It has to be a Monday

It must be a Monday, no matter what country. Today was a travel day from Florence to Lake Como. 45 minutes away from the hotel, we realized that we did, indeed, forget to grab the passports out of the safe. Rookie mistake. Around we went, back to the hotel, 2 minutes to grab the passports, and take two towards Lake Como. Would I have chosen the extra 2 hours in the car. Absolutely not. But when things like this disrupt our schedule, I prefer to think of it as a change that helped us in a way that we will probably never know. Maybe we missed the worst of the rain on the drive North. Maybe how we chose to rework tomorrow’s plans kept us safe and gave us an experience that was ultimately beneficial. No sense being upset—and it’s highly unlikely we will forget about the safe when we leave anywhere else!

Lake Como was a special stop for us, and one of the primary reasons Gillian chose Italy. Gillian is a huge Star Wars fan, and one of the scenes in Attack of the Clones was filmed at Lake Como at Villa Balbaniello. We weren’t even sure if they would be open the day after Christmas (still a holiday in Italy), but were determined to go regardless, and get as close as possible. Ideally, we would be able to reenact some of the photographs and scenes. As luck would have it, the Villa was 1. open today, and 2. we had time to get there before it closed. We chose to do a quick hike over, not waiting on the water taxi. Made it, and had time to scout out the absolutely stunning gardens. However, it was late in the day, and we were losing the light, hence the decision to rework tomorrow’s plans. Now we will return to Villa Balbaniello on Tuesday morning to be able to properly pose and photograph.

A short jaunt down to the lovely town of Menaggio located at about 20 minutes away from the Villa, where we were able to check in for our overnight stay at Hotel du Lac. Yes, many jokes if you are a Shrek fan. Actually, the staff were very lovely, and we were quite lucky to have rooms since they are closing up for the Winter. This could be their last night open for hotel guests until Spring. The hotel, as the name says, is right on Lake Como, so the views were stellar. There was also an ice skating ring set up in the square (other side of the hotel) with children and adults skating and music. It was quite festive. Menaggio is off the beaten path of the main tourists sites—the entire Lake Como region is more of a summer destination for visitors—but it met all of our needs and we were safe and set up for tomorrow.