Category Archives: Landscape

Dolomites, Holidays, Landscape, Photography, Travel - Italy, UNESCO, Veneto

Dolomiti e Una Macchina Fotografica

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“The Dolomites and a  Camera”

You may have recently read HERE about our trip to the Dolomiti (Dolomite Mountains) to visit Franco and Claudia over Easter weekend.  What I wasn’t able to fit into that post, was all the imagery we captured of the most spectacular mountain range we have ever seen.

Hilltop view – I had to trespass to get this shot
Mountain view from “Claudia’s” bridge in Canale D’ Agordo

We extended our trip in Canale D’ Agordo (Claudia’s hometown) by a day, because the three days we planned was barely enough to just scratch the surface in this region of Italy.  Claudia wanted to show us not only her town of Canale D’ Agordo, but also the surrounding towns.  We would like to now share them with you. Continue reading Dolomiti e Una Macchina Fotografica →

Family Stories, Food and Drink, Humor, Landscape, Restaurants, Sipping Espresso

Pick Your Own Lobster?? Pfffff – That’s Nothing!!

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That title will make sense soon.  Please, read on.  Unless you’re a member of PETA.  Then, please stop and choose another post!
“I’m getting out of here – I don’t want to hear about bunnies for lunch!”

You may have read HERE about when our Uncle S. and Aunt Deborah came to see us last week and we enjoyed a very nice visit with three days full of wonderful food.  Well, the meal we shared on day three was truly blog-worthy! Continue reading Pick Your Own Lobster?? Pfffff – That’s Nothing!! →

Como, Humor, Landscape, Sipping Espresso, Travel - Italy, Videos

The View Overtop Como…

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We’ll just call this the “prequel” or maybe “part one of two“.  As the title suggests, our day in Brunate should have given us spectacular views of downtown Como since it virtually sits atop the city on a mountain.  But since the fog wasn’t cooperating and decided to stick around – we didn’t get to see or photograph some of the most amazing views our lake town has to offer.  So, perhaps a better title might have been…

“Brunate – we’ll focus on the town this time and show you the views next time… the Prequel”.
Welcome to Brunate
Brunate is a small town of about 1,700 residents in the provence of Como and sits [based on my speculation, vertigo and body tempeture] at the highest altitude in the immediate area.  It is for this reason that you get the most speculator views as well as an intimate and charming old-world feel.
There are three ways to get to Brunate.  First (and my personal favorite) is by helicopter.  This is reserved exclusively for George Clooney (a “local”) and the Italian Prime Minister.  I’m hoping to get on this short list. Incidentally, there is no helicopter pad in Brunate – I just imagine if they wanted to travel to this way… they could.
Town of Brunate from the road half-way up

Continue reading The View Overtop Como… →

Humor, Landscape, Photography, Shopping, Sipping Espresso, Switzerland, Travel - Europe

The Rodeo Drive of Switzerland

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It still tickles me that when I wake up and ask Jen, “what do you want to do today” – the answer might be something like, “let’s go to Switzerland”.  What a great idea!

Our home in Lake Como, Italy is very near the Swiss-Italian border.  We have always been fond of a neighboring lake town, Lugano, Switzerland.  Since the trip is only about 30 minutes, the idea to hop over the border for lunch appealed to us quite a bit.
Lugano, Switzerland
Switzerland is a beautiful country with some of the most breathtaking landscapes you’ll see.  The most interesting thing [to us] about Switzerland is that it’s a country that in many respects, assumes the identity of its neighboring countries.  It is a landlocked country bordered by Germany, France, Italy and Austria.  The Swiss do not have their own language; each Swiss “region” instead adopts the tongue of the closest neighboring country (either German, French or Italian).  Additionally, the food served in each region follows the same trend of marrying the food of it’s neighbor-country.  However, we have found that the architecture seems to be uniquely Swiss throughout most of the country.  Despite not having a shared language or cuisine, the Swiss have found a strong sense of pride in their country and it’s ideals.
Border crossing from Italy into Switzerland
Family Stories, Food, Humor, Landscape, Photography, Restaurants, Sipping Espresso, Travel - Italy

A Culinary Odyssey of Epic Proportions!

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No, we didn’t oversell it in the title.  This meal was

LEGEN…wait for it…DARY!

Like Odysseus who fought heroically in the Trojan war and embarked on a long journey rife with cyclops, lotus-eaters, sea monsters and hostile giants; we too fought our own heroic battle of hunger and embarked on a journey rife with wrong turns, communication challenges, unpaved roads and hostile baby cries.  In the end however, it worked out better for us than Odysseus.
We decided to visit the neighboring town of  Lecco and grab a bite to eat.  When I quickly opened my browser and selected a restaurant from Trip Advisor based solely on someones comment “good food, family friendly” – we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.  We plotted our course in the GPS and set out to eat at Osteria Belvedere Montalbano, a thirty minute-minute drive.

Lecco – a lake town on the east “leg” of Lake Como
A panoramic of the lake that I stitched together – the view on our way to the restaurant

Thirty-five minutes later, we pulled up.  To a house.  This couldn’t be right.  We tried again.  Twenty minutes later we ended up in the woods.  Hmmm???  Twenty five minutes later we pulled up again.  To another house.  How many Via (Street) Montalbano’s could there be?!  Jen dug a little deeper and translated a few google posts.  She discovered that the restaurant is in fact, in the woods.  So we were right when we were in the woods???  We tried that route again and hit a dirt path that looked to be traveled only by horses.  As frustrated as you are reading this, you can imagine our displeasure.  We’d had enough… time to throw in the towel. Continue reading A Culinary Odyssey of Epic Proportions! →