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.