Italy by Bus

Day 9

Friday, June 8, 2001 - Verona, Milan, Baveno - Lake Maggiore

On to the Italian Lake District

Today we drive to the Italian lakes district, with a few stops along the way.

Verona

Today, we were awakened at 06:30AM, put our bags outside the door at 06:55AM, had breakfast at 07:00AM, and were on the bus at 07:45AM.

As we drove toward Verona, we saw a truck that had lost its load on the other side of the highway. The traffic going in the other direction was backed up for miles!

As we entered Verona, we drove by the amphitheater.

When the bus stopped in Verona, we got off and followed Marco to what is called Juliet's balcony. In this courtyard there is also a statue that is supposed to be Juliet.

The story of Romeo and Juliet was placed in Verona, and was based on a real rivalry between two families. However, it is fiction, and the two main characters never existed.

After we left the courtyard, we had a little while on our own, and then joined Marco for a walking tour.

Then we walked to a place where there is a house that they claim is Romeo's house.

In the photo above, Lloyd is standing with Marco. The restored building to the left in that picture is the house that is supposed to be Romeo's. The other part of the building was more picturesque, however. It turns out that it is the Osteria al Duca. I didn't know it at the time, but it is a restaurant that several travelers have recommended in Verona.

We then walked by the river and saw some of Verona's fortifications. Also here, there was a cat caught on a ledge down at the water level by the river. There were rescue people attempting to rescue it. We left before they were able to get to it, so we do not know the outcome.

We also went by the jail with this outside the door. People could use this slot to anonymously accuse others of wrongdoing.

After a short while, we were on the bus at 10:45am.

As we left Verona, we drove by several more sights: castles, churches, a roman theater, etc.

On the Road

As we drove toward Milan, we went past Lake Garda (Lago di Garda) and saw Sirmione in the distance.
We also passed San Marino D.B. (D.B. = della battle, of the battle) There is a mausoleum commemorating a battle in 1859. This also marks the beginnings of the Red Cross.

Autogrill and Pocket Coffee

Lunch today was at the Autogrill. While I was paying for our sandwiches, I spotted some candy by the counter. It was called Pocket Coffee. It turned out to be chocolate candy with real liquid espresso inside. They were in packs of five individually wrapped pieces, and I bought one pack to try. Doris and Ken ate with us, and I gave her one of the candies, knowing that she loved her coffee, and told her it was coffee for the bus ride.
We were back on the road at 13:20PM, saw another accident on the other side of the highway, and arrived in Milan at about 14:25PM.

Milan

The bus stopped near the La Scala opera house. Anyone that wanted to could go ahead and tour it.

These are some comments from Randy about La Scala: ...it had a nice museum of the history of Italian music and the La Scala Opera House itself. I think any classical music buff would really enjoy going through it. One unique thing about the opera house itself is that the orchestra seating section was very small and that everything else was private box seating.

Across the street from La Scala is a square with a statue of Leonardo da Vinci.

Beyond the statue you can see the arch which is the opening of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II, which you have to go through to get to the Duomo. (The main church in any town or city is referred to as the "Duomo".)

We followed Marco through the galleria. He pointed out the McDonalds where there was the best chance to find a smiley room.

Duomo di Milano — La Cattedrale di Santa Maria Nascente

After going through the Duomo, which was beautiful, with large stained-glass windows, we went around back where there was an entrance to buy tickets for the elevator to get you onto the roof. This next series of photos were taken on top of the Duomo in Milan.

While we were on top of the Duomo, the batteries in my camera died. This was the only time that I did not have spare batteries with me (and it is the only time the batteries ran out). So I had to wait until we got back down on the ground, and go buy some batteries in the galleria. Then I could go out to the piazza in front of the Duomo and get a picture of the facade.

St. Charles Boromeo is buried here.

At 4:33PM we were back on the bus. On the way out of Milan, we went past the park and the Castle Sukria, one of the largest in Europe. We also went past an Alfa Romeo factory.

Italian Lakes -- Baveno

From Milan we drove to the town of Baveno in the Italian Lakes region.

At 6:00PM we arrived at the Hotel Deluxe Dino.
We travelled about 500 kilometers today -- about 330 miles.
The exit from the highway closes at 6:00PM and we just made it through before it closed.
We noticed that there was a large presence of police. We found out later from Marco that, because Ireland had just voted not to join the European Union, there were 15 heads of European countries in the area for a special meeting.

The Hotel Deluxe Dino was a beautiful hotel with a stained-glass dome in the lobby and a nice view of the lake from the lounge and the dining rooms.

The next two photos are views from our hotel window, on the side of the hotel opposite the lake. I don't think that anyone had a room with a view of the lake. Our room had two double beds. We also had a balcony that we used after dinner to have a drink of Limoncello with Jasmine and Lee.

Included Dinner

Dinner tonight was at 7:15PM. There was a choice of soup or pasta, pork or fish, with potatoes, cake or fruit, and coffee. For wine, we had Pinot Grigio.

Doris raved about the "pocket coffee" and asked me where I got it. We've got to scour the next Autogrill we go to so that we can find some more.

After dinner, we took a walk. There was not a lot to see around the hotel. The sky was overcast, with a few sprinkles here and there.

Marilyn and Beth

Commentary from Marilyn and her daughter Beth about their Best of Italy tour, September 7-20, 2001, reproduced here with their permission.

Day 9, Saturday, 15 September, 2001 - Venice to Italian Lakes

We were up and headed out about 7:30 am since we had a lot to do and see that day. We were very lucky that we were heading north since it was pouring down rain and was expected to stay like that in Venice for a while. We drove only about a half an hour into a bright and sunny day. The views today were wonderful we could see the snow covered peaks of the Alps. It was a little cooler and was a sweater or jacket day.
Our first stop was the town of Verona, we had time for a morning snack and of course a visit to Romeo and Juliet's "Balcony. This town also had a few nice "Roman ruins" to see, also the streets were paved in marble.
Our next stop was our lunch stop in the town of Milan. We had enough time for a nice lunch, a visit to the Duomo, which is another over whelming site to see or as one of our tour members said ABC (another beautiful church). We had a large group of people from the NY city area and they told us Milan reminding them of Manhattan.
Our next stop was at the border of Switzerland. The guard got on the bus and checked each persons passport, which we figured was due to the increase security procedures. We then stopped for our visit of the resort town of Lugano. The air was like something I have never smelled before and I have been all over the USA including Hawaii and Alaska. I wished I could of bottled it up. The town was quite lovely. All the locals seem to be walking dogs and they could bring them into the shops (we can't in the USA), it was neat. We even had a department store to buy Swiss products in. This was the only department store we had to shop in the whole trip. Again we had enough time for a snack, to shop and to wander around.
We then headed back across the boarder to our hotel in Baveno for the next 2 nights. We arrived around 7:00 to the Hotel Simplon. This was our best hotel of the trip. We had a 2 floor suite (1st floor was a large bathroom, hall, and living room and second floor was the bedroom and sitting room with a skylight) with a balcony with a view of the lake and the mountains. The grounds were very nice and it also had a very large outdoor pool. It was located within a short walk of the downtown area and marina. We also had use of another hotels indoor pool. Again we had an included dinner at the hotel.