On June 30th, Juliana and I woke up, got our bathing suits on and headed to the train station. Juliana had friends who told her we HAD to go to Lake Como because it is absolutely beautiful! Realizing quickly that Milan was nice but not interesting enough for another FULL day of touring around, we decided to take the 1 hour train ride to Lake Como.
Lake Como is a nice lake at the base of the S
wiss Alps. I never really realized how close Milan is to Switzerland! When we were at one part of Lake Como we were literally only 5 km away from Switzerland!
Once we arrived at Lake Como, we did what we always do...walked to city center. We were hungry by this point, yet again neglecting the fact that we hadn't eaten and just anxious to get on the train and get to Como. We stop at the only grocery store we saw and bought a large French bread and cheese for about 3euro. Once we got our food, we started walking down a sidewalk along the lake. It was VERY hot and all we wanted to do was get in the water!! Apparently the water in that part of the lake is a bit contaminated so we couldn't get in the water. So we sat down and stuck our feet in as we ate our little meal.
After what seemed like hours of walking around and sitting around eating this bread, we decided to make something happen. We were wearing our bathing suits and someway or another we were getting in the water! Everyone told us to go to Bellagio because it was a stunning view and you could get in the water there. After a little research we discovered it would cost over 20euros to even get there! Being the frugal travelers that we are, we couldn't imagine paying that much just to get down there and back. After that defeat, we headed to the bus station...our handy form of public transportation. It turned out we could get to this equally pretty place called Menaggio for about 8euro roundtrip! That sounded more like our kind of traveling. We could also get in the water in Menaggio so we were sold!!
We get on a bus and head down to Menaggio. Finally, an hour later we arrive!! We walk a little ways down and finally find a little beach. We ended up having to PAY to get into the beach but at this point we were at our wits end and conceited to pay to get into the beach. Turns out they were closing in about an hour and they only knocked off 1euro from the original price!! We didn't have the energy to fight anymore so we paid and got in the water.
The view was amazing and the water was refreshing! The water was actually quite cold but we enjoyed being able to relax and swim around. Once in the water we decided we only live once soo....lets just say we put on our "European" suits in the water. :)
After a great swim and a great view, we headed to the bus stop to catch the last bus back to Como for the night. We wait for a while and finally the bus shows up 20 minutes late! We get on the bus and make the long ride back to Como. Upon arriving in Como we run to the train station to catch the train back to Milan.
Once we are on the train I look in my purse to get my phone so I can text Valentina telling her we were on our way back to Milan. Valentina was going to make us a nice Italian dinner and just wanted to know when we would be back. Well, as I look in my purse for my phone I realize it's not there. I empty EVERYTHING out and Juliana looks in her purse...its gone!! I was MORTIFIED!!! My phone was my only connection to my family, friends, America! I was in a panic and insisted on getting off at the next train station and heading back to Como.
At the next train station, Juliana and I get off and have to wait nearly 20 minutes for the train, of which we were the SOLE PASSENGERS, to head back to Como. Once we got to Como I headed to the main bus station, which to my luck was closed for the night. We go to a ton of different restaurants and hotels asking if they know a number for the main bus office but no one was very friendly or very helpful. After about an hour and a half, I go into a state of panic and insist Juliana goes back to Milan and I would stay in Como in some random hotel for the night and sort it all out in the morning. Being a good friend and a great travel companion, Juliana refused to leave me and kept helping me figure out new ideas. Finally, we decide to go to the police, they would be able to help us...right?
Well, we go to the first police station and to my surprise, it was closed?! It really wasn't THAT late and I thought Police stations weren't supposed to close?! Anyways, after that frustrating encounter with the closed police station, I spot a Best Western! I figure it's an American brand, people HAVE to speak English and be somewhat nice? Well, I was right. The nice lady pointed us to the Police Station that was open. We headed down and finally found a Police officer. Actually, I'm pretty sure he was like a receptionist police officer or something...he was a Constable? Not to sure what that means.
Once we started talking to the Constable I started to relax a little bit. Since he didn't speak pretty much any English, another detective came down and helped us out. I told him I was pretty sure I left my phone on Bus C10 from Menaggio to Como. They were all very certain someone had stolen it and I had not actually left it on the bus. That made me very nervous. We finally called Valentina from the police phone and told her what happened, she told us she knew something had to have happened because she didn't think we were the kind of girls to just not show up and not call. She ended up talking to the Constable in Italian for us so he would understand more clearly what I was saying. Finally after another hour and a half, the detective had Valentina's number and told us he had a friend that works for the buses and he would have him check for my phone in the morning. He told me that if my phone didn't turn up that I needed to go to any police station and report it missing! That all made me very nervous, but there was nothing that was going to be resolved until the morning so we said thank you and headed to the train station.
We got on the train and I was praying so hard that my phone would be found on the bus I would have it in my hands the next day. Upon arriving in Milan and to Valentina and Mauro's place, we retold the entire story to them. They to were sure that it was stolen and that I wasn't going to see my phone again. Mauro could see we were tired and hungry so he was kind enough to prepare fresh tomatoes and mozzarella with olive oil and herbs. That's actually one of my favorite little snacks so I was SUPER excited and very grateful for his generosity. We were exhausted from the long day of walking in the hot sun, swimming and then stressing over the phone, so we headed straight to bed...it was only like 3am. :/
The next morning we woke up and Valentina hadn't heard anything from the detective yet. I hoped in the shower quickly and Valentina, being the sweet host and friend that she is, called the detective to find out what the status of my lost phone was. To everyone's astonishment, they FOUND THE PHONE ON THE BUS!!!! It was shoved in between two seats! They were able to find the phone and bring it back to the police station we were at the night before. I was sooo relieved!! I didn't let myself get excited until I actually had it back in my hands though, I'm a bit of a skeptic at times I suppose.
After a quick breakfast that Valentina and Mauro got us, we headed back to Como. Once arriving there we went to the Police station where the Constable was there again! He doesn't know much English AT ALL and couldn't communicate with us so he typed what he wanted to say in his phone and had it translated to English for us. It said "phone will be here in 5 minutes." It made us smile that he went through that trouble to communicate with us, he was a very nice man...and not bad looking either.
After a few minutes, sure enough the detective was there with my phone!!! Everyone was still amazed that they would it and that it wasn't stolen!! I wasn't that amazed...Juliana and I had been praying ALL night for the phone to be found.
The detective ended up getting us some ice cream and telling us about a good place to get pasta was. As a celebration Juliana and I went and got some good pasta! To our surprise, the detective showed up at the restaurant he suggested and talked to us again. He wanted to take us for a ride around Lake Como to see some really scenic sites...like George Clooney's house. :)
After a few hours of driving around and seeing beautiful views of the lake and the mountains, we had to head back to Milan so we could catch our flight to Rome.
Milan turned out to be a very interesting leg of our trip, mainly because of the people we stayed with (who we absolutely loved!) and of course the people we met through the cell phone incident! Sorry this post is a bit long...it was a very long story, the story of how I lost my phone in Italy! :)
After the rope bridge we took the short drive up to the Giant's Causeway. The causeway is a bunch of volcanic rocks that were formed into nearly perfect hexagons. There are some that are pentagons and squares or have even more sides. I have seen tons of pictures of the Causeway and never imagined I would be sitting there so soon!!