Living the Bella Vita.......

Of course in a 'Bella Vita' the morning rains disapate, and that's exactly what happened today.  For those who don't become a sweaty mess, the weather might have been nice for them.  For me, the heat and humidity were a bit much but the surrounding beauty helped to lessen the dislike of stickiness. My hankie got a workout today!  I'd rather be sweaty here than in Chicago :) In Bellagio we walked along the lake to the Villa Melzi.  It had a mansion (people can't go in it) and gardens for people to walk around.  We only did part of the garden.  It was ok.  There was a stunning Chinese Elm and a huge variety of different trees.  Not many colorful flowers. The ones from England last year set a high bar and this place didn't quite match up.  Then we took a ferry to Varenna.  Wish the ferry ride could have lasted longer.  Nice breeze, amazing sights.  Ahhhhh.  Once there we went to the Villa Monastero.  We saw a few rooms in the house (really old stuff) and the gardens as we walked to the house.  Again, tons of trees, cacti and a few flowers.  Not sure if it was worth the long step pebblestone staircase that it took to get there, but it was nice enough.