Sunrise Walks and Como

So, due to various factors, not least of which are the fact that I was still a bit jet lagged, and sleeping accommodations at Hotel Jacob were somewhat...make-shift (though I'm totally grateful for having a free place to stay!), I couldn't sleep in the morning and went for a sunrise walk for my first morning in Milan.

I found a large church, pigeons playing in a fountain, and a community street market being set up for the day. It was a nice, quiet time to just take in the fact that I was now, indeed, walking around a strange city in Italy.





I came back and showered and got dressed because, at this point, with the sun now decidedly "up", I was not likely to sleep. Oddly enough, I was the first one up and ready to go. I know, weird. So I decided to head out and explore a little until everyone else was ready. I found a funky little park not far from Jacob's place along the tram ride to the metro station, and I sat for a while and...took a picture of a grey-and-black crow (who knew?). I then hopped back on the tram and stopped at the Duomo to go inside. That's a big building. With some nice stained glass. Which you can pretty much say about a lot of churches here. That's all I have to say about that.







When we were all up and ready to go, we met up and headed off on a 45-minute train ride to Como, a lakeside village with a lot of beautiful, narrow streets and many places to go. The duomo in the middle of Como, with the adjacent Broletto and Torre Civico and the large green dome, are the centerpiece. The lake is beautiful.







Unfortunately, we didn't get around to taking a ferry to another town across the lake, but we did take a tram up the mountain to a mountaintop town called Brunate, reminiscent of the Hollywood hills, strangely enough, but much prettier. And more authentic. And prettier. Perhaps the Hollywood hills are reminiscent of Brunate. Perhaps. And we learned that it's possible to park your expensive car within 1/2 inch of a rock wall without a scratch. Go fig.







I loved the view across the lake, with patches of village and a winding, raised highway coming out of a mountain-side tunnel. It was especially peaceful from atop the other mountain, looking across the valley. And we even had a feline friend come keep us company for a bit. I dubbed him Half 'n Half for obvious reasons.












We ate lunch at a fun little cafe back down in Como, the kind where the staff seems like just a bunch of family and friends, and they gave me a hard time for not finishing my meal after the cook slaved away. I had paella. It was tasty. And I gave my crab feet and a decorative hat. It was fun.








We explored a couple more churches, and as bad as it may sound to say so, you hit a point of sensory overload where you walk into this beautifully ornate church into which countless hours of painstaking sculpting, carving, building, frescoing, whatever have been poured, and you just say, "Yup. It's another church." I felt kinda bad, but hey, I can only take in so much of it. It's beautiful, though, to be sure.

We also walked through the middle of pick-up time at a local school. It was a slightly chaotic scene with cars parked haphazardly everywhere and kids all over the place. And I just kept thinking, "Wow, I went to school in a boxy-looking building on a huge lot. I like this whole going to school in an old stone building idea."





After a full day of walking, we were in the mood for a quiet evening, so we made some pesto pasta at Jacob's place and hung out for the evening and caught some sleep in preparation for Venice.

More to come, but I'm really just spitting these entries out, now, as I have a moment here and there.