Lake Maggiore, Italy

We have arrived at Lake Maggiore. I'm writing from my cramped hotel, above the narrow lanes of the Old Town as a marching band performs below. Everyone is hanging out the windows of their hotels and apartments, we can see the lake. The whole town has the feel of Queenstown, a tourist town in the alps with jagged mountains rising out of the lake. Here, terracotta towns dot the hills. It is beautiful.

Last night we had pizza and dinner at a restaurant down the road. The pizza was so light and mozzarella-ry, but I could barely eat half because I was so tired. I called Josh and slept for 9 solid hours. We woke early and had a buffet breakfast. The eggs were very orange and San Pelligrino was in a tank dispenser. We checked out (my bag is already bursting?!) and went to the station to get tickets. Zara was next to the billet place so naturally, I bought a green coat, yellow handbag, and almost some blue shoes. There was a flamingo shirt for Josh.

Just a bit of light shopping

On a shopping buzz, we trekked back to Victor Emmanuel street by the Duomo. Predictably, it was packed and scorching hot. We hardly looked around before racing back for bags, stopping to get lunch rolls (prosciutto, brie, and tomato). We ate them at the train station. After much racing around, we made the train by a matter of minutes and only just found seats together. We spent the train ride arguing about the best way to get our bags off easily. Silly.

We arrived at Italy I had imagined. I was glad to have a backpack, not a suitcase, as we walked up and down stairs to our place. The waterfront was lined with these huge hotels, coloured flower and table clothes on the balconies. We took photos on the waterfront and had gelato in the scorching sun.

We had a quick look through the Old Town before going back to discover I'd been sunburnt.
Lucy, Mum and Dad went for a swim, I rested my aching feet. We had dinner at this super touristy place in a courtyard of Old Town. The waitress was nice, people were watching the World Cup. I had Milanese di Pollo (chicken schnitzel) with salad. The breadsticks came in plastic wrappers! After we found all the authentic restaurants up the back streets. We took more photos at the waterfront and now we are getting ready for bed. The wifi is free here at last!