We began our Italy adventure by boarding our flight to Italy.\u00a0 Our travel took us on our Lufthansa flight through Frankfurt\u00a0![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.roamersholiday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/IMG_0055-e1500925904861-225x300.jpg\")
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0landing in Milano Linate airport, which is one of the two airports for Milan.\u00a0 We chose this one because it was convenient for Roma and I.\u00a0 Our flight was exactly as we expected from the United\/Lufthansa Codeshare program.\u00a0 Flight was OK.\u00a0 Meals were \u201cmeh\u201d though I did enjoy the beer.<\/p>\n
Frankfurt is a pretty nice airport and we had about 4 hours for our layover.\u00a0 That was my fault.\u00a0 I am paranoid about missing connections.\u00a0 My theory is:\u00a0 If you miss your connection, you may have just messed up your entire vacation.\u00a0 So I stress and Roma makes the concession to allow me to manage the layover times to reduce this stress.\u00a0 I chose a 4 hour layover because I seem to remember a few years ago on another connection through Frankfurt, Roma and I had to collect our bags, go through customs and immigration, return our bags to the airline and then rush off to our next flight.\u00a0 I do not know why we had to do that; but this time, all we had to do is go through immigration which took maybe 10 minutes.<\/p>\n
We arrived at approximately 17:10, picked up our luggage and made our way to locate the bus (every half hour) that would take us to Milano Centrale, the central train station for Milan.\u00a0 We had the option of Taxi as well but taking the bus for about 5 \u20ac each was a no-brainer for us since we were not in a hurry.<\/p>\n
Our hotel was located within a 5-10 minute walk from the central station so once we left the bus, we had a short walk to our hotel, the Best Western Plus Felice Casati.\u00a0 The hotel was convenient to walk to and the English of the front desk personnel was very good.\u00a0 Our room was small but nice with the necessities we needed\u2026a bed and bath with room for our bags.\u00a0 It also came with a nice small refrigerator and safe and had a water kettle in our room which was nice for Roma as she enjoys a nice cup of hot water every once in a while.\u00a0 Breakfast was included and had the nice standard spread of meats, cheeses, breads and coffee.\u00a0 It was not bad overall and we had small issues like the sink didn\u2019t drain properly which the hotel repaired and the shower leaked.<\/p>\n
Our plans for Milan included meeting one of Roma\u2019s university friends and using Milan as a springboard to Lake Como.\u00a0 We met Roma\u2019s friend and had a very pleasant evening of good food, good wine and good conversation.<\/p>\n
On day 2, we had arranged for a day trip from Milan to Lake Como which included the transportation to and from the lake area and a boat cruise on the lake.\u00a0 Lake Como is a beautiful lake in northern Italy very near the Swiss border and is kind of shaped like an upside down Y.\u00a0 It has been a very popular retreat for the rich and famous since the roman times.\u00a0 According to Wikipedia, famous people who have or have had homes there include John Kerry, Madonna, George Clooney and Sylvester Stalone.\u00a0 In addition, many movies have used Lake Como as part of the story or as a location including Star Wars:\u00a0 Episode II Attack of the Clones, Casino Royale (2006), Julia and Julia, Ocean\u2019s Twelve, and Man on Fire.<\/p>\n
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We made our way to the meeting point via the Milan underground.\u00a0 It was simple enough except we did not know we had to buy tickets from the magazine stand.\u00a0 We were expecting a ticket machine.\u00a0 This was actually the only city in Italy where we found this.\u00a0 Other cities had machines and actual ticket sales booths.\u00a0 The underground trip was uneventful.<\/p>\n
The vendor was Zani\u00a0Viagg and we met outside of the Milan Visitor Center which seemed to serve the company as a central meeting point.\u00a0 We discovered that morning that we had booked the Guided Tour in both English and Spanish.\u00a0 We were issued a little receiving device with headphones that allowed our guide to speak to us through a microphone without having to yell.\u00a0 The air conditioned coach ride was nice and uneventful while the guides gave us information and identified points of interest.<\/p>\n
We arrived in the town of Como and were given some time to wander around the town with instructions to meet back at the port at a specific time.\u00a0 The cruise we were on seemed more like a local water taxi with\u00a0![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.roamersholiday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_1265-e1496958104399-225x300.jpg\")
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multiple stops along the way to drop and pick up passengers.\u00a0 Our tour guide took the time to point out sights and famous people\u2019s homes and sites.\u00a0 The boat ride took a leisurely two hours to reach the town of Bellagio and allowed a nice relaxing trip and the ability to sit back with a<\/p>\n
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glass of wine, beer or other available beverage and enjoy the beauty.<\/p>\n
We can see why the wealthy love this location.\u00a0 The area is gorgeous.\u00a0 The water was beautiful and clean and the views were lush and green. \u00a0At certain points, we could even see the Swiss Alps.\u00a0 Feel free to check out the<\/p>\n
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