much busier and metropolitan than the town we stayed in, Bellagio. On the way, we passed George Clooney's house, and everyone got very excited and whipped out their cameras.