Ahh! Now this is proper vacation, a lazy Sunday morning and a brunch at the outdoor plaza cafe right outside our apartment window. We thought of our family, our neighbors and our church and sweet friends at LCR. We said a Sunday blessing of thanks and praise.

We ordered three items to share, a mixed green salad, small northern Italian lasagna plate and a dish of calamari and shrimp with lightly battered zucchini strips. Delicioso! The plate of seafood was served atop a mixture of baby lettuces, fresh herbs and a particular salad green that I could not identify but became completely obsessed with until I found out its identity. It's called songino or lambs lettuce. I definitely will find some of these seeds for my garden this fall. I read that this green has been popular in central and northern Europe for centuries. . . I bet if Whole Foods doesn't have lamb's lettuce or corn salad as it is sometimes called, it will in a year or two.

I simply love finding new things and learning about them!!

We leisurely walked toward Lake Como and oh, what a day!! The piazzas and the sidewalks were crowded. This is a three-day weekend for most people here, their Labor Day Is tomorrow, May 1.

Everyone was in a lively, joyful spirit. It's so uplifting to see so many people happy and enjoying each other's company!

We had two items on our possible to-do list, take a boat ride around Lake Como or take the 1894 funicular railway to Brunate. The weather forecast calls for 100% rain tomorrow so we focused on one of these two activities for today. First we walked past the ticket office for the boat ride and just kept on walking, the queue was at least a city block long! We continued our pleasant and beautiful walk around the lake to the funicular train station and found another long queue. We got in line and people-watched for the next hour. The ride up the mountain was longer than we expected but the views were great. The 7-minute ride covered a length 3556 feet and a rise of 1627 feet. A panoramic view of Como was at our feet, and towns just over the next hill or so, like Chiasso that we just passed yesterday, could be seen in the distance. In spite of the building clouds in the sky, we could see forever. To one side of the view is the last of the Italian Alps; to the other, Italian flat lands.

On top of the mountain, we hiked toward the waterfalls, passing beautiful antique villa estates, now holiday homes or B&B's. The lives lived here in these rambling homes built into the mountainside are something certainly outside my realm of comprehension. Most were constructed in the early 1900's. What mansions they must have once been and what rare and exclusive properties they are today.

Well, the ending piece to the walk to the waterfall was blocked off so we did not see it. That's sort of the way of the Italians . . . Send you this way and that, and if the end is not in sight, so what? --- Somehow, I like it.

We rode the steep train back down to Como and decided to have a little snack - Margherita pizza, a glass of wine and more people-watching at another one of the many wonderful outdoor lakeside bistros.

The day was becoming late; we walked the edge of the lake to the long pier leading to the Life Electric, a monument to the memory of Allessandro Volta, the creator of the battery. This is a stainless steel art form that is inspired by the idea of electrical voltage between the poles of a battery. The monument is said to bring together light, wind and water. It's really something to see and like The Bean, in Chicago, it captures and reflects the changing images of people, clouds and landscapes.

I will just say this . . . Como is a prime destination, maybe one of the most enjoyable, scenic, authentic, wonderful places we have visited. The food is enough to make you immigrate. The people traffic can be dense on weekends; communicating can be challenging because not everyone speaks English, and our Italian is certainly limited. Still, this is a top place to be visited. As I've said before, I don't want to leave.