Friday, June 15, 2007

Day 12 - Como & Bellagio

Today was our first day without a wakeup call and almost everyone took advantage by sleeping in. We had free time to enjoy Como on our own until 2:15 when we met back at the hotel to walk to the lake for our private boat ride to Bellagio. In the morning, some of us went shopping, some just walked around town, and some took advantage of the free bikes at the hotel to ride around Como.

The weather was cloudy and rainy for most of the day and it started to pour just at the time we were leaving to walk to the boat. We stopped about halfway there to figure out what we were going to do under a covering to try to stay dry and see if the storm passed. Jill Mansfield decided to take a lap around a small flower bed in the rain and soon after about 10 of the girls were out in the rain, jumping in puddles and splashing each other. It was truly a site to see as they enjoyed some of the simple things in life.

The rain finally stopped and we continued down to the lake, where we boarded a small boat and drove for about and hour and a half. Elena, who lives in Como and is also a local guide in Como, pointed out several villas including the Versace villa, the George Clooney villa, the villa that was used in Ocean's 12, and the villa used for the wedding scene in one of the Star Wars movies. We made it to Bellagio at about 4:15 and only had until about 5:00 before we had to meet at the dock to go back to Como, which took just about 40 minutes.

Elena had arranged for Stefano to pick us up, but by the time we got back the rain had subsided and almost everyone decided to walk back to the hotel. Dinner at the hotel consisted of salad, lasagna, and pork with an apricot tart for dessert. But the real treat was Phil taking everyone out for gelato about a 5 minute walk from the hotel.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Italy and the last game. We leave for Milan at 9:00 and will return to the hotel in the afternoon before heading to our final game. We play a 45 minute game at 5:00 and then if we win, we play another 45 minutes at 7:00. If we lose, gametime is at 6:00. Afterwards, we are going to a local pizza place for a farewell dinner.

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