Saturday, August 22, 2009: About our apartments – Germany and Italy

About our apartments – Germany and Italy

Yikes, I haven’t done justice to Internet vacation homes!

Germany. Our apartment was in a little town right on the Czech border….one road in and one out. The area is considered a reasonable place for Germans to vacation. It is not the high end but a very pretty end in Germany…the Czech area was more depressed. Very Iron Curtain. Our apartment in Bayerisch Eisenstein was very German. Margaret & Martin, landlords, have 4 properties on two streets that are connected. Their house is the reception area with a shop of sorts, lounge with snacks, their office, and their home on the 2^nd floor. Our apartment was in the Haus Martin…apt. Vogel. Four apartments to the house. It had sloping ceilings, one king size but uncomfortable beds in the bedroom , one bath in a long hall, the kitchen/dining area, living room, and a balcony facing a garden. The furnishings were very ‘modern’ and simple. It was exceptionally clean. We had fantastic support from Margaret and Martin. Fantastic support. They didn’t miss a trick. Newsletters, weather, a wine stube, laundry, maps, you name it. Margaret was very easy to work with before we arrived and after we arrived. They also provide ‘starter’ groceries…brötchen, butter, milk, juice, tea, coffee, olive oil, etc. But NO ICE. You can easily walk to town and train station. The Bayerisch Wald was beautiful and if you are a mega trekker you are in business. It is a great place for short outings like Regensberg, Passau, Prague, and other places in Czech Republik. Closest grocery store was about 10 miles away. There was a very nice restaurant in town and nearby lots to see and do just locally to include a golf course. You are expected to tidy up when you leave and you wouldn’t dare break anything….all dishes, glasses, and utensils are very nice.

Italy. This apartment is in a smallish town on Lake Como…with several different types of towns along the shore. All little towns are accessible by car or by ferry. Our town, Menaggio, is considered to be the best for night life (? Not that I would know.) It has a supermarket like Brookshire Bros. and pricey like BBros. All lake towns are more or less terraced….and are on roads with many, many switchbacks that make me NUTS. Len loves them…and makes little animations like zoom, zoom, whissssssch, etc. like he is on his bike so he says. I hate that. Our Bellavista, is on probably the 5^th terrace….he says 3^rd. Hmmmm. Add to that level, each street is circuitous at best. Instead of forks in the road, you have one fork up, and two down, or something similar. Our apartment is actually pretty new, maybe 5 years old and reminds me of something on HGTV International Home Hunters. It is behind a traffic barrier but we have never seen it down; we have a locked garage; we are on the 2^nd floor; we have one bedroom with king size bed; kitchen (gas range, microwave, dorm refrigerator); living room with fire place; dining area, huge bathroom with shower and bidet, and an incredible balcony overlooking the vast lake with at least 4 villages providing sparkling night lights. No a/c and it is August. The furniture is very nice, with lots of houseplants, shutters for the climate, little drying rack, and a pool too. You cannot walk to town without risking life and limb. The booking agency, Happy House something or another have been pretty helpful. They are Italian and don’t speak great English like Margaret and Martin. But they did get us our wifi ASAP that cost 15 Euros for the week and 2 fans. Also they were pretty responsive about getting us directions and reservations. But like our Texas neighbors to the south, Italians pretty well think, “Chill out.”  Nothing provided for starters except some left over brandy! We love this apartment. Traffic is NUTS. Like the lady at Hertz said when we got here, “Black Days of Traffic.” Yes. If you don’t get the insurance, and you have a bad day, you pay. We paid and we are glad.

In conclusion. Both apartments have been nice and worth the money. Italy cost more but I think that is the location, location, location. Lake Como is more like Niagara (Not Viagra) Falls, and Bayerisch Eisenstein is more like hmmmmm, we can’t figure out what to say here. We liked both in different ways and were not disappointed in either.

Saturday, August 22, 2009: Two Different Days

Two Different Days

I couldn’t even write my blog yesterday—our trip to Milan was so long, so hot, so hard, so expensive, and so some other things. We drove to Como instead of using the ferry because it was supposed to be easier but the parking was a nightmare and ended up costing $30.00 for about 6 hours….not a lot like parking in downtown Salado!    The train was pretty grimy — or filthy, take your pick — and Good Gordon, it was hot ($15.00 for tickets)! The guidebooks are right when they said that Milan closes up in August and especially during the time of day we were there. But we did get to see the Duomo, walk through the totally closed fashion district, and eat a nice lunch. I had a tasty risotto with mushroom dish and Len had more spaghetti ($50.00…..my Coca Cola Normali was $7.50 for as Len called it, “A small shot glass!”)

By the time we made it back to Menaggio I was almost finished. If I could have had a tantrum, I would have….but it would have been more energy than I could muster. Even the trip to the silk outlet couldn’t revive my depleted energy. So I showered and went to bed….and that was just what I needed….not even a tiny glass of vino!

Today, a totally different scenario. We took the car ferry over the lake to Bellagio and had some quiet time….separately! No tiffs, just different interests beckoning. Len had the TIME OF HIS LIFE….of all things the Madonna di Ghisallo, the shrine for cyclists is in the mountains above Bellagio! Also there the triathalon of Como where the competitors rode their bikes up and down the mountains with slopes in excess of 18%. He dropped me off ‘downtown’ where I immediately became restored by visiting the Gardens of the Villa Melzi and shopped around. The gardens were nearly empty and it was blissful. I purred. Anyone who knows me knows I have to recharge my batteries with silence and time out. Mother Nature can bring me out of a dark slump….so both of us equally happy, we met for a yummy lunch….we shared two different pasta dishes….a linguini with pesto, sundried tomatoes, caramelized onions, and mozzarella. The other dish, a rigatoni with a sauce of sundried tomatoes, almonds, and goat cheese. Daaaaaang, both were delizioso!

We ferried back to our side of the lake then took a quick (?) trip to Lugano, Switzerland by way of the liquor store. Very pretty and a fair sized city. The traffic was insane though going….coming home it wasn’t bad at all. So now we are back on our balcony having bread, cheese, tomatoes, salami, and marinated artichokes. I am once again interested in having a glass of wine!

Oh the weather is absolutely gorgeous today….actually a little nippy. No fans needed tonight.

In our neighborhood, there is a lovely old facility for children who have very special needs. We learned this from a local man who was sitting outside the gate. Whenever you pass the building you hear haunting moans and screams. It tears my heart out. It is a Catholic hospital….Nuns with lovely old-fashioned, white habits in the garden. Here in this incredible setting, more beautiful than anything I have seen and anguish. I feel obscenely self-indulgent. I pray for those in care and for the caretakers.