30 March - Italia!

Our plan today we decided was to get across Switzerland (expensive) and into Italy (cheaper).  It was a long and tiring day of tunnels and rain and motorway and fog and winding alpine roads. Oh, and let’s not forget the idiotic drivers taking their lives in their hands overtaking on blind bends in poor visibility.  This, and rush hour delays at town junctions and at the border meant we crossed into Italy far later in the day than planned.  The first town in Italy was Como but we decided to drive on despite our tiredness so we could come back here when we would have the time to enjoy the place more fully.  And so -twenty minutes later- we took the next turn off the main road that we came across, headed into a small unremarkable town and drove around aimlessly for a while despite GPS and local signs supposedly pointing us towards local accommodation.  Eventually, on a road that was clearly heading out of town, we decided to fall back on old technology and - notwithstanding the language barrier - ask a local. And in this way we were introduced to the joys of Italian driving.  I asked a woman for the directions to a local hotel that had proved to be elusive to find and once we had actually understood each other she kindly said that if we followed her in the car she would lead us to it.  Off we went, across roundabouts, up narrow roads and eventually arrived at a short queue at a level crossing waiting for the local train to pass.  Well, clearly being behind a couple of cars was too much for this lady, especially as the one in the front had stopped as far away as five feet from the barrier so off she went, on the wrong side of the road and nosed herself in, ahead of the car at the front, bonnet just under the barrier.  For fear of losing our guide we had no choice but to follow.  And yet nobody seemed to bother.

Our hotel is cheap and spartan but clean and, given the long and tiring day, we are happy just to find somewhere to rest our heads – but after dinner of course!  A nice sushi meal in a nearby restaurant had to fit the bill for our first night in Italy as I had clearly failed to understand the directions to the nearby Italian restaurant given to us by the receptionist.