EuroTrip: Day 10-Day Trip to Lake Como and Beyond

We had to get up super early today for our day trip to Lake Como. By super early, I mean 5:30am. Yikes! We were up and leaving by 6:15, impressive for the 2 of us. We walked to the subway, rode 5 stops, then navigated through to the train station, snagged some food for breakfast, and then found our platform for the 7:20 train to Varenna.

It was a an hour and a half train ride to Varenna, with no WiFi for me so I read my book since I couldn’t sleep. At 8:26 we got off the train in a cute little town, in the rain, and found bathrooms before attempting to figure out where we’re supposed to meet our tour guide. As I pulled my phone out and take it out of airplane mode to call Luca, the guide, my phone starts ringing-it’s an Italian number.. it’s Luka looking for us! But the best part? I was standing in front of him! Hahaha

So, Luca seems a little flabbergasted and I’m tired as can be.. he says we missed the meeting point at 8am and they were worried because they couldn’t find us. Yesterday morning, I got an email telling us to be at the meeting point at the train station we came from at 8am. But then, a few hours later, we got an email from him with our train tickets saying 7:20 departure. Being the psychos we are about missing trains, I assumed we had to be on that 7:20 train. Apparently, you can get on any train up to 6 hours after the time it’s scheduled for.. but we didn’t know that. I assumed we were the only two customers coming from Milan and so they changed our meeting point to Varenna.. hahaha

Luca called the other guide that had been looking for us and informed her that we were with him, and then he bought us croissants and coffee for our early rising lol.. and the three of us waited until 9:26 when the rest of the group got off the 8:20 train from Milan. Fun times. Ooops. At least we weren’t late!

Once everyone else arrived, Luca started our tour of Varenna. There was 8 of us total, a couple from Los Angeles: Kris and Mark, a couple from Mexico City, Anna and Alejandro, a father daughter duo from Indiana, Sam and Jen, and then Mom and I. Luca walked us down to the lake, Lake Como, and then across the waterline and up to a Piazza where we waited for our private shuttle bus. The walk itself was a good 30-40 minutes with stunning views with every step taken. The stores and homes were built up into the cliff sides surrounding the lake. Across from us we could see other towns along the water, the one we couldn’t actually spot but happens to be on the point of the lake’s split was Bellagio. I wondered if the town has a spectacular fountain show like the hotel in Vegas does. Ha

We loaded onto the bus all chitter chattering to each other. Nicolas drove us for about an hour and a half to a winery in the valley of the Alps, well past the lake. I don’t think any of us were quite expecting such a long bus ride, but we had fantastic views the entire way, so it was still very enjoyable.

We got a tour of the winery, saw the huge vats the grapes go into and then the oak barrels the wine ages in. Then, we got to have a tasting. It was 3 wines and only a sip or two, plus some bread and charcuterie. Yum! And lucky for me, mom doesn’t like red wine, so after she tried each one and hated it, I got to finish it 😉

From there, Nicolas drove us to the town that we’d end up getting on the Berina Express Scenic Train to go up into the Swiss Alps. Before our train arrival we had an hour to explore the little town and eat lunch. Luca recommended a pasta made only in this area, with homemade buckwheat pasta noodles, potatoes, cheese and cabbage. It’s called Pizzochero, and was absolutely phenomenal.

For whatever reason, mom and I were the only ones that went to the place Luca recommended, and we were the only ones that ordered his pasta recommendation, too. When mom saw Luca walking by she invited him to join us. He happily did. We talked, practiced Italian, sipped wine and devoured that incredible pasta. I also learned that a half liter of wine is way too much for one person at lunch. Whoops!

When it was time to leave, Mom surprised Luca by already paying for his meal. He truly was making this experience that much better! The group met up and he walked us into the train station and onto the train, showed us how to lower the windows and explained when to get off-he would instead go with Nicolas on the bus to meet up with us at the end of the train ride.

Boy did we have a flippin blast on that train! We went up into the Swiss Alps and had view after view at every turn! We passed little villages, cows and goats and chickens and churches.. people out walking their dogs and waving to us, cyclists pedaling their hearts out up steep mountain roads. It was so much fun! Thanks to my wine consumption, I talked everyone into leaning out the window for a picture.. haha then read the signs that said “do not lean out windows.” Welp. Sorry, Switzerland.

When we got off, Luca and Nicolas took us into the town of St. Moritz, a very popular ski town in Switzerland. Sadly for us, it was Sunday and the weather had threatened lots of rain (although it only spittled here and there and never for long) the majority of everything was closed. Also, it wasn’t a terrible thing really, though, because the stores were a bit too high end for my taste (and budget): Cartier, Dolce & Gabbana, Alexander McQueen, Valentino, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Bvlgari, Gucci.. you get the picture..

We instead went to a German bar and had hot chocolate and carrot cake. Anna and Alejandro told us that they were expecting their first baby, they just found out yesterday the baby’s gender and so they were super excited to be on this trip together, celebrating. It was so sweet that I teared up a bit. I won’t blame the wine for that one, it had been hours by that point! 😉

We made it back on the bus and then Nicolas drove us for what felt like years to the train station back near Lake Como (2 stops after Varenna). We said our goodbyes to Luca and Kris and Mark (they were staying in Varenna), and the rest of us piled on for the almost 2 hour train ride back to Milan. We didn’t arrive in the train station until 8:40pm. Talk about a long ass day!

We made our way through to the subway station and took our 5 stops back to our hotel. We were back in our room, completely worn out, by 9. I still had my mile to run though. Mom worked on the TV, she figured out how to change some channels into English, while others would only come in in Italian. We started a show, I ran my mile awkwardly in our room, and then I ordered us some food from UberEats.

We had our “late night snack” and watched tv until we both ended up passing out. We had also already gotten the maintenance man to come to our room and set the temperature lower, we like a cold room when we sleep. I’m not sure how long I lasted once the air started to cool, but it couldn’t have been very long at all.

Today was an incredible day, one of our all time favorites so far.. and it just so happened to be Mother’s Day, too. I wish I could say I planned it that way, but I definitely didn’t. I do know I’m so very blessed to have such a loving, supportive, funny as hell, and strong mom like I do. I’ll never ever for a second take any moment with her for granted, even when we bicker and drive each other nuts, she’s still always my biggest cheerleader, and I’ll always be hers.

Happy Mother’s Day!