“Good company in the journey makes the way seem shorter” -Izaak Walton

I almost woke up on day eleven with tears in my eyes because I knew this would be our last day in country and the past week and a half seemed to go by way too fast. It never ceases to amaze me how much time I spend anxiously awaiting trips like these only to see them pass in a seemingly blink of the eye.

The day started like the previous nine days and after breakfast, Lauren and I were off to train station to head to what I now know is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Since the beginning of the trip, there has been one place in Italy that I have wanted to visit ever since I knew it existed. This location is one of the most beautiful places in the world and has been featured in countless movies and is home to George Clooney: Lake Como.

Lake Como is a body of water just north of Milan that stretches for about fifty miles or so and has three fingers, shaped like a runner. It is positioned right along the Italian Alps and is actually featured in one of my favorite movies, Casino Royale.

Lauren and I started our journey at the Milan Central train station not having any clue as to how the rail system in Italy works. We went up to the kiosk, bought our tickets and immediately went to the tourist guide to figure out what train to board (the station houses about 15 train lines at any given time). Luckily, we got on the right train five minutes before it was scheduled to depart but unluckily we were forced to sit on fold out chairs in the door compartment of one of the cars.

After an hour train ride not knowing if the train was actually going to stop at our designated stop, we were to our destination, the little town of Varenna situated about halfway up the lake. The minute we got off the train, we saw one of the most beautiful displays in our entire life.

We walked around the town for a little while just soaking in the view before we grabbed a seat at a restaurant overlooking the lake and had the most delightful lunches in my 24 years of existing.

 The pictures really don’t do it justice

After lunch, we went to the docks to buy a ticket on a boat that would take us to the city of Como at the southern most part of the lake. While the tickets were rather pricey (35 euro for both of us), we virtually saw the entire lake by boat and of course had spectacular views.

Upon arriving at Como, we came up with a game plan for our time there. First we walked along a 400m dock that protruded into the lake and took some very nice pictures.

After the dock walk, we went to the base of one of the mountains and bought tickets to take a funicular to scale the mountain and take us to the tiny city of Brunate. The ride took about 10 minutes but once on top, we were able to see a panoramic of the entire section of the lake.

We spent about an hour and half in Brunate taking in the view and just exploring before we took the funicular down and walked to the train station in Como. There, we boarded the next train back to Milan and before we knew it we were leaving the paradise that is Lake Como and preparing to head back home.

Once back in Milan, Lauren and I found a restaurant not far from the hotel where we had a wonderful meal and of course the most delightful conversation, discussing the beauty of what we saw and planning our packing. We took a long stroll back to the hotel and began packing, not wanting to leave seeing how it felt as if we had just arrived. Once finished, we met back downstairs for a nightcap and then went back to our rooms to rest for the crazy travel day we had coming.