Up North!!

This space was quiet last week but for a good reason. I spent the whole week on vacation in the northern parts of Italy. My vacation centered on an area near Novara, which is between Milan and Turin. What a vacation it was. I stayed at the house of a friend with her and her whole family. My favorite part was definitely Lago D’Orta. I hesitate to tell you how good it was because it’s one of the smaller lakes to the east of Lake Como. Lake Como was too touristy for me so I hope everyone keeps going there and leaves Lago D’Orta to Italians and a few outsiders. It’s very romantic and cozy especially when compared to the other big lakes with their big boats trying to carry as many tourists as possible around. I’ll put up a photo of Isola San Giulio since it’s such a nice sitting in the middle of this calm lake. After seeing the lakes (D’Orta, Maggiore, and Como) we went up into the mountains specifically to Sacro Monte. This particular mountain has an interesting assortment of about 40 buildings scattered along short paths through the forest and each houses a scene with statues showing an event in The Bible. For over a hundreds years Italians (in the 14th century, roughly) built these life sized statues and huge background paintings all sheltered in these little stone buildings. Other highlights of the trip were visiting little towns in area and the medieval castle “The Rock of Angera”. It was also fun meeting Paola’s family and friends. We spent one day shopping in Milan, which wasn’t to my taste and I didn’t buy anything. Still, I need some nice clothes so I should have. Another photo I’ll put up shows kind of the cross section of where I was. It has the rice fields in the foreground and snow capped mountains in the background with the town I stayed in between them. I will say that Northern Italy is pretty nice. They have mountains, lakes, rivers, but yes it’s little farther to the sea, usually. Down here we always have the sea and sun. All these good things but I think the North may be a little more to my taste. I hate saying that but getting a tan has never been a high priority to me. So I’m a little envious of the north, although when I see them sacked with a foot or two of snow next winter I’ll be thankful for where I am. Also I couldn’t appreciate the differences between north and south without having lived here. I could see and feel the differences immediately. Well this is getting long…. again. Pictures next…