Lago di Como

Whew! I can't believe that this trip is already over! It seems like we arrived in Milan just yesterday!! Unfortunately our flight was late taking off in Frankfurt (big surprise with Ryan Air!) and we didn't get to Milan until after 11:00pm. Deaner was freaking out because we still had over an hour drive and he was nervous that there would not be anyone at our hotel to let us in. Thankfully, after getting the car from Hertz the nice man at the counter called our hotel and let them know that it might be close to 1:00am by the time we arrived. And thank goodness he did this because the hotel owners did not speak ANY English. I was also thanking god that our GPS arrived just in time for this trip because it would not have been easy to find our way there with out it. Driving into Lake Como we couldn't really see anything because it was so dark. After ignoring the request of the hotel owner to use "minimal" air conditioning we cranked it down to sub arctic and hit the hay. You just cannot tell an American who has been living without A.C. for 3 months NOT to use it! We set an alarm so that we wouldn't sleep the morning away and when we woke up we were pleasantly surprised to see that the above picture was the view from our little balcony! The lake was SO beautiful and we were eager to start our day! Turns out that this is what our hotel looked like.......We loved it and would definitely stay here again. It was located about 2 miles from Menaggio (one of the bigger towns on the lake) and almost directly across from Bellagio. It was pretty much the perfect location. After eating breakfast (which was included in the hotel price!) we headed to the Ferry and rode across to Bellagio. It was one of the prettiest ferry rides I have ever been on. Here are a few pictures of the ride and a few pictures of the town as we were pulling in.My cute husband enjoying the scenery!Bellagio was fantastic! I was sort of surprised that it was so small! We did some shopping on the lake front and I found some of the most beautiful sterling lemon forks here...I plan on giving a few of them for gifts but definitely keeping one for myself! The shopping was awesome and we even got a little bit of Christmas shopping done! I just loved how we walked up alleyways like this just to get to all the little shops.I am totally in love with this area! For lunch, we decided to venture to the near by town of Pescallo to find the restaurant La Pergola that my parents raved about and highly suggested we find while visiting Bellagio. I couldn't believe that we actually found it since it was about a 30 minute walk away but it was completely worth it. The walk there was beautiful and the restaurant could not have been more perfect!Deaner loved his lake Perch and we both loved the wine! Check out the views from our table!It was truly awesome! After a long hot day in the sun, I should have known that Deaner would not be able to resist this beer!After showering (again) we headed to dinner in Menaggio where we were treated to more beautiful views and delicious pizzas!That was pretty much the end of our first day! I think that I am going to have to save Day 2 for tomorrow. This post is already way too long! Tonight we are heading to Frankfurt to have dinner for our friend Daniel's birthday and to say goodbye to them after their month long vacation to Europe. I will be sad to say goodbye but the fact that I get to leave for home in 9 days does help! We are also heading to Brussels, Belgium on Thursday because Deaner has a meeting on Thursday afternoon. I have never been to Brussels and I am excited to get to scout it out. I think we will be spending a lot of time there in the upcoming months.

That is all for today! Don't forget to enter my giveaway HERE!!!!!!! I am going to draw a winner on Wednesday! You do NOT have to be a bride to participate and the lucky winner will get to choose SIX charms from a long long list of charms! Hope everyone has a Happy Monday!!