En Route to Lago Maggiore

Michael and I arrived by plane (Hungary's Wizzair) in Italy at the Bergamo airport just outside Milan. We'd never flown Wizzair before (and probably won't again, as it's economy with a capital E!), but it got us to Bergamo, where we were picked up by our Airbnb host and brought to our apartment for the night. The view from the apartment was wonderful, but it was a bit further from the picturesque "old town" than we thought.

Still, within a half-hour, we were able to reach the heart of the old town and got a table for two at a beautiful restaurant recommended by our host. The dinner started with a complimentary glass of Prosecco for each of us – not a bad welcome to Italy. The restaurant was family-run in its 3rd generation and the food was delicious and beautifully presented. Our appetizer was a mix of asparagus, grape tomatoes and sliced potatoes with half a hard-boiled egg wrapped in shaved Parmesan. Yumm!

After the meal, we made our way home. It was very hot, but with a fan going all night (This was not an air-conditioned apartment), we managed to sleep fairly well.

The next morning, we got up around 7:00 a.m. so we had lots of time to re-visit the old town before our host would take us to the train station for our trip to meet our friends in Lago Maggiore. The architecture in the town is very old and very beautiful and we enjoyed the sites as much as Michael enjoyed his pizza for breakfast.

Our trip TO the train station was direct and uneventful. If only the train trip itself had been so. There is no direct train from Bergamo to Laveno Mombello, our final destination at Lago Maggiore. We had to take 3 trains to arrive at our destination. Unfortunately, there was only 7 minutes between the first train and the second. When we got off the first train, which arrived late, we could see our second train in the station, but at a different platform. Just as we arrived at that platform, the train pulled out, so we missed it. We were incredibly fortunate to hook up with a German couple with their 5-year old boy who were going in the same direction we were and had also missed the train. They had an iPhone and could check schedules. They found a way for us to get another train and still be able to make our second connection. We got on the second train, only to discover, to our great dismay, that we were going in the wrong direction. We got off that train and had to wait for another train to get us to where we needed to be for the third train. When we got on to the second train, we discovered that we would get in to the station to catch our third train 2 minutes after the 3rd train would have left … which meant we had to wait an extra hour for the next suitable 3rd train. What helped us through this ordeal was the German couple and their son, Lorenzo, who was charming and playful and helped distract us from the frustration we might have felt only too strongly otherwise.

We finally arrived at Laveno Mombello, our destination at 5:00 p.m. and, thankfully, were able to meet our pre-arranged driver who got the email we'd sent to our VRBO host in Laveno Mombello that told of our hour-long delay. He dropped us off at the house, except we soon realized (before he'd left) that he'd gone to the wrong address. Neighbours weren't sure exactly where the house we wanted was located, but eventually we arrived at the right house. Our other friends, who were coming by car from Verona, had not yet arrived, so Michael and I were the first. The driver very kindly phoned the host, who arrived soon thereafter. We are so grateful for the attentiveness of the driver to ensure that we were at the right place and that someone would look after us.

Michael and I were very proud to have been able to understand the tour of the house that the host gave us – entirely in Italian! Those Italian classes we'd been taking for the last two months helped us more than we realized.