Our time in Brunate

After Cindy holding on to the “Oh sh*t” handle the whole way up the mountain while John enjoyed the adventure of driving on some real Italian streets, we found our hotel, the Locanda Milano, (with no address) and parked precariously close to the street to go inside and check in. When we got inside, the man there told us that he had overbooked his hotel, but his colleague up the street had agreed to let us stay there for the same rate even though his rates are higher. He would show us where the other hotel is (further up the mountain) by driving ahead of us on his Vespa. Yep, so now we have to get back in the car and get back on the scary road and follow a tiny little Vespa driven by a native Italian as we follow in our Volvo SUV. Good times.

We get to the Vista Lago hotel and this super cute young Italian girl is at the front desk. She and the guy from our hotel talk in Italian for a minute and then I understand him ask her if she speaks English. She says, “Of course!” with a big smile. I like this girl.

She shows us to our rooms (we have 2) which are very small, but probably about what we expected and nice enough for one night. It’s hot and we confirm that there is no A/C. She tells us it will cool off in the evening. We unload our luggage and set off to explore.

Our view from the room at Vista Lago:

This place is hard to describe – everything is small the kids said, and they’re right. There aren’t really sidewalks and streets – it all looks the same and blends together.

Where we do see cars parked, I can’t imagine how in the world they got where they are, much less how they’re going to get out! There are souvenir tables in random places with strange items to buy, and of course, Katherine wanted everything. We found a restaurant that looked promising, if expensive, but wanted to explore our options. We walked down, down, down, and found a pizzeria that looked good, but the only place to sit was in the direct sun (the mountain we were on faced west and it was late afternoon). So, we decided to go back up to the other restaurant that overlooked the lake. Once there, they tell us that they only have one table available for the evening as they’re booked up. It’s inside, and they don’t open until 7:00. It’s about 6:30. The kids are thirsty, so we head back up to the hotel to get some water and wait for dinner.

When we’re there, John has a great idea to try to go back to the Pizzeria and get something to-go, and bring it back to the hotel to eat on a beautiful (shaded) terrace. Brilliant! So we go back down, down, down to the pizzeria, which is now CLOSED! What??? It’s 7:00 on a Saturday night in a tourist town and you’re closed??? We were in shock. So, we head back up to the restaurant for our 7:00 reservation. We walked in and the waitresses are visibly frustrated with us. I don’t know why…but they sat us at a table and disappeared. We sat there for probably 5 minutes and were already sweating. It was a sauna in there. John’s had it by this point, so we all get up and leave. We’ll eat Pringles and Coke before we eat in this heater! As we walked out, the meanest of the waitresses actually rolled her eyes at me!

We go back to the Vista Lago and find our friend Anna. She too is perplexed as to why the pizzeria is closed. She takes pity on us and tells us that they don’t really make dinner in their hotel, but they will if guests ask for it. So, we did. Then we asked her (as new Germans) if they had beer. Yep, Moretti. And it’s only 2 EU per bottle. We headed up to the terrace and told her to keep ‘em coming.

It took forever to get our pasta, but it was pretty good and we were alone on the terrace so the kids weren't being constantly told to be quiet. I think we were all happy! The sun started to set, the terrace got cooler. We opened the windows in our rooms to let in the cooler air, and finally, all is well!! Gratzi to Anna!!

To sleep, we did need the windows to stay open and we were right on the street. John said he could sleep some, but I didn’t get any sleep at all until after 2AM when the constant stream of cars and pedestrians finally stopped. The kids said they slept fine. Promptly at 7AM the bells in the church tower next door started ringing. Y’all. Italy is *not* my favorite place.

Morning view from our room’s terrace:

We went downstairs about 8:30 for breakfast and it was decent for adults, nothing really kid-friendly. Katherine managed, but David just didn't eat. I had “Coffee Americano” as he called it. They aren't messing around with their coffee. It was *black* and it was *stout*. John had espresso.

Finally around 9:30 we left the hotel in Brunate and headed down the mountain.

Then we twisted and turned through the city of Como looking for 1) a bank and 2) a gas station with a store for snacks for the drive. We found the gas station, but not the bank. The kids have snacks, 3 (somewhat charged) devices each, pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals. We have gas, happy kids, and we’re ready to hit the road to Nice, France via the outskirts of Milan and then along the coast of the Mediterranean.