While in Berlin, I was trying to decide where to go next once I hit Italy, so I literally just closed my eyes and pointed to the map of northern Italy and my finger landed on Menaggio, on Lake Como...and it is exactly the type of place that I had wanted to be. Funny how things sort themselves out that way.
I did it up right on my one day in Berlin. I got a good night's sleep, and woke up to a couple of guys coming into the room at 10am, just getting home from the night out on the town. Apparently they were out with some of the people that run these free walking tours in different cities around Europe and they were supposed to be great. So as those two went to bed, I got up and packed my bag, yet again. I put on every warm article of clothing I had and braved the weather to take this four hour tour.
It was fantastic! We had this girl from North Carolina that has been living in Berlin for the past four years and is completely in love with the city. Berlin is not like Rome or Prague, where the sites are completely obvious and you can look on a map and figure it out on your own. It is a city where 90% of the buildings were devastated by war and torn down, so it's modern architecture doesn't do much from a touring perspective. And of course, the hostel I was saying in gave me the subway map as my point of reference, so I needed guidance on this one.
The tour showed me everything I needed to see. From the Holocaust memorial to the street corner where Hitler's body was burned. I saw the remaining pieces of the Berlin wall and some wicked graffiti to top it all off. All the while we were on this tour, she taught us the history of what happened there and why it turned out the way that it did. For not being much of a history buff, I really enjoyed it. It made me want to stay in Berlin for another day, but unfortunately with my flight to Italy, I couldn't.
After freezing in the 40 degree weather all day, I made my way back to the hostel and hung out for a bit and then headed to the airport. The Berlin airport wasn't too bad for a night's sleep...I think I actually got about four hours. I saw the Alps for a second time on my flight down and then realized that I was kind of heading there. I guess I didn't look at the map well enough, but Lake Como falls directly underneath them.
I took the train to the bus and ended up on the shores of heaven. No wonder George Clooney has a house here! Just this lake surrounded by gigantic mountains with churches and villas galore. I met some people in the hostel last night and went out to dinner and then saw some live jazz. Today I took a hike to the top of the world with yet another person leaving for southeast Asia. We hiked up stairs for about 45 minutes to reach this old church surrounded by cliffs and overlooking the spot where the two legs of Lake Como meet. Gorgeous!!! Today was a big picture day. After the hike, we indulged in a couple beers and some pizza before he set off on his journey to Bangkok.
So the original plan was to stay here for another night, then two nights in Venice before going back...but I'm sad to say that Venice is out (I think, my mind could still change). Hopefully it won't sink before the next time I come back to Europe, but I just don't have it in me to trek all the way over there and then back down to Rome. It's just too much, and there's a hike I'd like to do here tomorrow. So the plan is to go back to Florence for a night and make my way back that way. It's cheaper and sounds more relaxing, which I'm starting to realize San Francisco is not going to be. I woke up at sunrise this morning thinking of all of the things I need to take care of while I'm in the states next week. But I'm not going to think of all of that anymore. I'm going to enjoy my last couple of days in paradise and deal with everything else later.
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