From Red Neck to Italian Riviera

We spent a week in Florida in January on the acclaimed 'Red Neck Riviera'..and now the Italian Riviera. It is WOW! It is a beach town. Bellagio is like an outdoor Italian mall along Lake Como. CT is like Lake Superior with warm water, tons more people, great food, and stunning beauty.

The trip had us go thru miles of tunnels. We had I94 like clean roads until we approached Genoa and the coast. Tons of switch backs and narrow roads that test the most seasoned Italian drive--the last 1.5 hours of the 4 hour drive from Varenna. You have to monitor your speed, shifting down and up, lane control, your co-pilot, and if u are in the left lane u have to watch ur rear view mirror constantly for the fast folks exceeding 100mph. It's like a real life video driving game..but real!! oh so real.

You don't really appreciate Italy and all that it offers...until u are here...we flip out at the grocery store. Even the gas convenience store has better sandwiches than most restaurants in Chicago and the Twin Cities. we flipped out there too. We had every hand and arm full of stuff! People in the store were giving us the who the f are these people when checking out?! lol It was like we were in Tomah, Wi buying everything we could find.

If u need a purse place your order. Let Tricia know. Room service on our patio outside our room tomorrow for bfast. Bueno note. ;) photo of tunnel connects Old Town w New Town so to speak. the last is a view from our patio!Read more