May 10th
We awoke around 6am, packed, ate breakfast, and then eventually made our way up and down the town stairs to the ferry. Took the 30 minute ferry ride to Varenna and then the 10 minute walk to the train station. We waited at the train station for about 45 minutes and then caught the hour train ride back to Milan. In Milan we stayed about 20 minute walk from the station and about a 20 min walk to the city center. We only did one of those walks, you guess which one? Ok, it was the one when we didn’t have luggage to carry (and when we knew which direction to head). Checked into The Best Western which was nicer than any USA Best Western. Flat screen tv, wood floors, a nice bed, and our first bidet of the trip (that went unused).
After about an hour of getting in, utilizing the wifi internet, the reception still wasnt done with our passports or had our game tickets (yep, got tickets to the soccer game!) so we decided to go walking towards the city center. We didn’t exactly know where we were going, but I figured that eventually we would see a big duomo in the sky. We did. They had this long corridor of shops before you got to the duomo square. I saw a sportings good store and went inside in search of an AC Milan jersey, and an Inter team t-shirt for a friend. We found both! Hopefully my friend likes the shirt, or else I will keep looking. I was excited to get the jersey before the game. It was a little pricey as it was more of an authentic jersey, and not the cheap ones they sell from the generator powered push cart vendors. In the shop, we talked to two sales people who were wondering if we lived in the O.C (“Don’t Call It That”) and wanted to exchange houses with us.
We then continued on towards the Duomo where lisa gave a hello, a “how you doin” in italian. We got accosted by street salesman selling their knickknacks, and by others who were selling bird seed. When we wouldn’t buy the seed, they would throw some near us and then the birds would descend on us.
We made it to a street-side cafe, and had a lunch of pizza, and a panini. Very delicious (channeling my inner Dr. Carlander).
Made the walk back to the hotel, and picked up our soccer tickets. Face value of 43E, we paid 150E per ticket. But it would be worth every euro to me. I changed into my jersey, uploaded some pictures to the computer as backup, and then made our way to the game.
Today we went over to a neighboring town called Varenna. It was a beautiful town, but much more traffic and busyness than Bellagio We went walking to explore the town, with an ultimate desired destination of a little beach or swimming. Although I already had stuck my hand into Lake Como, I kinda wanted to actually put my legs and/or body in. Spoiler alert: I would be denied.
We stopped at a little pizzeria, and ordered their 10E lunch special of a pizza and a salad and some frizzante water. I was a little disappointed that the pizza wasn’t exactly like I remembered. However, the pizza I ate before, was from southern Italy and perhaps it was just a difference of locale. 
We soon travelled back to Bellagio, made our way to our hotel and rested. 
We took the train 40 minute’s to Lake Como. Then we caught a boat that took us slowly town to town for 2 hours before we reached Bellagio. The lake is really peaceful and beautiful.
I went to my first game of this year last night with 
The game was great. My favorite moment was when Manny turned a single into a double by just jogging to the ball really lazily. He picked up the ball and just lobbed it into 3rd base. I’m not even sure if our runner had passed 1st base yet.
As I have been thinking and preparing for my upcoming jaunt to Italy, I have been looking through old art and personal journals from previous travels. I’d like to share what I wrote on June 1st, 1997.
Yes, I know what that 
Rubico Lacryma di Moro d’ Alba ~ Marchevv, and a plate of Penne Pasticciate. Everything was very delicious other than the wine. Although I enjoyed it, I probably won’t order it again. It had too much of a strong fruity taste. The menu describes it as “Medium body with notes of dried rose petals with raspberry overtones. A hidden treasure! Like no other wine!” I agree that it was like no other wine, but not in a good way. However the caprese and the pasta were to die for. The pasta was a penne 