Stresa Day 12

Rosalie gave Guy a wake up call when they were all about ready to meet for breakfast. He hurried down for a last quick visit before they headed out. A shuttle was taking them to the Milan airport. Their flight (Swiss Air) was taking them to Zurich then United to Washington DC, then home. Rosalie text Guy when they made it to the airport and hopefully in enough time to get Gracie some Swiss chocolates. (still a bit disappointed we didn't make it to Switzerland on the trip).

Guy and I barely made breakfast this morning as they stop serving at 10. LOL. We sleep in a bit more when there is no one to meet or no schedule to follow. After breakfast we sat out on our balcony and Guy downloaded some music and I surfed a bit. We then gathered up our dirties and headed for the laundromat. It was only about 10 minutes away by walking. When we got there, only one washing machine was open. A local girl helped us get it going. I still needed to do a small load of whites and even tho one small machine was done, it was occupied and I wasn't sure what was appropriate etiquette in an Italian laundromat. I sat there while Guy walked to the train station to get our tickets for tomorrow. As I waited, an elderly local lady was washing her comforter and spoke NO English at all. She was trying to chat up a conversation, but soon she found out I was a dumb American and knew no Italian. So she thumbed thru a magazine when she struck out with me. Bored with the selection of magazines she headed out as her washer had 20 more minutes. In about 10 minutes she returned and I think told me that I had clothes in the big one that was for bigger objects such as her comforter, I needed to use the smaller ones because they cost less (4 euros vs. 7 euros). I tried, with hand gestures and desperate facial expressions, to tell her I was dying to put my laundry in a small one, but what was in there wasn't mine. She pointed to a basket and told me to unload it. All that was in there was a small rug. Sigh... so I put the rug in the basket and loaded up the small washer. She insisted on working it for me (even tho the instructions were in English) but I gladly let her. And we now have suds in the small washer and our time at the laundromat will be a bit shorter. After I loaded the small one, the big one was done and I tried the dryer. Much easier to operate and even tho the local mama didn't insist on taking over, she was giving me signals from her chair and a thumbs up in approval when it started.

As Guy took his turn babysitting our clothes, I went to the supermarket to look for some Lysol. A germ-o-phobe by nature, I was looking for a big can of Lysol for the cruise. You always hear about that nasty virus that turns your cabin into a vomitorium for a few days. Hence the reason I always do a thorough cleaning and disinfecting before we unpack our things. But no luck. I did see one giant bottle that I could make out saying it killed 99% of bacteria, but it was enough to clean about 47 cabins. So when we go into the town for dinner we'll see if there is another supermarket.

Back at the laundromat I only had a few minutes left on the dryer and I was needing a potty break, so I folded up what was dry, loaded the small washer into the dryer and headed back to the hotel with the first load. When I got to the room (hauling laundry up several flights of stairs like a Sherpa with a really full bladder) the key didn't work. So back down to the desk and the gal said "oh yes, room with extended reservation gets new key today"...and they were already ready in our 220 slot behind the desk. Back up the stairs with our fresh smelling duds I unloaded and headed back to the laundry to go fold. Nice and easy, it only took up only a little bit of our morning and we are now set for the rest of the trip. Guy went with me back to the grocery thinking they HAD to have Lysol (or its equivalent) but alas...I was correct.

We walked around the town looking for a restaurant to have dinner at tonight and maybe a sandwich for lunch. No luck really with either, so we headed back to the hotel to eat a snack on the rooftop where we were going to hang out by the pool anyway. Then Guy remembers they stop serving at 2pm. It's 2:06. Erf. So I send him up while I trot back to the town where I saw a little sandwich shop. When I got there, the sandwiches where sitting in the front window, heat of the day, only covered by a netting to keep the flies off. No and No. So I went to the square and ordered two orders of "toast" (ham and cheese) at a restaurant and the guy didn't really speak much English, but got my sandwiches wrapped in foil, brought me a water and took my credit card. Yes and Yes. Back at the hotel we grab a couple of Coke Zeros from the bar (which comes with chips and peanuts - officially the sides to our toast) and commence with our poolside picnic. It's hot today and all our days in Stresa have been hazy. Still, this part of Italy is amazing (the scenery) and I'm soaking up every minute.

So on the trip so far, I've only used my iphone to take photos with. For someone with a photography degree, this seems like it might fall into the category of a mortal sin. However, uploads have been super fast and I already have lots of photos of all these places as we've been here before. They were quick to share with Cara so she had copies and since I have a local SIM card I have wifi and can post on Instagram and quickly upload to my Picasa account. However, on the cruise, I will crack out the point and shoot (still seeming like a sin, but not quite as big). We were trying to pack light and all my gear is not packing light. So iphone it is and it has seemed a bit more like a vacation (minus the hours of blog time).

It's 6pm and the day has gone by fast. Laundry, swimming, napping, eating, blogging, surfing...a pretty nice day so far. The Internet is sketchy up here tho. I wanted to research all the towns we are going on the cruise, but I only got Ibiza done and the connection went kaput. So that will be my reading for tonight after dinner as the blog is almost done and hardly any photos to upload. I checked in at work today via email, but my co-workers are so fabulous they can handle anything. However, break is a quiet time, so I'm not missing too much (except Grey Dawg was apparently dawgnapped). I also got an email from church and our website needed updated, so I came up to the room and luckily it could all be done from my ipad. So I did feel a little useful today.

I got to pick our dinner spot tonight, so I chose the Trattoria due Piccioni. Trip Advisor rates it #10 in Stresa. On a side street you'd normally miss, we found it with no problem because we mapped it and my Apple watch tapped me when to turn left and right. It led us right to the door. The menu was a bit limited, but still lots to choose from. So much for not eating much today. We had a starter of local cheeses and some kind of "jellies" one was some kind of caramelized onion and the other was some kind of pickled something. Both really good. And all the cheeses were excellent. Next we had our main dishes. I had risotto with crispy speck (ham) with some kind of cheese and Guy had the ravioli. Mine was GREAT and Guy got the green weenie. There must have been two kinds of ravioli on the menu and when he ordered he just said "ravioli" but someone next to us got ravioli and it looked completely different. However, this one was not good. I tried it. It wasn't nasty, but still, compared to mine it was. He took a few bites and trust me when I say this family will pretty much eat anything. He just couldn't. So I ate what I wanted of mine and we switched plates. The waitress didn't really speak much English, but I could tell by the look on her face that she was afraid I didn't like it (because it was in front of me now).  But I assured her it was no problem. We had also ordered some kind of vegetables with local warm cream cheese. She asked us if it was "to start" and we said no, "with second plate" (first plate being the cheeses). So after we finished our risotto, and it had not arrived yet, we were actually good with that because we were full and Trip Advisor said be sure to get dessert. So after they cleared our plates, they brought out more silverware. That is when we knew we'd be getting the veggie cheese dish. When it came out it was quite lovely. It was actually more like a light fluffy quiche. It was good and we managed to eat it all and then of course they had a special dessert that was tiramisu but only called biramisu as it was made with a local beer. So as Trip Advisor suggested, we ordered it. It did actually taste like beer a little (the lady fingers must have been soaked in it) but we were so full it was painful to take the last few bites. The staff was friendly and the place was super cute. Very quaint. We'd go back (just not ordering the ravioli next time).

As we entered the main square, the place was hopping! I guess it should be as it is Friday night. All the outdoor restaurants were packed and there was an old guy playing the accordion. An older patron of the restaurant he was playing in was in the street dancing and clapping to his song. She was having a good time. When in Rome! (or Stresa). We walked back to the hotel along the edge of the lake and took a terrible selfie. We really need a selfie stick, but I'm resisting this. I'd rather be stuck with bad selfies. At the hotel Guy changed a bit more money and checked us out so in the morning we'd be ready to go. I'm sad to say I didn't find Lysol in the town...so I may be stuck with just my packet of Lysol wipes I brought. I prefer hosing the room down. Looks like it will just get a wipe down.

Talked to my Mom for a long time tonight and Nero is doing fine. She house/cat sits for me and is an expert cat lover. So I know the boy is fine. Guy just saw online where the Swiss Air flight just landed in Chicago, so we are thankful the family has made it home safely. We expect a text anytime. Little did they know he has been following them online. Stalker. Apparently they missed their connecting flight in Zurich because we didn't realize they'd have to go thru passport control. So their United flight went on without them and they hopped on the next Swiss Air Flight to Chicago. Their flight to STL hs been delayed so they aren't getting home as soon as they thought. Bummer as it has already been a VERY long travel day. Hopefully they'll just stay the night with Rosalie. Anyhoo... my mom, sister and I needed to get our chatting in as we are unsure on the ship how much Internet we'll have. So mom and I hung on the line for some time tonight and I'm getting ready to call Amanda now :)

Well, that was our day and now it is time to get all our clean clothes back into our bags. Betty took a few of my purchases home with her, so that was helpful. I haven't bought much, but I've been saving my purchases for places we've not been before. I've been known to buy an extra bag to get all my stuff home. So we'll see. However, I've not been in my usual shopper mode on this trip.

So officially one final "Good Night" from Stresa. Tomorrow we'll be on the MSC Armonia floating in the Mediterranean. Sounds exciting!!