Northern Italy & Switzerland 2016 - Finished with Post Nights in Milan

Pre-night 1 Lake Como



Bonjourno! It’s time for La Dolce Vita! Let’s jump aboard our L’avventura to Italy (and Switzerland)! DW Kate and I are back again for the Northern Italy/Switzerland ABD with a stop in Lake Como before and Milan after the Adventure.



Our flight was uneventful from Houston to Newark to Milan. It’s been quite a while since we’ve had a trip with no airline changes or issues. It was a pleasant surprise. Well oddly enough Kate’s seat was changed going to Newark, I won’t count that. When we got on board we and two other couples played musical chairs.



We arrived into Milan in the morning and had arranged our own car to drive us to Lake Como. The only downside to doing Lake Como prior to the ABD is having to get to Lake Como and then later over to Stresa on Lake Maggiore where the ABD starts. For us it was well worth it though. The drive to Tremezzo where our hotel was took about an hour and 15min.



Tremezzo is half way up the lake across the water from Bellagio. If you imagine Lake Como like an upside down letter Y, Tremezzo and Bellagio are right in the middle of the lake where it forks. We’re staying at the Grand Hotel Tremezzo. It was gorgeous - like a 1930’s Hollywood retreat. But it wasn’t stuffy. It had that Italian relaxed charm and there were a number of families with young children around. It was charming. We checked in and our room was available. We had a beautiful room facing the lake. After we settled in we headed to their pizza pool side restaurant and had a great Parma Pizza with prosciutto.









































We arranged a boat tour of the lake after lunch through the concierge. The hotel has a boat, but it was booked at the time so they coordinated another boat to take us around for an hour. The boats are the 1930’s wooden speed boat style, similar to the water taxi’s in Venice. It was wonderful to cruise around the lake - and very relaxing.





















Afterwards it was nap time. Jet lag was too much to get us through the whole day. We slept for a couple of hours and woke up an hour and half before dinner. Enough time for a dip in the pool. They have a number of pools to choose from - their pool behind the hotel in their gardens (next to the pizza oven), the spa infinity pool, a lap pool and their main attraction their pool on Lake Como, the WOW pool (that’s Water On Water). We headed to that pool to enjoy the scenery on the lake. It was cool but odd - it’s just floating their in the lake, so when you’re walking around the pool you can feel it move up and down slightly.







Lake Como is gorgeous needless to say. Italy has some picturesque places like Cinque Terre, the Amalfi Coast… All stunning, but this may be the prettiest for me.



After our lazy bit by the pool we got dressed for dinner. It was Kate’s birthday toady so we booked a table at the hotels restaurant La Terrazza. It was candle lit and perched up high overlooking Lago di Como. It was a fine dining restaurant but you could come dressed how ever you want. Some were very casual, some guys wore sports coats. Everyone fit in fine. I brought my suit on the trip for another activity later on, so I wore my jacket, but it wasn’t necessary. The food and service were great. We split the foies gras, Kate had a truffle and leek soup which smelled awesome. I had an eggplant ravioli. For our mains Kate had Turbot fish, and I had veal. We had a great local red wine, and for dessert - Soufflé - ricotta and peach. It was all tasty.































All in all a great day on the lake. Thanks for joining us!

So in!!! Those pictures are absolutely stunning. Lake Como is high on my bucket item list. A big happy birthday to DW from me Say "hi" to George if you see him

Oh, wow! What a spectacular way to start your trip! Lake Como looks gorgeous! Happy Birthday, Kate!

Looking forward to more of your report!

Sayhello

Pre-night 2 Lake Como



Breakfast was served out on the same Terrace restaurant overlooking the lake that dinner was last night. It was an ok buffet with an amazing view.



This morning we had hired a photographer, Veronica, to take some pictures of us over at the Villa Balbianello. It’s a beautiful villa on the tip of a little peninsula jutting out into the lake. There’s been a few movie scenes filmed there including Casino Royale and Star Wars. It’s spectacular. The villa requires you to reserve a time for the photos - we chose the earliest 10a-12. There’s still a lot of tourists there, but there can only be 1 or 2 professional photographers at one given time. There’s no super easy way to get there from the hotel, so we reserved the hotel’s water taxi to take us there and back. We had a great experience there. The weather was wonderful - in the 70’s, although at the very end of the shoot it was getting pretty warm in the sun. I haven’t seen the photos yet, but I’m sure they turned out great. Here’s the ONE quick photo we had Veronica take with our phone while waiting for the taxi.







After the villa we changed clothes and the water taxi took us across the lake to Bellagio. The "taxi driver", Marcello, was a lot of fun. He insisted on me driving his boat. Marcello was the quintessential relaxed, La Dolce Vita, Italian. My normal personality in these situations is to be a bit nervous. But Marcello was kicking back without a care in the world occasionally motioning me to go faster.



















Bellagio is a quaint little town, mostly made up of shops and cafes. We had an okay lunch. We both had the fish with butter and sage. I think they forgot the butter and sage or something was lost in translation when we ordered. It was pretty tasteless. Pretty setting though.







We spent a couple of hours walking around the shops. Nothing particularly caught our eye other than some gelato. Bellagio was a nice little town built on the side of the hill so it was a lot of walking up the hill on one street and back down another street. By the time we were done, I was ready for a nap. We caught the ferry back to Tremezzo (which was 30 min late on Italian time) and rested back at the hotel.































For dinner we walked into the town of Tremezzo which was very very small. But there was a great wine bar we found on tripadvisor - Catina Follie. We had an awesome meat and cheese plate for 2 and a local red wine - Barolo. Delicious, very causal and highly recommended. The prosciutto was out of this world and all the cheeses were made in local hillside towns. We also enjoyed local honey, fresh pear preserves, and fig jam. Highly recommended.























Tomorrow after relaxing in the morning by one of the many pools at the hotel, we head over to Stresa to start our Adventure.

Yum! That is my favorite kind of diner! Love cheese and salumi! Looks like you guys are having a great time. Very fun about the photographer. You did that in Ireland, too, as I recall.

CaliforniaGirl09 said:

Yum! That is my favorite kind of diner! Love cheese and salumi! Looks like you guys are having a great time. Very fun about the photographer. You did that in Ireland, too, as I recall.

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Mine too. Meat, cheese and wine. Doesn't get any better than that. Yes we hired a photographer in Dublin too. Definitely not something we do all the time, but Lake Como seemed like the perfect place to have some pictures taken.

sayhello said:

Oh, wow! What a spectacular way to start your trip! Lake Como looks gorgeous! Happy Birthday, Kate!

Looking forward to more of your report!

Sayhello

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Thanks! Lake Como was very pretty. We actually just got back from our ABD day at Lake Como - spectacular. Really one of the prettiest places anywhere. I told her happy b-day for you Thanks

Love all of your trip reports, so looking forward to more of this one too. Gorgeous pictures, and that cheese and salumi plate looks like it was to die for! DH and I honeymooned in Italy way back when, and we spent several nights in Bellagio. Your pictures there and from the water taxi brought back great memories. I also remember the villa where you and DW had your photo shoot. Have a great time!

Your pictures are fantastic!

Did you get to David's to get some shoes?

I hope you have great weather in Zermatt. That was my favorite town of the trip. Enjoy!

Looks like you're having a wonderful time

Thanks again for taking the time out of your vacation to report and post gorgeous pictures. I'd love to do this ABD but having to drag DH from work means no time soon. So I'll just enjoy it vicariously for now!

Sounds like a fantastic start to your vacation! It looks amazing. I think I may have a hard time deciding between the Amalfi trip and this trip. One of them will definitely be the next trip I plan. Luckily, I don't think I can go wrong with either choice. Enjoy the rest of your trip and thanks for providing us with another fantastic trip report

*WDW*Groupie* said:

Your pictures are fantastic!

Did you get to David's to get some shoes?

I hope you have great weather in Zermatt. That was my favorite town of the trip. Enjoy!

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Thanks.. Heading to Zermatt tomorrow. Yes we did some damage at David's. Kate bought 1 pair. I bought a couple of casual loafers.

tgeorge said:

Sounds like a fantastic start to your vacation! It looks amazing. I think I may have a hard time deciding between the Amalfi trip and this trip. One of them will definitely be the next trip I plan. Luckily, I don't think I can go wrong with either choice. Enjoy the rest of your trip and thanks for providing us with another fantastic trip report

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I'm sure you can't go wrong either way, but this trip is incredible so far. More to come.

I will put in my two cents here....I am on this trip now with Kevin and Kate and besides the beautiful sites and wonderful meals we have all definitely bonded and have become "famiglia".

Was this a DISexclusive trip? Is there a difference in the itinerary when compared to the normal adventures?

tgeorge said:

Was this a DISexclusive trip? Is there a difference in the itinerary when compared to the normal adventures?

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It is a DIS exclusive trip organized by Kevin. No major changes that I'm aware of.

Day 1 Stresa



We woke up today still on Lake Como. Enjoyed breakfast once more and spent our final couple of hours packing and enjoying a little bit of the pool in back of the hotel. It didn’t quite have the incredible view, but arguably the better pool.































Our driver picked us up at 1pm to take us to Stresa on Lake Maggiore. On a map, it’s not too far, but the windy 1 lane road to get us out of Lake Como adds some time to the trip. In total, it took 1hr 15min but he was driving fast even by Italian standards.



As we were getting out of the car at the Regina Palace, Stresa I got a call from Summer Rose making sure we were ok, which was very sweet of her. I know we had an unusual situation getting here as I’m sure most guests had ABD transfer them from Milan. It was funny as the minute I answered and she asked about us, I walked into the hotel and she was literally on the phone a few feet off to my right. One of those situations where you’re both talking on the phone and look up to realize you’re in the same room. So we met Summer Rose and Miki our guides. Miki does all of the Italian ABDs and I met Summer Rose very briefly through a friend a couple of years ago and knew of her strong reputation as a guide. What can I say? Wonderful people, wonderful guides. ABD guides are the Top Guns of Disney cast members and Summer Rose and Miki are no exception.



The Hotel itself is lovely. It’s rather formal, but has a beautiful exterior and lobby. The rooms are ok. The beds leave a lot to be desired. The mattress is hard and the sheets/bedding are just subpar. I don’t know what to say. It’s like sleeping in a hospital bed. I wouldn’t let it sway you or discourage you it’s a pretty minor point in the grand scheme of things. In fact I’m typing this sitting in bed now. But lets face it, they suck. So do the itsy-bitsy bathrooms.



































…the view from our room out onto Lake Maggiore…







We headed into town (right next door to the hotel) for a couple of hours. @*WDW*Groupie* recommended a shoe store (David’s) to me that I wanted to find and did. I found some nice casual shoes as did Kate. We also grabbed some Gelato. It’s pretty hot here. Hotter than I anticipated, and the Gelato melted quickly. Afterwards we rested up a bit and met up for our Welcome dinner.























Dinner was rather good, surprisingly. As many of you know, I’m usually disappointed with the food at ABD’s welcome dinners, but this was actually impressive. I won’t go into the details of what was served. I’ll just say it’s probably the best food at a welcome dinner that I’ve had, and this is ABD #8 for me. In fact, I’ll briefly say the food on this trip has so far been outstanding. I think many of you who have followed my reports before know I’m sometimes very critical of ABD’s food. Often their Achilles’ heel. So far so good. More to discuss on that later.



After dinner several of us went to the Sky Bar, a roof top bar 2 hotels down from ours. It’s quite modern, but with comfortable sofas and chairs and tables that look out beyond the glass walls to Stresa lit up at night and Lake Maggiore below. Most of the group had Aperol Spritzes as was recommended to us. We had a great time just hanging out and enjoying each other’s company.

Thank you so much for doing this report. I am really enjoying your pictures!

Thank you also for the report on the beds. I know a minor point but as someone with back issues it can be a big deal especially when the accommodations are supposed to be luxury.

I hope you have a great rest of your trip!!

Thanks to Italy the Aperol Spritz is now my go to drink on a hot day and I think fondly of Italy with every sip.
Thanks for deciding to do the report for us.

Sounds fantastic! Cant wait for your next post! Following along!