The breakfast basically consisted of the basic items you would generally find in the morning, but the one the one thing I should mention is I did try out the famous Swiss Cheese.
While I'm no master in the art of cheese, it did taste rather distinguishable but quite thick and chewy.
After quickly scribbling a message on two postcards and sending them off (which I've since been informed have successfully reached their destinations), I grabbed a seat on the bus just in time.
Our ride was going to consist of descending from the Swiss mountains back to Italy, where we would spend the afternoon at Como Lake.
Before making our descent, we stopped by a very peaceful lake and grabbed some photos for the good ole' photo album.
Stupidly, I hopped off the bus without a jacket and found myself freezing to death, yet again.
Here's some footage of the Swiss Alps at the crack of dawn:
Swiss Lake
After turning my nose into an icicle, I climbed back on the bus to grab some warmth.
Next, our descent from the Alps.
As we spiraled down, the surrounding view was breathtaking.
I'm not lying, look for yourself:
The amount of sharp turns in this area was insane. Good luck going 70mph here.
Here's some footage I captured along the way:
Swiss Alps
While we undergoing our daunting descent, I turned to see one my classmates totally knocked out:
Hilarious!
As we reached ground level, I waved the Swiss Alps along with Switzerland, adieu.
Pushing forward, we soon arrived at the Italian border and re-entered Italy.
Our guide humorously commented on how he could tell we were in Italy. He referred to the worn houses and neglected roadways as a blatant sign.
We encountered this phenomenal waterfall that looked like it had come straight out of THE LORD OF THE RINGS:
Waterfall
We also drove past...COWS!!!
Mooohhh......
After a little more traveling, we soon set our own sights on the surroundings of Como Lake.
Como Lake is a classical area which is surrounded by three parts of the city, Como. Each part is situated in a different area which is only available by traveling on Como Lake.
The area has quite a reputation with numerous celebrities owning houses on Como Lake along with a variety of films and music videos having been filmed on location here.
We were going to send time on all three parts. Our bus stopped by the first part of Como, where we all got off. There was going to be a ferry to take to us the other two, more populated areas of Como.
While we waited, we took a few shots.
As the ferry docked in, I noticed quite a few motorcyclists on board. I was informed by our guide that Como Lake is home to a famous Italian motorcycle manufacturer, hence the reason for the strong surge of bikers.
Here's some live-action of the bikers as they rode out:
Bikers
We soon hopped onto the ferry and began our little boat ride to the other side of Lake Como.
The view was quite pleasant.
Here's a panoramic view I got of Como Lake:
Como Lake
We coasted past a family of ducks pushing against the current:
They were winning too!
As we docked into the second part of Como, our guide informed us of the variety of activates available on this side of the lake.
He mentioned that a very beautiful garden was located just 5 minutes away. With about an hour to spare before our departure to the third part of the city, we decided that a nice stroll through the gardens of Lake Como would a very pleasant and leisurely experience.
So, we hiked forth:
And soon arrived to:
It translates to, The Garden of the Melzi House. See how amazing my Italian was just there!?!?!
The garden turned out to be quite gorgeous with some striking moments.
Garden Vista
There were authentic bamboo trees planted within:
There were also a few sculptures scattered throughout the garden:
I also ran into some Japanese maple trees along the way:
And this impressive grotto:
After our stroll through the garden, the time arrived to hop back onto the ferry once more and travel to the third and final side of Como Lake.
This side housed more of the residential areas and was much quieter than the other two parts.
After a break for lunch on the more peaceful side of Como, we soon met up with our buses and began the journey back to Florence.
On the way back I encountered some worthwhile snapshots, including the first Blockbuster I'd seen in Italy:
I also saw some eccentric pop art on the walls:
And finally one of the many comedic posters scattered throughout Italy for Serie A and Sky TV:
After about a four hour drive south, we arrived back in Florence at about 9pm.
The excursion out to Switzerland was just plain wicked and the time spent at Como Lake ended up being a splendid companion piece. It showed that Europe isn't all glitz and glamour but also naturally enthralling.
Quite a productive weekend, wouldn't you say?
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