Going to Graceland, Graceland....Locarno, Switzerland

After weeks of anticipation and bragging to our friends, the Paul Simon weekend arrived. Strauss, Erin, and myself boarded the plane to Bergamo Italy, about 30 minutes east of Milan and an hour south of Lake Como. We got in late Friday, grabbed our rental, and made it to our hotel. We had time to mow down a neopolitian za and try a couple northern italian beers. The next morning, Erin and I walked around the town and then we headed out towards lake como.
Our first stop was Bellagio, where we cruised around the promenade and grabbed some gelato. Gotta give a round of applause to Strauss, who endured behind the wheel all weekend through narrow streets, turns, parking spots, and switchbacks. We stopped for lunch in a small town just north of Como on the lake. We had climed way up the mountain to eat at a recommended restaurant, only to find we arrived 3 minutes too late:-(. We made it to Locarno, which is on the north part of Lake Maggoire, having to pass border patrol into Switzerland on the way. Our hotel was in a great location, right outside the concert, which was great for quick bathroom breaks during the show! The pic below is where we had our picnic dinner overlooking the lake; we just didn't expect to see this sight (a big horn for such a little man):

After getting our Africa smile on (microbrewery with a nice heff and a red on tap), we made it to the show. We replaced the African smile stand with a real german beer girl:

Paul rockin it out. He played all the classics including some of his Simon and Garfunkel hits! It was a great show and the non-english-speaking crowd seemed to like!

It was cool because the crowd was so chill in that nobody pushed forward to the front. Erin could walk straight up with our beers without getting nudged or bumped, our places including ample room to dance as well. We met some Swiss girls named Susan and Ursula and their buddy Bruce.

The view of the town square was unbelievable. We will soon add a photo when it was still light out where the alps basically shoot straight up behind the old town, with its 18th century buildings.

Needless to say, it was an amazing show, definitely the coolest setting we have been in (no offense 1st ave or somerset), I suppose we should make it to Red Rocks some day. The next morning we stumbled out of bed and drove towards Isola Bella, make sure you choose the proper side of the island to navigate as the east side is hard to get to Isola Bella (via Stresa). We stopped for lunch in Laverno (I think) on the east part of Maggoire. Erin's pizza topped with arugula and parmasean (over bresola), yummy!

We (Strauss) had to drive around the southern part of the island to get around to Stresa as the ferries aren't too friendly if you are trying to power tour (as we were at this point; Sun pm). We made it though and got a boat to the island, touring the AMAZING palace and gardens (if anyone had the fortune to catch the PBS special that did a helicopter tour through Italy, this was the most majestic part of the show)!! A cool surprise was the grotto beneath the palace, whose walls, floors and ceilings were made completely of shells, coral, and pebbles, it was beautiful! Isola Bella is a palace built by the Borromeo family, construction began in the 1500's (wikipedia just to make sure if you are doing a 6th grade research paper).

Approaching Isola Bella: Sister island (view from palace chapel (cathedral)):
View back to Stresa of terraced gardens:

We made it back to Stresa and grabbed a snack before heading to the airport in Milan. When we were about finished; the BIGGEST downpour I have ever been apart of hit us.

In the 20 HARD minutes of rain, the water engulfed the town was was into our wheel wells as we barely escaped the city, only to get stalled in a 7km long tunnel because lightening struck several trees and the TIMBERED across the freeway. We almost missed yet another flight! It was worth it though, an amazing weekend.