I took these pictures while visiting Lake Como recently.  What a beautiful place!  The sun sparkled on the lake, the mountains rose up above the clouds, the air was crisp.  With the shimmering of the water, the turning of the leaves to red and gold, and the huge thrust of the mountains, and it is beautiful wherever you look.  It’s the kind of place that you look out onto the lake and up into the mountains and you can’t help but breathe deeply and slowly.

We stayed at the magnificent Villa d’Este.  A grand villa on the shores of Lake Como.  Very beautiful.  Most of the pictures above were taken there.

One day we took a ferry across the lake and had a lovely lunch in a town called Bellagio (see the picture of the colorful buildings above).  With a bottle of wine, and the children (and us) well-nourished by the wonderful meal, we whiled away the afternoon with no sense of time and a feeling of contentment.  Italy is beautiful.