Saturday - 04th of September 2010

Charley & Anet Carlin

Change You Thinking, Change Your Life

We Arrived in Italy PDF Print E-mail
Written by Charley Carlin   
Friday, 04 June 2010 06:09

Wednesday May 19th

Anet & Charley Arrive at Lake Maggoire

We leave Atascadero for San Luis Obispo with Jess and lady Spot. The beautiful hills of SLO County are just showing a hint of gold. We wait patiently for the bus to LAX (Coast Flyer) and Anet strikes up conversation with another lady who is obliviously waiting for the same bus (the suitcase is a dead giveaway). Well the lady lives in Atascadero, and was born in Rome! I guess all roads do lead to and from Rome! The bus takes us to Goleta for a change to a bigger bus and we are off to the airport. The elevated view from a big bus gives us a good time. I recommend it! The views of the ocean are much better. Well the bus makes good time and even uses the car pool lane! Wow to the airport with no problems and no parking issues! We glide through security, with or carryon luggage (that is all we have for the 7 week trip), and we have an easy dinner, or late lunch, and board our flight. The plane is a 777, big and roomy. We settle in for a 10 hour flight. It is a full flight however everyone is just sleeping, napping, and generally very quiet. Time passes and London Heathrow appears, at last!Heathrow involves long, and I mean VERY LONG, walks to exit the first terminal and take a coach (not a bus) to the next terminal. A long walk later at the second terminal and another pass through security, and we approach our next departure gate. Anet slips in 10 minutes of shopping at Harrods while I am amused at the variety of the signs in English. The labeling of things is a bit different and I notice the emergency phone is just an SOS and the Rest Room ins a Toilet, and the Personnel is Persons. Seems the English chose shorter words. I guess the signs cost by the letter! A good thing Anet only shopped for 10 minutes, and we allowed 2 hours at Heathrow, because we walk on to out gate and the plane is boarding. Another full flight. We are off to Milan. As we exit passport control Beppe and Carolla are there to greet us. How Perfect. We walk to the car and are off on side roads of endless villages and dense forests on our way to Lake Maggiore. The lake is stunning with views to Switzerland to the north and more Italian Villages to the south. The islands in the lake have palaces on them from another time, now converted to museums and residences. More on that later. We check in to our bed and breakfast (Oleander). The grounds look like a Hawaiian Garden, and the inside is perfectly detailed (and I mean perfectly).  Once Anet figured out how to flush the toilet all was well (the button is a flat panel on the wall). The train station for Stresa is just a short distance away and we can hear the occasional click clack of the trains coming by.

Just a few blocks walk and we are on the lake shore watching a beautiful sunset, drinking Sicilian wine,  eating prosciutto, cheese, sausages, tomatoes, bread, and day 2 comes to a close (remember we did the first night in the plane).

PS Pictures are on Charley Carlin Facebook at italy lakes region 2010

 
Last Updated ( Friday, 04 June 2010 06:17 )