Italy Trip Day 8 - Venice and Lake Como

Before we could leave Venice, I needed to do one thing – take a ride in a gondola. I know it is incredibly clichéd and touristy, but I still wanted to do it. So, after breakfast we wandered around looking for a desperate gondolier who would be willing to give us a good deal. We didn’t find any, so we ended up paying nearly full price for a 30 minute cruise around the canals of Venice. I’m happy to report that it was worth it, as it is definitely a different way to see the city. Now, if our gondolier could have spent a little less time on his mobile phone, that might have set a little better mood, but oh well. He even kept talking on the phone while we were getting our picture taken (see the cropped and uncropped version in Shutterfly). Mason also enjoyed the gondola ride, and was very excited to see we would be cruising on a “black boat.”
After the gondola ride, we told Mason we needed to go back to the hotel to get our bags. He replied, “Go backa hotel, get bags and go to Paris?” Maybe this is a sign that we are traveling a bit too much with our two year-old.
We said our goodbyes to Venice and got back in the car to drive to Lake Como, and the small resort town of Varenna for the final night of our trip. Varenna is a very pretty, quiet town on the east shore of Lake Como, looking directly across at the much more glitzy resort town of Bellagio. After the craziness in Venice, Varenna was a great place to relax a little and end up the trip. The hotel we wanted to stay at was booked, but instead they gave us an apartment in the town, which was very nice, and allowed us to put Mason in his own room. The hotel owner is also a very good chef, and we had a fantastic final dinner at the hotel restaurant, looking over the lake and savoring our last few hours of vacation.
The next day we decided to take the ferry across the lake to Bellagio and spend a few hours walking around the town. After our return to Varenna, we all had our last bit of gelato, then piled in the car for the 4 hour drive back to Lausanne.
I think Nicole and I both agree that this has been the best vacation we have had (at least since the honeymoon). The weather was perfect every day. We didn't see one drop of rain, or even a threatening cloud for the entire week. As always, travelling with a 2 year old has its ups and downs, and we would like to go back to some of these places without kids at some point. But, we wouldn't change this trip one bit - Mason and all.