12. Presto dobbiamo dieta

Como, Lombardy, Italy
Saturday, April 15, 2017

This temperate sunny morning is bittersweet as it marks our final day of gluttony.

Up and off to breakfast we make a plan: B⁴ will wash and dry her hair and I will walk the three miles into Como and then back home. Breakfast itself was quite spectacular on the terrace of Hotel Villa d'Este. Brisk air, hot americano coffee, eggs to order and more all served on crisp white table cloths by waiters arrayed in black tie and white tuxedo reflecting off silver trays expertly flaunted. Elegant? Oh my, yes.

Before I depart on my walk, I secure a late checkout until 1:00, just in case.

Sure enough, it is 12:55 when we pay the bill, store the luggage and grab a taxi into Como center to find out what is happening there. Our taxi driver suggests a fine little restaurant around the corner, down the lane and farther from where all the other tourists are dining and his choice proves prescient. La Cucina di Elsa sits under a flowered pergola on a side street not far from the main square. When had to wait for one of the dozen outdoor tables; it was worth it.

I asked the girl at the adjoining table to take a photo of us and we soon were deep in conversation with her and her companion, a couple of Credit Suisse bankers from Zurich. We discussed the merits of moving to the U.S., either New York or San Francisco. We suggested Austin or Dallas.

Again, we ate too much.

We strolled Como and then grabbed the ferry for 2.5 Euro each, two stops away from our Cernobbio base. As we arrived at the Cernobbio ferry stop, it began to sprinkle ever so lightly and we had a ten minute walk ahead of us to the Villa d'Este. But, as has been the case all week, good fortune--or Parma Karma--smiled upon us and the rain cloud passed us by.

Our driver whisked us the thirty minutes to Malpensa Airport's Hotel Villa Malpensa where we will spend the night before our flight tomorrow morning. Wisely and being as full as we were, feeling no sense of sacrifice, we skipped dinner.

What a week.