September 13th

Last night we collected a very tired Matt from Milan Malpensa Airport. It's good to have him with us. After familiarising our selves with the area yesterday, today we went a little further afield. We decided to visit Villa del Balbianello as our one palazzo visit. From where we are staying, more of that later, we can see the villa only about 500m to a km away, yet to drive it took about 11/2 hours. We had to drive back down to Como and then up the other side of the lake. That side is the richer side with larger houses and wider roads. The Villa was built in the last years of the 17th century and has appeared in many movies. Star Wars, Casino Royale and A month by the Lake are just a few. The last owner before the National Trust was Guido Monzino who was an explorer and dedicated collector. He has travelled to the North Pole and climbed Mt Everest. The villa is full of very rare and precious antiques, collectors pieces and ancient artifacts. Most of these are not behind glass but right in front of your eyes, its amazing to see such old or valuable pieces up close.

On the way home we stopped in Como for lunch and the supermarket. Gary, Matt and Alex hired a canoe from the boat hire place next to us and went for a paddle on the lake. Then we drove up to Bellagio to watch the sun set and have a gelati.

Our apartment is right on the Lake Como and only 10 minutes from Bellagio. There is a little lawn area out the back that we can sit on and have dinner or just watch the world go by. Today a helicopter flew past about a metre off the water dived into the hills and then flew back past. Really cool. The driveway is sooo steep that Gary has trouble backing down it. The road up to the apartment is so narrow that in some places two cars can't pass each other, I white knuckle it all the way up and down.

Tomorrow we are planning to catch the car ferry over to the other side, quicker than driving, and then go to Luganoin Switzerland.

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