Trip to Como...what a trip!

We left the ship around 10:00 a.m and caught a taxi to the train station. This Taxi charged us only 5.20 euro and took us by a direct route --- a refreshingly honest person!

The gangplank to the ship exited on the 3rd deck and was remarkably like that you usually have on a plane. We crossed over into a modern building and took the elevator down to the ground floor where our cabin porter left our bags and we hailed the taxi. It is warm here...I no longer need my jacket! It is hazy and the sun is shining brightly. As we left the ship our porter again commented on what fine weather we had experienced on our journey. Indeed he was right. All last night, however, there must have been fog for all night I could hear the sound of the whistle every few minutes. I don't think Kathy could hear --- her good ear was buried in the pillow.

On our last night aboard this ship, I was waxing philosophical--thinking that cruising is its own subculture. On the Royal Caribbean ship we were at a slightly lower class. The people on this ship are a bit better healed on the whole --- not rich exactly, but well healed. The amenities speak to this difference. Larger suites, better mattresses and pillows, Food that is always prepared while you wait, More specialty dinning rooms in addition to the formal seating and the Lido(general eating). The bathrooms have real towels to be used when drying your hands, the salon appears more elegant and their are saunas, and special places for the massage and acupuncture to take place. Even the shops were upscale --- their sale night featured articles for $20.00 not $10.00 as in the first cruise. There were special places where the real purchasing of fine jewelry and art took place away from the mundane shops. Last night I even had lobster and steak for dinner! Both of the ships have been exceptional in their cleaning. The crews polish everything inside and out. When the ships dock their are crews outside painting them -- I guess always trying to stay ahead of the rust.

Inside when you leave your cabin the crew makes it up in the morning and then checks throughout the day to be sure everything is quite nice -- they create intricate creatures made from the towels and they turn down our bedding and put chocolates on the pillow while we are at dinner. This is a whole different class of travel. There were also many venues for musical performance on this ship that were of greater diversity and perhaps better quality than the ones on RC, though I did not take advantage of these --- I was quite content to spend the remains of the day writing or reading.

I finished John Dean's Broken Government just before we left the ship. Interestingly enough Kathy picked up a copy of USA Today and there were all the major court decisions by this fundamentalist court -- including one that suggested you justices need not remove themselves from a decision even if they had a vested interest in it! These justices are as far to the right as the fabled Warren Court was to the left. We watched another movie of Pride and Prejudice (one of our favorite novels from our youth, but agreed that the best so far is the remake that was on last year on PBS --- It ran the full depth of the book -- though Kathy thought that some of it might have been edited out, it really did justice to the time and text that Austin's work represented.

There was a bit of excitement at the train station. While Kathy was in the pharmacy the police arrested a young man who had been wondering around looking like he was waiting for a ride. His left hand was bandaged severely and I wondered what his story was as he paced about in front of me. Suddenly two police in khaki and green uniforms appeared and forced him spread eagle against the opposing wall. Then two police in black uniforms appeared and handcuffed him. Soon their were six police surrounding him. I wondered what he had done to attract such attention, he looked no older than 16! There have been police everywhere in evidence at the hauptbanhoff---including the German Shepherd that has been patrolling with his person.....

We found the service point and had made the necessary disability arrangements so we had the lift for the train...and were quite comfortably ensconced on an ICE train once again traveling along the German countryside. While we were in Scandinavian we saw that many parts of Europe had rains and flooding and as we looked out the clouds were still heavy with moisture. I told Kathy that we would bring the good weather with us. It did rain intermittently beginning as we neared Hamburg. The further we traveled the more we found that we were in a sea of strollers and wheelchairs --- all parked here where we were sitting. Beautiful children ran up and down the aisles ---very much like American Children do--mostly fascinated with each other's presence! The landscape of this country is very much like home and feels quite natural, except of course that everyone speaks German here. In the train station in Keil we found that many of the train people spoke very little English. The Scandinavian countries on the other hand spoke very fluently.

We took our dinner in the dining car - We are back in Germany so it was Pork chops with a paprika sauce with potato dumplings. I would not do well with German cuisine as a constant! My mother's use of Red sauce is certainly clearer now that I have eaten in the land of her ancestors. Along the tracks are many little garden plots with very small houses -- I asked the waitress if people lived in the houses. She said that they did on weekends or holidays. I am not sure she understood what I was asking....but perhaps it is true that people from the city come out and live in the little well-maintained huts and tend their gardens on the weekends....maybe.....

Once we left Bonn we journeyed along side the Rhine. I remember when I took the cruise in 2003 the boat captain pointed to the train track we now rode along and scoffed because the people riding the train did not have time to appreciate the history that surrounded them. Now I am the one on the train trying to catch quick photos of the past and remembering the taste of the Rhine wine on a beautiful warm day in June of 2003. There was Lorelei, the place we boarded our boat and journeyed along the green waters. The sun is beginning to sink behind the hills and the light is wonderful. There are many stunning old churches in the little communities that lie at the foot of the castles. There were the train tunnels that were designed by the Nazis to look like castles so that the Allies would not bomb them. Clever those Germans. Germany is certainly a beautiful country, but then I have yet to visit a place that lacked beauty.

The countryside levels out a bit as we move away from the river and now and then the vineyards are interspersed with orchards and fields of various crops.
We traveled to Frankfurt where we boarded the sleeper to Lake Como. Riding the sleeper was like riding the camel.....a once in a lifetime opportunity. I was in the top berth -- a little concerned about the way the train was bouncing and moving from side to side as it moved along the tracks. The ladder to climb up was on the other side of the cabin -- and I couldn't make it go round the bend in the pole at the top -- so I was prepared to sleep in a seat. The cabin attendant came in and fixed that showing us the fine points of controlling the lights and temperature setting. It was open to the bunk below --- which meant that if I dropped something --- it would land on Kathy --- but there were net holders to keep this from happening. There was a small night light -- that once on was covered up by my pillow -- just as well, I should probably try to sleep. There were two bathrooms --- one so tiny that a person barely fit in it and one at the other end of the car that was big enough to have a small shower --- Though I felt like I needed a shower -- I decided to wait for a hotel --- I did not have shoes for in the shower and honestly am uncertain about how germ free these rooms were. I decided not to drink before retiring --- I didn't want to have to climb up and down the little ladder much. It seemed a bit flimsier than the ladder I used to paint the 18 foot ceilings at home last summer. Kathy, sensing my reticence said, "you said it wouldn't be a problem."

I climbed up. Got as comfortable as space allowed --and looked for a "seat belt"" only to discovere that they just had a net by the bed and some belts that were supposed to catch you if you fell out. I noted that one of the belts had been tied back together where it was broken -- indicating, I thought that some hapless traveler before me had probably fallen to his death in this very compartment. I just said a prayer that I would not role out of the bed --- what a story that could have made!

The night passed fitfully waking when the train bounced around more violently than usual and falling back to sleep in between. We were awakened by the train attendant at about 7:00 and moved to a cabin next to our sleeping quarters. There we were served a breakfast of liverwurst, a hard role, a croissant, with butter and grape jelly, a cup of coffee and a tin of orange juice ---- a far cry from the eggs benedict that we had with fresh squeezed orange juice on the cruise!! Just a little return to reality.

We disembarked at Milano Centrale -- found the cliente assistenze office and learned that we could not count on any help in Como --- we will be on our own for creative problem solving to get Kathy from the platform to the city and on to our hotel.

The station in Milan is old and has many mosaics and chiseled marble---the floors are covered with these mosaics maybe from the late 1800s --- It is the busiest time of the morning -- with people heading out toward work in all directions.....They are dressed very well --- but I am stunned to see that while the Italians are very careful about their own persons --- they spit their burning cigarette butts out on the floor. The station would be beautiful if it were clean....but it is sadly not.

There were huge crowds gathered around the electronic bulletin board where the platforms would be listed. Out of about 40 trains --- only two have platform listings. I remind myself that this is Italy --- not Germany where things run like clockwork --- and just settle back to wait for the assignment. Our train is finally posted and we headed to platform three --- then down the length of the train to 1st class. As I write this I am watching the attendant stock his cart like the attendants on the planes --- I hope that this guy has a cup of good strong Italian coffee and maybe a bit of cheese or fruit.....my mouth waters at the thought of it.

It was a short trip to Como -- When we got off the train --- I saw a place to cross and headed that direction. A security policeman showed up and though he spoke no English and we no Italian it was clear he would help us across. He took the chair and I carried bags ---- When we were save on the station side of the platform he indicated where we could find a taxi to our hotel (which though it is walking distance -- is down a great hill -- which I do not do well with chairs and luggage and it is difficult for Kathy to walk down a steep incline --- so we hailed a cab.

The man refused a tip -- what a rarity. We unloaded our bags at the hotel --- but it was too early to check in so we left our bags at the hotel and went on a little explore to find a place to fix Kathy's glasses which she had bent --and was afraid to try to straighten out for fear of breaking them entirely. ...and a little sidewalk pastry shop where I had a cup of real coffee --- actually I ordered it iced --- and here that meant taking the coffee, milk, sugar and shaking like a martini until cold and pouring it into a glass (no ice) -- but it was cold and was delicious.
We are back to summer and humidity! We then went back to the hotel, checked in and I showered --- what a joy! Simple things like a shower can be so wonderful in their absence! After we were refreshed we got directions to the center of the old town and the lake. The sidewalks here are cobblestone, but they are the kind that are made of brick so not so many places for the wheels to get stuck -- though there are always some waiting to humble me!

Along the way we stopped at a cafe that had it's menu posted outside at 5 Euro. Once inside we realized that it was probably a local bar/cafe. They did not give us a menu -- so Kathy ordered the spaghetti -- and I ordered something else that sounded interesting (they did not speak English). When our meal arrived mine was a penne with asparagus and hers was a spaghetti with many kinds of seafood. I could recognize, squid, octopus, shrimp, and mussels......needless to say we switched and realized that we would have to be much more careful since we didn't recognize any of the names of the things that would have signalled sea food! I did my best with the some of the more unusual looking items and managed to eat a good deal of it....but must confess.....I wondered what exactly I was eating!

We found that the patron saint of Como is Volta -- the famous Italian scientist and his statue stands one of the Piazzas. Someone with a sense of humor has placed a large tie around his neck! We found the bigliateria (the place to buy tickets for the various cruises around this lake. Kathy bought the tour on the largest of the boats that stops at many of the little villages along the shore. We boarded the ship at 2:30 for a four hour trip. The lake is very beautiful. It lies between mountains --- almost like the lakes in Tennessee which were river that were dammed up and just fill in between the mountains. These mountains are the foothills of the alps are go up almost vertically so if you visit a town you must walk up many stairs to reach the various streets which seem to be cut out of the hillsides.

In some ways this place looks like a younger Venice. The steps go down into the water where people have their transportation --- boats-- not cars. The water is clear and beautiful a green blue or blue green depending on the way the sun strikes it. The homes follow the Italian style with the big shutters and the warm colors of terracotta, pink, yellow, lavender, or blue and many have window boxes filled with geraniums or petunias. There are bougainvillea growing up the sides of the buildings, and wisteria covered walkways along the lake's edge. The sky began to fill with clouds as the afternoon progressed and we passed village after village. Some of the names were famous and clearly the rich and famous had taken up residence there. Some were just old villages that had not much improvement, but how long will that last? Everywhere there were the cranes that signal development, and in the streets of Como were real estate shops which displayed properties for millions of Euro.

Suddenly the thunder and lightening began, "should we go in?" Kathy asked. "It depends on how we might choose to die, I responded, We could go in and die in our beds or stay here to watch this glorious display on this beautiful lake." In my head I was thinking the same thing about the sleeper --- I could die falling out of bed on my way to Italy or in my bed in Nashville ---- I choose the sleeper!

We stayed slightly under the cover so that we were not drenched but could enjoy the full range of wind, rain, light, and sound! After the squall passed the sun tried to peak timidly through the clouds and occasionally it warmed the deck for a time, but most of the way back to Como the cool wind felt almost chilly. It was welcome after the heat and humidity of the day.

The ship returned us to port at a different location far around the shoreline, but using the Duomo we found our way back to the piazza from which we knew the way home. We began our search for a place to eat dinner almost immediately, but discovered that Pollo (chicken) was almost an unknown dish in these parts and fish and seafood or plain Italian cuisine was the order of the day. We also found it difficult to communicate about Kathy's allergy to peanut oil --- so we interviewed many places before we found one that claimed to be a Texas Cantina --- which had a grilled chicken breast for Kathy --- I ordered the signature pizza which arrive on long wooden platters about 18 inches long. I ordered what I thought was cheese and four meats --- but got ham and a bunch of different mushrooms, artichokes, peppers, and some other things I didn't recognize. Of course it was way to big for me --- and without Matt --- I must confess I always feel guilty when I leave food behind. Kathy also ordered a vegetable (grilled) which mostly consisted of grilled radicchio --- We thought it would have asparagus, zucchini, and several other things, but mostly it was radicchio --

Actually what we have discovered is that the menu sometimes bears little resemblance to what appears on the plate.....probably especially for foreigners who do not speak Italian --- I can hear the kitchen staff now. "We need to use up these mushrooms -- let's put them on this American's pizza -- they won't know the difference. AND of course we do not......

The walk back to our Hotel (halfway between the train station and the lake) was pleasant --- Many Italians were out walking, riding their bikes and visiting with friends and the slope of the hill made it possible for me to push Kathy successfully albeit slowly...we passed shops and monuments to important people, the local post office which had magnificent sculptures atop an edifice that was meant to look baroque. Once back at the hotel it was easy to fall into bed and drift off to sleep quickly......