Day 16: September 9, 1999
Siena to Bellagio, Italy

Walendo: We left Siena with no problems and hit the freeway to Bellagio. On the way, we stopped at an AutoGrille on the highway, which is like a cafeteria and a grocery store and a gift shop all in one. I had a slice of pizza, and Ellen had a tomato and cheese panini. I bought some cheese doodle equivalents and some ice tea for the ride, plus a megapack of travel tissues, which turned out to be a good purchase when Ellen caught the bug I had and became a flegm producing machine. The trip was pretty straightforward, except that despite being ready for it, we took the wrong freeway at the split in the circle around Milan and wound up going around the long way, but it didn't turn out to be a big deal. Milan's metro area is huge.

Once we got to Lecco, we took a nice road along the lake into Bellagio. For some reason, the whole lake was hazed over, so what was probably a pretty dramatic view was diminished somewhat. The haze continued the whole time we were there. You could barely see across the lake at times.

Narrow street we drove through

At first we had trouble finding the Hotel Du Lac, so we eventually parked the car and Ellen went on a recon mission with the FRS radios. She found it and reported back that we had to go up and around. The clerk had told her of a road that I thought was too far, and I wanted to try a little road just off the parking lot that appeared to head in the right general direction. I drove. It turned into one of those little shopping streets with people walking and cars seem utterly out of place, but, emboldened by Ellen's drive through Siena, I barged my way through, parting the sea of tourists. Parking in front of the hotel was 2,000L per hour, so we found a spot on the street (that required some fancy parking footwork, which I asked Ellen to handle).

Hotel Du Lac (Walendo at left)

Ellen: The Du Lac is a lovely, old-fashioned three-star hotel along the prominade along the lake. Our room was big with a little deck looking out onto the lake (one of the few in the hotel it seemed). This was W's doing, since he requested a view of the lake -- nice going. (We've done really well with hotel rooms and views.) The front of the hotel has a deep portico with rows of chairs on which you can sit out and view the lake. When we settled in, Walendo took a nap while I researched Switzerland to see where we might go if we left a day early. We're both feeling a little overdosed on sweet Italian towns with lakes and such, and weren't sure we wanted to spend two days here.

Bellagio street

I found that we could go a slightly different way to go up into the Alps on a beautiful road and stay in a more "family oriented" resort town in the Alps called Arosa.

After W's nap, we walked around the town, I took some pictures and we checked out the little shops. It's not a very big town, two main strips with step-streets connecting them, but very pretty with lots of well-maintained buildings and flowers. We walked to a pier at the end of road at north end of peninsula and sat on the steps and looked out at the view. (W noticing a Bart Simpson sticker on the ground, I guess America is everywhere.) W went to get what looked like a purple rock and stepped just as a little wavelet reached him, getting his sneaker wet. The rock turned out to be more sienna than purple, but it was sweet anyway.

Ellen on Bellagio street

We walked back to the hotel, both feeling a little draggy. The friendly woman at the front desk told us about a boat tour the next morning that the hotel puts on for its guests. We decided to do it.

Bilacus Restaurant, dining area on balcony

After a rest, we went to dinner and found a great restaurant called Bilacus with a wonderful vine-overed outside dining area that Ellen had taken pictures of earlier. The food was great. Ellen had Spagetti Bolognese and Walendo had a tagliateli dish. It was so delicious we decided we wanted to come back the next night, but it turned out all their reservations were taken. Sigh. Meanwhile, it was a nice evening. I was feeling especially happy and connected.

On the way back to hotel, I had gelato (of course) and W had a milkshake. I also bought a purse made of that black shiney fabric stuff with lots of pockets. We went back to the hotel and continued reading The Winds Of War now, in which he's very engrossed. We also agreed that we would head to Switzerland a day early and told the hotel we'd be leaving early.

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