let's just hope the jackhammering stops soon.

I want you to know that this title has absolutely nothing to do with Italy...and also that some sort of water pipe broke today, which means that my entire street (but let's just focus on one specific apartment--mine) is without water right now. I've been told that it'll be fixed sometime this evening, but it was part of a conversation conducted entirely in German, so who even knows what I actually heard. What I do know is that they're jackhammering up the street immediately outside of my apartment, and I just hope whatever they eventually do works. And soon.

But anyway...to happier subjects: Italy! I feel like we haven't traveled nearly as much this year as we did last year, but I suspect that's due to the dearth of Italian junkets in our itinerary, at least as compared to last year. And, to be fair, we're about to leave Thursday for another trip down there: it's truffle season! But I digress. Back in the middle of August--our only mostly-sunny month this summer--Mike and I hopped on the bike and headed down to Baveno, Italy. We'd never actually stayed anywhere on Lago Maggiore before, so this was a nice opportunity to go somewhere new for a night or two and to spend some time on the bike, which, yes, I've come to enjoy quite a bit. We didn't really do much research beforehand, so we figured we'd go find some stuff to do around the edge of the lake, and maybe eat some good freshwater fish. Done, and done.

Part of the view from our hotel room: Isola Bella.

On the way into Baveno...our hotel was about a ten-minute walk away.

I'm not sure who this is, or why she's shaking her fist, but I like her. (This statue was on the gate house for the late 19th-century Villa Branca.)

So apparently, this region was famed for its stone artisans back in the day.

The main square in Baveno. Tiny and adorable.

Baveno's Church of Saints Gervasio and Protasio. The bell tower dates to the 11th century, parts of the church to the 11th through 13th centuries, and the octagonal baptistery to possibly the 12th...although all the info I can find about it claims it's "of uncertain origin." Mysterious. 

16th-century frescoes on the baptistery interior.

A stone-inlay altar in the main church.

Church interior with frescoes from the 15th century. 

The arcade is from the 19th century...so much newer than the church and the baptistery.

Romanesque facade of the church, complete with a tablet containing a 1st-century Roman inscription (to the left of the door).

From Baveno, we caught a ferry over to Isola Bella, the site of a baroque palace belonging to the Borromeo princes. Hadn't planned to tour the palace, but with no other agenda, we decided to throw caution to the wind. Us crazy kids. It was pretty impressive, actually, with a clearly unintentional bit of hilarity--utterly lacking in irony, I'm fairly certain--thrown in.

Approaching Isola Bella on the ferry. The only thing I regret is not having enough time to tour the rest of the island, too.

The palace, from the waterfront. Construction on this place was actually begun in about 1630, but wasn't officially finished until 1959.

18th-century throne room. Seriously, seriously over-the-top, better photo here.*

No idea what room this is, but I liked their cobalt-blue dishes. 

The ridiculous great hall. Had to use the wide-angle for this one...holy smokes.

My favorite, favorite part: this was the family's motto, and it appeared everywhere (e.g., this is on the highest point of the ceiling in the great hall. It took us a while to figure out what it says, but get this: it's "humilitas". As in, "humility" in Latin. Um...excuse me for doubting your sincerity when this motto appears plastered all over your gigantic, opulent palace...

The Napoleon room, where he and Josephine stayed when they visited. For reals. 

The view from the Napoleon room. Not too shabby.

Stone-inlay cabinet. Sorry 'bout the reflection: they had it behind glass.

The library, with armor, weaponry, and a cool antique astrological globe.

15th-century ivory saddle.

Part of the gardens, with the Borromeo motto in flowers.

The ballroom.

One of the five or six "grotto" rooms constructed under the palace.

Exhibition in the sixth grotto room with saddles dating to between 1564 and 1631(!).

The 16th-century-Flemish-tapestry room...lots woven lions attacking woven unicorns, and vice versa. And fairly graphically, I might add.

The ridiculous 17th-century baroque gardens.

Little fountains 'n things all over. Note the unicorn at the top of the pyramid-y thing: that was the heraldic symbol of the Borromeo family.

A few white peacocks here and there, walking around like they owned the place. 

The back side of the gardens, in the "Italian" section.

Lily pads and fancy schmancy hedges in the Italian garden.

There were kittehs all over these islands.

Next, it was over to Isola dei Pescatori (Island of the Fishermen) for a super late lunch. Here's the island's tiny promenade.

Lunch at Ristorante Italia: Mike's mixed grill of fish from the lake.

My fresh-fish-and-onion ravioli. Heavy on the onion, but still good. 

We ate out on their giant covered balcony, which was essential, because A) it had a lovely lake-and-mountain view, and B) it was roastingly hot outside, and the balcony's breeze was a necessity. Also, we saw this little guy, just sleeping away while tables turned over and the waiters came and went.

Did I mention there were kittehs everywhere? This one was little, and was laying about between the tables in front of the restaurant (with what I can only assume was a sibling and Mom).

Tiny narrow alleyways on a tiny little island.

In our explorations, we stumbled across this little church on the corner of one of the aforementioned alleys, and it contained this 15th- or 16th-century fresco.

As we were leaving the church, its bells started ringing. This is what the World's Loudest Church Bells look like.

Isola Bella, from Isola dei Pescatori.

Back in Baveno, this weird little building caught my eye. It's obviously haunted. And check out that gigantic spiderweb on the left, which I had not noticed previously. Ick.

This is about all of Villa Branca that you can see from Baveno. Apparently, it's fancy.

The view from our hotel room, with Isola dei Pescatori on the left and Isola Bella on the right.

Dinner was at Ristorante Posta, right on the little square in Baveno. Not the fanciest of interiors, but at least they could fit us in! We started with a delightful mixed antipasto plate with meats from the region, and then Mike had some sort of ravioli with pear and cheese filling. In all honesty, I completely forgot to write down what we ate, so I can't remember at all what I had, or what we had for dessert...just that it was all delicious, and also that the wait staff were very nice and spoke enough English for us to all get along. I would absolutely eat there again.

Saturday was chock-full of action, and Sunday it was time to ride back home. We both really enjoyed the ride along the coast of Lago Maggiore: a narrow road along the lake, with lots of twists and turns, through quaint little towns with castles and churches. (I'd really like to go back again and stop this time in Cannobio, another lakefront town with some fascinating-looking towers and a big Byzantine-looking church right on the water. Neat.) It was all very picturesque, and it reminded both of us a little of Amalfi, just not nearly as high above the water, or with drivers nearly as insane. Or lemons. But still, really pretty, and we saw this on the way home. 

 A castle in the lake. I have no words.

What I'm reading: I have to confess...I gave up on the art-and-WWII book. It got to the point where I'd have to back up five or six pages to reach a passage I remembered, and then I just didn't care enough to re-read it, so...enough, already. I decided to carry on with the WWII theme, though, and started reading The Hiding Place, by Corrie ten Boom, whose house, you'll remember, we visited in Haarlem. It's kinda neat to have been there already, and to be able to envision she and her family in that home, and also nearly impossible to believe how many people they sheltered (and hid) there during the German invasion. Thus far it's been a quick, truly engrossing, and beautifully (if simply) written read...I'm enjoying it hugely.

And now, believe it or not, I am actually caught up on the blogging! But not for long...we leave tomorrow morning for the Piedmont, and that will be worth writing about. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

*It was not well posted whether photos were allowed in this palace, so I took photos where "no photos!!" wasn't posted, and followed the rules where it was. It was a bit of a pain, to be honest, and I felt sneaky, but at least I know how to use my camera without a flash. Ooh, and also, in one of the "no photos!!" rooms was this. (I don't know how these folks managed to get a picture, but I'm envious...this table was extraordinary, as the flowers are actually a mosaic of tiny pieces of inlaid stone. Mind blown. There's a photo here where you can read all of the text: it was a gift from Pope Leo XII to Count Giberto Borromeo, emperor Francesco I's ambassador to the Holy See, in 1825.)