HC Abroad: In the Land of George Clooney

Italy, as my first 5 days have taught me, is a magical place. One where you are infinitely more beautiful each day (as old Italian men on every street corner generously tell me each morning), you are always lost, but always with a smile on your face (because you suddenly stumble upon a hidden café or an ancient monument—no big deal), and there is always an excuse for gelato. No seriously, always.

Milan, in particular, is more fabulous than I could have imagined; a big busy city with tall buildings, underground public transportation, deathly vespas and beautiful historic ruins. Also, did I mention the fashion? I love getting on the subway every morning and observing what everyone is wearing. I also love reading “Corriere della Sera,” a major Italian newspaper based in Milan. I’ll admit, I’m too cheap to pay the €1,20 for it and the Italian vocabulary is sometimes a little too advanced for me, so I usually stroll around the cafes at night and pick up left over ones and try to piece together sentences. Mostly, I just love the fact that I’m actually in Italy, in a café, with an Italian newspaper (and I’m also hoping if I do it enough, they’ll think I’m a local).

So with the day off on Thursday, a friend and I decided we would take a day trip to Lake Como, only an hour train ride from Milan. We wanted to go mostly because we heard it was a beautiful place and would be out of season soon, and partly because we were dying to get a glimpse of George Clooney. OK, who am I kidding? George Clooney may have been the main motivation here.

We arrived in the town of Como to do some sightseeing and get some gelato, which was obviously an acceptable breakfast. We then took a bus to the beautiful town of Bellagio, about 50 minutes north. Bellagio is one of those picture perfect towns you see in travel magazines. Did I mention George Clooney is frequently spotted there?

Bellagio looks like it would be the perfect site for the opening scene of a James Bond movie; you know, one where Pierce Brosnan would have an important meeting—it would obviously end in gunfire—he would escape out the window and jump off the terracotta roof and land in a sleek speed boat operated by a beautiful female love interest in a sexy dress to make a slick getaway? Yeah, it’s that kind of perfect.

It’s filled with beautiful little alleys with cobblestone walks that are so classically European and every window in the whole town has a view of Lake Como. There are adorable flower shops and statues of Mary and St. Francis in every store window. It’s also a luxury vacation spot, so it was fun to roam around and pretend like we had the money to stay in the strictly 5 star resorts on the water there, then sneakily leave on the 5 p.m. bus.

After a great lunch at a restaurant with breathtaking views, we went and sat on a dock where I got to put my toes in Lake Como—only to run away squealing shortly after. Who knew Italy had swans, and that they are even nastier than the ones in the U.S.?

After our wonderful daytrip to Lake Como (unfortunately, George had a prior engagement and was unable to meet me for dinner, so there were no sightings to report), we decided to make another day trip on Saturday, but to Verona. So, I’m off to the land of Romeo and Juliet, “in fair Verona where we lay our scene.” I’m hoping to avoid the whole deathly star-crossed lovers stuff and depressing Shakespearean soliloquies. I just heard they had great gelato.