Damn, Rick was in Venice

It's a sad day indeed when Rick Steves is the major attraction in Venice!

eh venice was ok during the day beautiful at night, but it made me want to be back in varenna where i spent almost a whole week, that was heaven

So, what did you like so much about Varenna? We'll be there 4 days next month.

For starters, Albergo Milano in Varenna is a fantastic place to stay. The town is very beautiful and peaceful…views of mountains and lake are extraordinary. It’s a place to relax…nothing really happening there, which is great after a bunch of blitz travel sightseeing across Italy. Watching the World Cup final match between France and Italy on a huge screen with a couple hundred locals in the main square made our last night there pretty cool. Lots of relaxing, walking, swimming, etc. It can be a very romantic place. I’ll have to agree with Conor regarding Venice…too Disney-esque in summer with huge crowds of Americans and other cruise ship people (save it for the off season). You may not want to be anywhere near George Clooney’s place on Lake Como over the last day or so…a 500 pound WWII bomb and some other ordinance were discovered in the lake very near his mansion. :)

I hear Venice is crazy in the summer and I was there in April and the cruise ships were in full swing, mainly asain and indian tourists, so for them it maybe their travel time(not insinuating anythign with race just saying what i observed. I loved it at night it was beautiful especially when no one was around, but day time it jsut for me didnt feel special. i did my best to get lost and no matter where i went it seemed everyplace was busy.

as for varenna it was aamzing. due to train issues i had no other options but to go there three days extra instead of my two. since i had to find a place the last minute i stayed with chef moreno, and as some know he runs the fantastic cooking class at his restaurant( rick needs to cover this in his book). he also owns a B&B directly across the street from the restaurant and its only 30 euros a night. i had the whole place to myself since it was off season. his town is on the hill 5 minutes from varenna, if i had had a car i would have canceled my reservation at the villa i stayed at in the town square of varenna. even if you dont have a car moreno will drop you off and pick you up, he is a great man. but as other posters just said, the best part of lake como is there is nothing to do. sure you can shop and see soem of the villas which i did over in lenno, but just going lake side after a few hours of taking the ferries to and from towns for no reason but to look around makes it the perfect getaway. romantic or peaceful. i even went into milano for a day just to change the pace a bit and to see the duomo

Dang, sorry to hear about Lake Como, George had just invited me for a weekend....