Day 17

Our last day. Breakfast at the La Palma was nice. We had a table by the open doors and it is going to be a hot but beautiful day. We fueled up for our big day at the market in Intra, just past the town of Verbania. We heard it was big, but we didn't know what we were getting into. We decided to drive because that was only 20 minutes and the boat ride was going to be 45, plus the times the boat left were not that good for us. It was a beautiful day to drive around the lake and we were glad we had the car option. We packed up the room and loaded the car with our bags. We left our "gift bag" at the hotel, because it has chocolate in it and we didn't want it to melt while we were at the market, so they held it for us behind the desk. We'll be heading back to Stresa for lunch anyway, so this worked out nicely. We hopped in the car and took the 20 minute drive to Intra. When we arrived at the market, we couldn't find a place to park. It was insane! So we followed parking signs to a multi-leveled parking lot that went underground. We had to walk a few blocks to the market, but no big deal. EVERYONE was going to the market and we just followed the crowd in. When we arrived, the amount of vendors was overwhelming. Guy would tell me a meeting spot and then give me about 30 minutes to cover that area. While I was shopping, he was scouting the next spot for me to shop. There were shoes, belts, leather coats (too expensive), clothes, linens, cheeses, breads, fresh fish, pastries, rotisserie chicken, local foods, etc. Lots of places selling the same things when it came to the shoes, clothes, and linens, but the food vendors were pretty unique. I bought a two blouses and they bartered with me a little, but not too much. So after about two hours we were sweating from the hot day and were visually exhausted. :) What a huge market. I read later on the Internet that it is such a huge market that people from Locarno, Switzerland come down to shop. :) I took several photos to document the day.

We went back to the La Palma and put our remaining bag in the car and headed to the town for lunch. We wanted to eat outside one last time and circled around the square looking at the menus to decide. I wanted to have gnocchi again, so we chose the La Piazzetta. The server was a very nice young man. We ordered bruschetta with mozzarella and tomatoes. I ordered 4 cheese gnocchi and Guy ordered the pumpkin ravioli. Guy's ravioli had some weird bark looking stuff on the top. He got a piece in his mouth and after chomping down on it, it was part of a cinnamon stick. He wasn't super hungry today, so I pretty much cleaned up both of the plates. I can't really say who won...because the cheese sauce on the gnocchi was rich and delicious, but the pumpkin ravioli were very different and sweet. I liked them both equally. After lunch, Guy treated me to my last gelato and I got chocolate, coconut, and caramel. He ordered fragola (strawberry). We walked along the lake to watch the boats taking the people to Isola Bella and stopped in the shade to finish our dessert. I'm happy to report that Stresa has lifted its ban on young people as today when we walked around the town we FINALLY saw nearly as many younger people as old people. After we decided that at some point we were going to have to drive away from Stresa, we headed for the car. I forgot to go back up to the top of the hotel and do a panoramic photo from the top. I did one last night, but wanted to during the day. :( I'll catch it next time.

Bidding farewell to beautiful Stresa, we headed for Arona just to check it out as we drove by. There are TONS of motorcycles on the road today and they make their own lanes...usually just down the middle of the road between the cars. When we found a place to park, it was filled with motorcyclists who were taking a break in the shade and had their leathers pealed down to their knees. We tried to find a place in some shade (to protect the chocolate) but figured we wouldn't be that long. We found the main shopping street and it was really cute, but the shops were all fancy shops. Nothing we really had much interest in, so when we headed back toward the car, we walked along the tree-lined waterfront. Not as beautiful on the far south end of Lake Maggiore as the big mountains are no longer in view, but there was a huge castle across the way that looks like an interesting place to visit next time. From Arona, we let Ms. Garmin direct us to the Sheraton at the airport. The hotel is relatively new, so the Garmin didn't have directions to it exactly, but Guy thought it was connected to the airport. Connected indeed. It is at terminal 1, which is where we'll take off from in the morning. So Guy checked us in and we took our bags up. We came right back down to turn the car in as we left it out front. One quick roundabout to take us back to the other end of terminal 1 and that is where we turned the car in. This worked out PERFECTLY! After turning in the car we had about a 5 minute walk back to the hotel and on the way we scouted out where our gate will be in the morning so we'll know right where to go. Easy-Easy walk from the Sheraton to the gate. Perfecto! So we headed back to the room and Guy was craving a cheeseburger. The cost of a cheeseburger at the Sheraton is $20 and add $4 more dollars for cheese. Nah...we are going to walk around in the airport and grab a bite for supper. We'll have a cheeseburger in New York.

Back from our lovely dinner at the airport I thought I'd give you a visual:

I'm sure you recognize this global delicacy that Guy just enjoyed. I, however, am waiting for the USA before I eat a cheeseburger.:) I guess this means we have began to focus on home.

What can I say...this has been a glorious trip and there are not enough words to describe it properly. Guy and I know how blessed we are to have the opportunity to travel as much as we do. We are thankful to God for our safe and healthy journey. We'll be back to Italy soon I'm sure, but it is hard leaving such a beautiful place. It is about 9pm and we'll set a 6am alarm to start the process to get home. If we don't sleep well, we'll have plenty of time on the plane tomorrow. Should be in New York around 1:30pm on Sunday. And speaking of Sunday, Happy Father's Day to the two best Dads on this planet. Here is an online hug coming your way and we'll give you one in person shortly. Goodnight, peace, and love to you all.

Day 16

Today was a lazy day. We went down for breakfast around 9:30 and it was good. They had eggs and a variety of meats, cheese, breads, sweet rolls, cereals, fruit and yogurts. Plenty to choose from. We looked around for Paul so he could scramble us some eggs, but he wasn't there. :( So we filled our bellies and went back to the room to plan our day. Part of planning our day included an after breakfast nap (hey...it's vacation). So about 11:30 we walked into town and shopped a bit. I had a gelato to hold me until lunch, chocolate and mixed nut, which was new for me and very delicious. Ok...so here comes the confession, we had to buy a bag to get all our stuff home. ;) The new bag is a duffle bag we can just put all our dirty clothes in and toss them on the plane without worries. One of our carry-on bags is filled with purchases and my glass projects. This way we can keep it with us so there is no risk of it getting lost. We may have to gate check it in NY, but that is ok. Also today, Stresa had its weekly market. We walked around and looked at all the stuff. Guy stayed true to the Italians and bought a belt from an Italian vendor. I on the otherhand was weak and bought a blouse from an oriental guy. The tag on the blouse says "made in Italy", so does that count? Tomorrow our plans are to take a boat to another town across the lake that is supposed to have a huge market. That should be fun. At this point, all purchases will need to be pretty small in size to get them home. lol.

After I packed up all the dirties and purchases, I double checked all the bags to make sure I wasn't leaving any little goodie behind. Really, we haven't bought THAT MUCH stuff, and most items are small, but one item is kinda big so a pretty good sized duffle was necessary. Packing everything up was just a reality check that vacation was almost over *insert very large sad face here*. So after getting our things somewhat organized, we went up to the hotel's rooftop about 2pm for a sandwich. It was nothing fancy, just a ham and cheese on toast, but it was good and all we needed to hold us until dinner. Guy and I are betting on how much weight we've gained and he tried to count how many gelatos I've had. He thinks 30, but that is crazy (maybe more like 25 - ha ha) After lunch, Guy went to the room to take a quick nap (not feeling 100% today) and I walked to the grocery store to buy some of my favorite cookies to bring home. Seriously they are just a sandwich cookie, Oreo-ish which is nothing fancy, but I just love them and can't get them at home. I also found a lovely store that had some very unique scarves, so I picked up a few (more things to shove into the suitcase).

Currently we are back on the rooftop to enjoy what scenery we can see. All day it has been pretty warm and humid, but the sun has stayed mostly behind the clouds, but this means the haze in the distance is really thick. We know there are lots of really big mountains back there, we just can't see them. Probably our worst photo op day, but I have pics of this area already, so not too worried. I'm down to just a few shirts, which are long sleeves, so tomorrow may get a bit toasty. We'll see. The temperature on the trip has been very unpredictable from one day to the next. But we've been very lucky. The rainiest days have been travel days. - Be back in a few hours to report on our dinner. :)

We took a slow stroll to dinner tonight because it was a beautiful evening. Just cool enough that you wanted to make sure you had some sort of sweater in hand. We wanted to eat outside and we decided on the Pizzeria Mamma Mia. When we arrived the outside was full, but the doors were open to the inside and they had a table close to the doorway. The staff was really friendly and our food came out quickly. Guy started with minestrone soup and when he was finished he had to go outside and cool off a bit as we were inside enough to feel the heat of the kitchen. I ordered veal lasagna and it was just ok. The cheese, meat, and noodles were all sort of one big square of inseparable goo. Guy ordered perch, pan fried with sage and butter. He enjoyed it. I decided tonight, since it is our last night in Stresa, to have tiramisu instead of gelato. I'm not a coffee drinker, but how can I not have this traditional dessert at least once. (Although we did have a version of tiramisu at the Arabella tho, which was raspberry and tastier than tonights I must say). After dinner we strolled back slowly hoping the slower we walked the better the chance of making the vacation last longer (not sure that it is working). So we went got back to the hotel, we went to the rooftop to get one last look at the beauty of the lake at night. It was about 9:30 and not completely dark, so I got a few shots that I think will be nice. Here at the La Palma I can only get free internet on one device, so it had to be my ipad, but that keeps me from being able to Instagram or send photos from my iphone to my ipad. That is ok as my Nikon has a wireless card in it and I could upload a few from it as well.

Well, goodnight from Stresa, Italy. It is a beautiful town and I know it won't be too long before we return. It was the perfect place to wind down this fantastic vacation and take a few days to relax and breathe. Mission accomplished.

Day 15

Sigh, what can I say about today...it started off very sad, but ended up glorious. We slept in just a bit today as we didn't have to be at Miriam's house until 10, so Paul fixed us breakfast at 9. I had a bowl of cereal and Guy had eggs over easy with bacon. I also had some bread with some of Arabella's homemade jam on it. Afterwards, we packed up our car and Paul took us up to Miriam's house in his car. We all checked out my pieces from the kiln (one still pretty hot) and we went down to Miriam's main studio. It's hard to explain two things, one being her beautiful piece she has been working on for the past year, and the other is how much glass she has. She has every color of frit Bullseye makes, plus she sifts her frit to get various sizes. Amazing. It will be quite an investment to purchase a good variety of colors, but it is something that doesn't expire. She has some frit that is 15 years old. So I'll be thinking about what it will take for me to get started. - As we left Miriam's, I gave her a long tight hug and blew her a kiss as I walked away. If I were a young glass student, I'd do everything I could to do an internship with her. She is a treasure and I'm sad I only had 3 days with her. Good news is Guy is all for me taking another class with her in the future. The Arabella was perfect for us and especially him. The pool, great food, and Paul made for an excellent combination.

As we bit farewell to Paul with handshakes and hugs, we set out with a promise of keeping in touch. He gave us directions to Stresa and we headed out of his gate feeling lucky to have just met such nice people in Mornico Losana. The drive to Stresa was easy. I needed to make a potty pitstop and we waited for the next Autogrille (they crack us up). This one was the fanciest one we've ever been in. I took a picture but it will not do the place justice. The bathrooms had fancy glass doors in each stall and it had a pizzeria, they'd cook you a steak (which you could choose) or a fresh tuna steak. They had cooked goodies such as lasagnas and eggplant, and had a large selection of fresh fruits and of course dried pastas of all kinds and cookies galore. Of course I had to buy SOMETHING, so I tried a new cookie which tastes something like a fig newton only better. Not all of the Autogrilles are this nice.

We made our way into Stresa and easily found the hotel La Palma. When we arrived at 1pm our room was ready, so we carried our stuff up and went out onto our balcony for a quick look. The 5th floor makes for a wonderful view of the lake. We grabbed some cash and headed to the boat for a ride out to Isola Bella for lunch and some quick shopping. We decided to eat at the restaurant by the docks as we have been there before and knew the food was decent and the view was great. We were starving, so we headed straight for it when we got off the boat. We shared a caprese salad and a veggie pizza (which consisted of about 4 very thin pieces of zucchini ;), but it tasted good and I left Guy with the bill as I headed out for gelato and shopping. There are not many stores and they have "trapped tourist" prices, but I did manage to buy a few trinkets. We were on the island for less than two hours, but we can go back tomorrow if we think we've missed something.

There may be a chance of rain tomorrow, so we came back to the room and changed into our swimmies. The rooftop, since we were here last, has been transformed into a FABULOUS location for resort-like sun worshiping and an observation spot to watch the little boats taxi people to nearby towns. It now has an infinity jacuzzi pool with underwater seats, a full bar, lounge chairs (doubles, singles, and cabana types with the curtains) plus an area you can sit under umbrellas and have a snack or a fancy drink with an umbrella in it. I'm in a lounge chair as I type. I have a spectacular view of the lake off course, with Isola Bella just ahead, and the hazy mountains sitting off in the distance begging to be photographed. We are going to enjoy our afternoon and just relax. We'll watch the sun go down behind the mountains and consider our strategy for dinner. I'm sure it will be a walk into town and a choice on the fly - we'll let our noses choose a spot when they smell something delicious.

So we freshened up and headed out for dinner about 8:30pm. We walked into town and there are probably about 5 or 6 restaurants we've eaten at in the past. We chose the Ristorante Lo Stornello because the menu had beet pasta with beets in a sweet sauce. I was intrigued. But when it came I was expecting it to be purple, when indeed it must have been the green stems of the beets or the restaurant didn't have the right translation up. I was a bit disappointed and Guy asked me how it tasted. I said "like grass". But the more I ate the better it got. Guy however ordered the risotto and it had some kind of smokey cheese in and on it. *Ding Ding* we have a winner. His fish just barely rated a B he said, and my zucchini flan was just ok. Different, which is what I was looking for, so all is good. I saved room for gelato of course and I tried chocolate, coconut and panna cotta. Yum! Guy had chocolate chip. We listened to some music for a bit, but it was boring, so we headed back to the hotel. There must have been a gigantic tour of elderly stop in Stresa today. I haven't seen so many old people since we took the Uniworld cruise on the Rhine. You know I love old people, so I'm not being mean...but if I owned a shop in Stresa that sold canes I would be RICH! After dinner and gelato we went up to the top of the hotel roof just to look out on all the twinkling lights of the surrounding towns on the lake. Beautiful.

Day 14

Today's post will be short and sweet. The above photo is my first (and favorite) project I made with Miriam at her studio. I have a blue monotone version and a more clear version that is in the kiln as I write. I can't even begin to soak in/retain everything I've learned in the last three days. Miriam is an absolutely amazing artist. She has work in a gallery in Michigan and has done shows all around the world. I can't believe she even spent her time working with me, but part of her passion is teaching. This makes me a lucky girl. Tomorrow morning at 10am I'll pick up my last two pieces and say goodbye. I'll post a photo of us tomorrow, but at the end of today we were both exhausted and figured we'd make better photo subjects tomorrow morning when we were a bit more "fresh". :) Miriam's touch was on all my pieces, of course, as she helped me with each one. Plus she did the firing in the evenings. She explained the temperatures and times, but like Guy said, it is like me stirring up a cake mix and then handing it over to someone else to do the baking, which is a major part of the process. So when I get home, I'll have to figure out how to get the same results in my kiln. Glass is like a person. It has a personality. Sometimes it will play nicely with others and sometimes it will not. I have a good foundation of information now. I'll just need to put it into practice.

Guy spent his day by the pool (it was hot) and finished up a book he was reading. I think the past few days have been just about as enjoyable for him as they were for me, just in a different way. He has been extremely patient with me taking the class. That is nice. - So when I got home (nearly 6:30), I freshened up for dinner and we ate outside tonight. Paul made us gnocchi with marinara, filet mignon, zucchini, and potatoes baked in the oven with cream. De-lish! Dessert was an extra special treat...Crepe Suzette, mine with a side of vanilla ice cream. It was amazing as was the rest of the meal. Guy wants to move in permanently. Another guest at the Villa Arabella ate with us tonight and they are all still out there visiting as I type. Solving the world's problems I think.

Tomorrow morning I pick up my two remaining pieces from Miriam's at 10am. She wants to meet Guy, so he is going to go with me. After the pickup we are going to head to Stresa for our last two days. I'm hoping the weather will be beautiful. Tomorrow I want to go to the roof of the hotel and lay in the sun after we arrive, just to unwind after my past three very busy days. It think it is only about 2 hours from here, so we'll be having lunch there for sure. Friday I will have to shop around a bit and pick up a few things I'm sure I'll "need". We'll take a boat ride to another town or at least to Isola Bella (tiny island in the middle of the lake just off Stresa). This is the place that is the cover photo of my Facebook page, so you know how beautiful it is. Saturday night we'll stay at a hotel by the airport, but we plan on spending most of the day and evening in Stresa since it doesn't get dark til almost 10pm. We'll get in nearly 3 days there (3 weeks would be better - lol). So just a short blog today and wishing you all a good night from the Villa Arabella in Mornico Losana, Italy.

Day 13

Ahhh...last night I slept like a baby. The nice thing about the B&B is that the sheets feel soft like home, not scratchy old hotel sheets. ;) So I woke this morning feeling excited about my class since I knew what to expect. I was also excited to see the poppies I made yesterday that were in the kiln all night. Paul fixed us a delicious breakfast and like yesterday, I left the boys to go about their business while I was in class. When I arrived at Miriam's it was a warmer day, but I was prepared with socks and warmer shoes. I was chilly most of the day yesterday in her shop, so today I was prepared. We talked for about an hour this morning on how glass reacts in the kiln. She told me her "firing schedule", which were the different temperatures she used and the amount of time held on each temperature. As usual, I learned some new things. When I saw my poppies I was thrilled! They piece is better than I expected. So today I worked on another version of poppies, only this time in just a variety of shades in blue. She is not going to fully fuse this piece so I can see how frit looks with only a tack fuse. Tomorrow I'll work on another type of poppy piece - one that will add more dimension to the work. Tomorrow I'll also work a little longer on how to use black glass powder to create a persons face. It is HARD! But glad I'm learning it. She makes it look so easy.

So Miriam fixed me lunch today and we ate in her house. We had veggies topped with cheese and baked, ham, salad, toasted bread and a type of soft cheese that had mold on it. She said I could eat it or cut it off. Um...I cut it off. So after lunch we worked a bit more and she showed me how to apply a top layer of glass to my first project to give it an ultra smooth finish and more depth. She is having to fire it in a different kiln than my blue poppies as they are going to be at different temperatures. I'm not sure how many kilns she has, but I saw a medium one and a huge one in our work area. She said there are more "upstairs". So tomorrow I'm looking forward to seeing both of my pieces. She is an excellent teacher and it would be great to work with her longer. I need to bring her to SIU! - As far as Guy's day, he hung out by the pool til about 12:30, then he and Paul went on a road trip to the top of a nearby mountain and had lunch. Guy said they made homemade ravioli, which he said were tasty, but then they went downstairs to look at where made some of their goodies - ravioli, salami and prosciutto. He said from the top of the mountain he could see Milan. He had a good day as well. The Arabella has worked out well for Guy. I'm glad that he is having such a good time here.

So I left class a bit early today, around 3:45 because Guy and I were going to go on a little road trip today to an "Outlet" mall. Miriam suggested a trip to Pavia if we had time. So considering both options, we headed for the mall. It is a beautiful day today, so the road trip was fun. It only took us about 40 minutes to reach the mall. It was huge and Guy picked up a map and plotted our strategy. There were a variety of stores from crazy expensive, to very reasonable. I was really looking for a leather coat and black or brown boots. Most things in the stores now were summer and there were no sale racks in the back with winter things. We walked around and enjoyed the shopping village but didn't make a purchase. So we drove under the street to another indoor mall that had some shops and a grocery store. We didn't buy anything but an ice cream sandwich to hold me until dinner. Since we were finished shopping we headed for Pavia to check it out as it is only about 30 minutes from the Arabella. We figured as we walked around the town we'd find someplace to eat. So we set out to explore Pavia and as we entered the old part of town, most of the shops are still open. I popped in and out of a few and actually bought a blouse that was really cute. We were pretty hungry by now, so we set out looking for food. We headed for the city center as we figured we'd have some options there. We wanted to sit outside, so we found a restaurant called Bella Napoli. It has been there since 1964, so we figured it was going to be ok. Guy ordered carbonara and veal scallopini. I just ordered ravioli with mushrooms and my second plate was an order of profiteroles! Now THAT is a good second plate! They were amazing, I hate to say it but they were better than mine. I took a few pics, but some were blurry - so sorry about that :). After dinner we went around the town and I was going to shop a bit more. There were shoe stores everywhere! But, as Guy's luck would have it, all the shops were closed. So we headed for home so I could get to bed at a decent hour. It is almost 11pm now. I can't seem to get to bed early. It stays light until nearly 10pm, so 11pm sneaks up on us.

So sorry about the short blog. Busy day for me, but not necessarily all good blog material. :) Looking forward to my last day with Miriam, but sad at the same time that I can't spend more time with her. Day 13...sheesh. Italy is winding down. Sadness fills my heart....

Day 12

Didn't sleep much last night as you know how it is in a new place and I was excited about my glass class. We had the windows open last night to enjoy the cool air. I was awake to hear the church bells at 2pm, 3pm, 5pm and 6pm. Somehow I was actually sleeping and missed the 4pm. :) The alarm went off at 7am and I snoozed once. We got ready and had breakfast with Paul at 8am. He fixed us scrambled eggs and Guy had bacon (nice and crispy like he likes...it was Dutch bacon). I helped myself to some of the goodies on the table, yogurt with granola, bread with butter, jelly and fruit. It was good and then I excused myself as I needed to finish getting ready. Guy stayed with Paul to chat a bit. I came back down, Paul gave me directions to Miriam's, I said goodbye to the boys and headed out.

I got to Miriam's and wasn't sure if I was at the right place, so I asked the man walking by. He spoke no english, but understood my question and took me to Miriam's door and rang her doorbell (4 times). ;P He was friendly and seemed happy to visit with a foreigner. Miriam was welcoming and she introduced me to Antonella, a student from Argentina who was studying with her. Anyway we got into the studio and we talked for about 30 minutes on my expectations on being a glass artist. Not an easy nor cheap way to make a living. I explained it would be a hobby for now and I wanted to take the next few years to hone my skills and when I retired I would be a bit more serious, but still more of a hobby. The next hour or so was spent on learning how glass behaves with different colors, temperatures and types of glass. It was interesting and I learned so much I'm not sure I retained it all. After this we looked at some photos and I chose an image of poppies and that was my project for the day. She was great to get me started, but then left me alone to do my thing. She didn't hover, but was right by my side when I had a question, which was awesome. Antonella helped me with my glass cutting skills and gave me some tips that were helpful. Her english is impeccable and Miriam's is also excellent. So I worked on my piece for about 2 more hours and Miriam's student fixed us lunch. Pasta with tomatoes, walnuts and basil. It was good and I wasn't very hungry (student nerves I suppose). All afternoon I continued with my piece. I learned how to use a flame and melt small pieces of glass to put in my piece, which means I'm going to need to buy a little torch when I get home. I didn't do a very good job and will need to practice. By 5pm, I was overwhelmed, exhilarated, and exhausted. I had so much fun!

I made my way back to the Arabella where I honked and Guy opened the gate for me. He was anxious to hear about my day and we talked a bit, but I was cold so we went down by the pool to warm up and hear about each others day. He had enjoyed his time by the pool and read on his book. Paul fixed him a lunch of meats, cheese and bread. Guy's favorite. After our warm up and catch up, we went upstairs to freshen up for dinner. Paul recommended a pizzeria in Casteggio which was only about 5 kilometers away. We set out for the town and found the restaurant with no problems. When we got inside, no one spoke english, but Paul had called in advance and they were expecting us. When we ordered we were not sure if we ordered 2 pizzas or one pizza with two different sides of toppings. We were deciding what we were going to do with all the left-over pizza, but when it came out, it was one pizza half and half. Guy had ordered half cheese and half pepperoni, but it came out half cheese half peppers. It was a happy accident as it was delicious. The restaurant had a wood burning oven and you could watch the cook make the pizzas. It was fun and they were very nice to us. I took a few pics of the pizza as it was long and square. It was interesting because they cut it with a knife at your table and when they saw you were finished with one piece, they were johnny-on-the-spot at our table to serve us the next piece. Service! :)

Back at the Arabella I grabbed the ipad to upload my pics and start blogging. Paul asked if we'd like some chocolate ice cream. YES was the answer from both of us and he served it will little cookies. Talk about the perfect end to my day. I needed chocolate. It was fantastic (I need to learn to make gelato. I'll do that in retirement as well). - Sorry for the shorter blog today. So much happened, but my brain is tired and it is about 10:30 and I need to get some rest. Tomorrow should be good as Miriam and I will work until about 3pm and then Guy and I may head to the outlet mall if I'm not too tired. I'm going to make the poppies again only with a different technique so I can use them at home as samples of how things look when layered differently. Hopefully I'll work a bit faster tomorrow and I'm excited to see my masterpiece out of the kiln tomorrow. Miriam will explain the firing temperatures to me in the morning. It should be another wonderful day of vacation.

Day 11

We woke up early to start our day trip to Mornico Losana. We ate a good breakfast and headed down to parking lot 3 to retrieve our car and drive it back up through the town into the square to load our things. Guy asked me if I wanted a gelato for the road, but I declined as my veins are running thick with chocolate already. We hit the road about 10:30 and started our drive. Plenty of traffic on the roads and was drizzling most of the way. We planned a lunch stop in Sestri Levante, but when we arrived we didn't see the area we thought we would (a Cinque Terre type town) but drove down to the marina for a look around. By this time, it was pouring and the wind was blowing and there was no way we'd venture out into this, so we headed back for the autostrada and went to plan B for lunch.

We've driven this area before and I remembered there would be tunnels (I like to call them tubes of death) but we went through at least 30 long tunnels. The traffic was pretty heavy in this area as well, so both hands on the wheel. This area is gorgeous with mountains all along the coastline of the mediterranean with terra-cotta speckled houses dotting the hillsides. We contemplated a stop in Rapallo for lunch as we have stayed there twice before, but it is still pouring and we knew we'd be eating a large meal at the Arabella tonight. So we opted for a pullover at the Autogrille. These are the gas stations that have restaurants all along the autostrada, so we've stopped at them before. They have fresh made sandwiches and all kinds of snacks and fun pastas, etc. This ain't your ordinary Shell station. :) So we got two foccoicia bread ham and cheese sandwiches and some Cokes and headed for the car. We had a quick picnic and I forgot to get a photo of our "lunch". :) They were quite yummy.

Arriving at the Arabella, we visited with Paul outside for awhile and then took us to our room. It is really lovey. No air, but we have screens on our windows and it has been one of those drizzly cool days where the air is heavy and damp. The night air should feel good. Our room has its own bathroom, which is a new remodel at the Arabella this past spring. We are staying in the "blue room" and it has a great view. After settling in, we went down to the pool area which is going to be wonderful for Guy. It has a changing room, a tiled outdoor shower, and a kitchen. Paul will make sure Guy has some food for lunch. The road isn't safe for him to walk up to the top of the town where I will be. My class includes lunch at Miriam's house and Guy can eat lunch at the Arabella. He has plenty of books to read. Paul has offered to take him around anywhere he'd like to go. So that is very nice, but if the weather can clear up, Guy's plan is to lay by the pool. Paul did tell us there was an "outlet" mall about 30 minutes from here and they had all kinds of Italian made things for 70% off. I think my class is over by 3pm, so we may head one evening there to check it out. I'd like to find a nice pair of boots for next winter. He said they have clothes, shoes and housewares. **I'm intrigued** :)

It is 7pm and we are going to go get freshened up for dinner. Paul said he'd like us to come down for drinks around 7:30 and we'd eat at 8pm. He has been back in the kitchen working around for the past hour, so we'll see what he comes up with....Ok, back with a report on dinner. Paul made us bruschetta served with local salami. Then we got spinach gnocchi (ranking very high on my list of gnocchis I've eaten on the trip!) then we were served seabass with veggies. For dessert we had a layered raspberry tiramisu with cookies (I didn't get a photo as I dove and and ate it before I realized I fogot to take a picture!) It was amazing. Paul is quite the chef and we were impressed with our dinner tonight. What a treat! So now I'm going to bed early in preparation for my glass class for tomorrow. Fingers crossed all goes well with Miriam tomorrow. I'm a bit nervous.