Thursday May 8th

There was a hive of activity around the villa this morning, with the electricians and the gardener all arriving at once. Our internet is still a quandary, we now know that the bill has been paid to the phone company from Eleanor and it appears that we have a phone line connected but as the phone works through the internet it seems the problem is with the internet connection. So we still wait in hope that the phone crisis will be sorted soon!!!!

As soon as all our Italian visitors left for siesta we packed our bags and started off on our planned journey to Milan and Lake Como. We had a long four hour drive ahead of us, so we took the autostrada as to not turn it into an even longer journey. After travelling at break neck speed for over two hours we pulled over to an Autogrill for a loo stop. These amazing structures span across the top of the autostrada and we had thought they were a very large restaurants, but once entering through the doors we came across an immense Italian deli with a vast amount of chocolates, candies, and snacks also large varieties of salamis, cheeses, wines and beers and not to forget the customary café. It took all our strength (especially controlling Charlie) not to buy everything insight and just have an espresso and use the toilets before continuing on our journey!

Our plan for the day was to drive to just before Milan and look for an Agristurismo to stay for the night and then drive on to Lake Como the following day. As we got close to Milan we realized that the outskirts were mainly industrial and massive and it didn’t look like the place to find a comfy farm stay, so the next decision was to drive on past Milan and look on the other side. Unfortunately the Milan traffic had other ideas and it took us two hours to just traverse Milan. Leon had to concentrate fiercely to drive in the Milan traffic and my nerves were starting to fray as it was getting later and the hope of finding an Agri was diming every second. Happily after getting through Milan and noticing the countryside appearing again, we came across a sign to an Agri and drove along heavily wooded lane and finally came upon an eye-catching large stone dwelling surrounded by attractive gardens. Charlotte and I waited in the car while Leon went to enquire if it wasn’t too late to get accommodation; nevertheless it wasn’t to be as apparently there was a large culture festival on in Lake Como and the surrounding areas that week and accommodation was scare. *#@!!! If only we had our internet we would have known before planning our trip……

An exhausted Leon had to drive us on to Lake Como and hope we could find somewhere to stay there. Needless to say we did find the last room available at an affordable hotel, only they decided to charge us $180.00 euro’s for a room in the attic up with the pigeons!!!

After checking in at around 9:00pm we went in search of some dinner and then had a nice stroll around the lake. Charlotte enjoyed watching the swans and ducks on the water’s edge, while Leon enjoyed watching the expensive cars and motorbikes roaring around the Lakes boulevard and I kept an never ending vigil on spotting the gorgeous George Clooney, he he!

While walking we heard music coming from a park on the Lake’s edge and went to explore its source and we were delighted to find a free concert going on and a happening bar set up in the park. Leon quickly bought us some liquid refreshments and we joined the Italian crowd with not a tourist in sight except us, but hey we live in this country now! Once settled we realized that the entertainment was a one man impersonator act with a talented band. Charlotte was glued to the amusing show this guy was putting on, he was a quick change artist that could sing and dance and take off numbers from the Blues Brothers, Mika, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and many more, even many female artists like Kylie Minogue, Maddonna, Britney Spears etc…. After two hours of nonstop songs and dances he finally finished his act by getting everyone dancing to some traditional Italian funky songs. Our day finished on a high note at 1:00pm in the morning…….