Sunday started as a day of rest for all of us.  We actually did not get out of the apartment until after 10:00 in the morning.  We caught the ferry in the town just to the north of us.  They have better brioche up there so we did indeed have a good reason to alter the starting location for the day.  There also was a small market in the town piazza and along the lake front that allowed a bit of people watching and photo ops before we had to catch the boat.

Andrea has always been an avid gardner in Houston and our visits to each other’s houses there often times start with “garden tours”.  So what better way to spend the day than touring a REAL garden?  Just on the southern end of the town of Varenna is the Villa Monastero and the wonderful lake shore garden which Laura and I had checked out a week or so earlier.  (See the “Across the Lake to Varenna” post).

Any full fledged Italian garden tour must commence with lunch and wine so we did the dirty deed of three pizzas and an entire bottle plus of wine so that we were in the proper state of touring before reaching the flowers.  It worked perfectly.  Both Andy and Nash were thoroughly impressed by the beauty and serenity of the place.  We strolled along the narrow walks and Nash never quit finding things to photograph.  I truly believe he has succumbed to the Italian bug.  The day lasted a bit longer than we had envisioned since we were referencing the ferry schedule which lapsed on the 30th of September and the boat we thought we were going to take back across the lake ran an hour later.  Damn!  We have to sit, have a beer, and kill time.  Nothing like a bit of good luck to make a perfect day even better.

Got to try the goat cheese.

And of course a loaf of raisin bread must come along.

Fresh salami? Heck yeah!!

I love the little sales ladies at the market. They could sell me anything.

His buddy had the fishing rods. He got to haul the oars and the anchor.

All Bakers on board.

Would you buy a shirt from this guy?  Or anything for that matter?

Kind of a funky color….. but still pretty cool looking. Has the “vintage thing” going pretty well.

Lunch destination. We actually sat on the piazza side through the door in the background.

Yes, lunch is starting out very well.

I have decided that the t-shirt logo is an eye test chart. As long as I can read all the letters I can have another glass!!

Maybe wearing the shoes like mom said would have been a good idea.

Back street beauty.

Why do I think they are trying to figure out how to do this back home?

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How you decorate your Villa. Never enough gold.

Not sure what the hole is for?

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Sit down. Tilt your head. Shoulders back. Look at the camera. Ah! The tables are turned!!

Yeah it is a pretty nice place to kill an afternoon.

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A terra cotta pot full of dandelions would look good in this setting!

Back street beauty #2.

A very nice old Fiat.

Arrivederci Varrena!

Last port of call.

“I am tired too but what a great day!”