The drive up from Milano was surprisingly quick, only about one hour once we made it to the autostrade. Hazy skies had obscured the sightof the northern mountains since our arrival here, so we had yet to see them,but as we got closer they materialized out of the haze, and stood beckoning usto our first “home” in Italy.

Suddenly the southern end of Lake Como was next to us, andwe exited on to a mountainside road that wound and curved through tunnels andnarrow villages until we reached Argegno. Our village sits directly at the edgeof the lake, with a tiny town center consisting of a hotel, 3 restaurants, agelato shop and a wine bar (enoteca) clustered around a little piazza with amodern fountain in the middle. Of course everything is open to the strikinglybeautiful view of Lake Como and it’s bordering mountains to the east.

The village was bustling on a Saturday, in fact the wholeLake Como area is still very busy with tourists (international and local)especially with the weather being so warm and sunny. We met David, the Irishbusinessman who owns our apartment and he led us up the hill to get us settledinto our apartment.

We’ve now had 2 full days to settle in. The apartment istidy and comfortable, and the view is truly fabulous. The down side is it isalso quite noisy, as the road into town is below us, about 200 feet below, andthere has also been significant boat noise. In photos the view evokes peace andquiet, but sitting on our balcony is more like maybe a midtown Manhattan highrise with regard to “quiet”, especially with weekend traffic. This adventuredoes have its challenges: where to buy items like ant spray, or washcloths, anddo they even have skim milk in Italy?? How to turn around the car in our narrowsloping driveway without backing into the rock wall behind or banging into ourneighbor’s patio railing?

The small stream that splits the town.

On the plus side, we spend day and night with the windowsthrown wide open, and blessedly dry, mild fresh air. We have befriended thelittle dog who lives up the driveway, and he now comes down and visits us eachmorning, laying outside our patio gate until we come out to give him a pet. Thewalk down to the village is welcome-ly strenuous: up a steep driveway from ourplace, down the street to a pedestrian stairway, down about 50 stairs to aseriously steep cobblestone lane which winds on down to the village piazzetta. It takes maybe 6 or 7 minutes. We have explored the village a little bit and it is completely charming…a mazeof narrow walkways amongst the old buildings with little tunnels and bridgesand passages. There is a tiny bakery, a produce stall, and a sundries storealso tucked back among those winding lanes. One restaurant owner now greets usby name (thanks to an introduction by David) and has graciously agreed to letme try to communicate with him in my very tortured Italian