It's always a little nerve-wracking when you attend a party with a bunch of people you have never met. Try being trapped with them on a bus and in a hotel for 17 days. You just never know what you're gonna get. At least at a party, you can leave at the end (or early) and never have to see them again. On a tour, you don't have that choice. You expect to like a couple of them and can avoid the ones you don't. Luckily, I am on a tour with 22 other people that, for the most part, I would happily socialize with them on a regular basis.
On our first night together in Varenna, we all gathered together in our hotel for drinks and snacks (cheese and tiny little sandwiches). I had met a couple of the group accidentally prior to this. The give away? Rick Steves tour members are given matching grey backpacks. I met one couple as they were leaving the hotel and I was coming in and recognized the backpack. The same with the second couple. Then we all gathered together in a different hotel meeting room. I was amazed at how friendly everyone was. I was adopted instantly by two different men (and their wives). Everyone was very humorous and I could tell we were going to be a fun group. Our tour guide, Stephanie, whom I had met ironically at the hostel in Menaggio, had an easy group. We all introduced ourselves and talked about what we were wanting to see in Italy. I got teary-eyed when I talked about how Italy was a dream I had carried with me for four years. Probably didn't help that I was tired.
Earlier in the evening, it had started to rain. We had all met in the lobby of the the hotel we were staying in to walk together to the other hotel. My roommate, Pat, a spunky elderly woman with long blond hair and thick black eyebrows, had put on the hotel slippers and wore them down to the lobby. She had to go back upstairs to put her shoes back on and came downstairs with a bent, beaten, blue umbrella. We all walked together in the rain and wind over to the other hotel.
After our little meeting was over, Stephanie led us all back out into the rain to show us where the boat dock was. Tomorrow we were basically on our own to roam Lake Como (which I had done already the first two days I was here) and she wanted to show us where to catch the different boats. She was also giving us round trip boat tickets so we could go where we needed to go. She made some suggestions: Bellagio (which I had already seen), Menaggio (which I had stayed for two days), and Caddenabria and the Villa Carlotta. She also gave us suggestions of restaurants in town to eat at for the best seafood. I wasn't really interested in eating, mostly for financial reasons, and my roommate really just wanted to try the Lemoncello, a highly alcoholic drink made from the lemons of Italy. She and I ended up following the group to the restaurant Stephannie had recommended. I recognized the restaurant as the one I'd had coffee with my hostel friends earlier in the day, although this time the restaurant was well-lit and the staff far more friendly than they were when we had gone in. The owner, a very stereo-typical large Italian woman, chatted away with us about which fish was best then surprised us at the end with yogurt, and grapes picked from her own garden for our dessert. For my first real Italian dinner (because the hostel didn't count), I was glad I had gone to dinner with my new friends.
After dinner we headed back out into the rain and wandered our way up to the hotel. One of my new friends, Ken and Jen from California (and my personal favorites) were worried about the fact that my coat was nothing more than a denim jacket. They had come to Italy well prepared with insulated and water repellent jackets. Ken kept offering me his coat but I insisted I was fine. I am from Seattle, after all, and know how to handle rain.. In Seattle, the only people carrying umbrellas are the tourists (and women who pay to get their hair coifed on a weekly basis and don't want it ruined). I had checked the weather for this time of year in Italy and had packed the way Rick Steves had recommended: Only pack things you will wear more than three times. Pack light because you will be carrying your suitcase up and down stairs. I only packed clothes that I would be wearing several times and I thought it would be too warm to bring the leather jacket my dearest friend bought for me to bring on my trip. Trust me, I wish I had brought it.
Tomorrow we were still expecting rain on Lake Como and my new friends were worried I would get wet and catch a cold. By the third day of the trip, they had loaned me a rain coat, sunglasses, and a pair of socks. I never asked for any of these things. They were just very concerned and very insistent. I love these people. I would like to mention also, that Ken reminded me very much of my older brother Kyle. Same grey hair, a year age difference, same sense of humor, same bow-legs, same fashion sense. I felt like he was family right away, but I think his wife was getting annoyed at the attention he was paying me so I tried very hard as the days went on to not spend that much time with them.
We were told to find "buddies", someone we would be in charge of keeping an eye on and making sure they were in the group whenever we needed to make stops or start walking tours. I ended up with three. My roommate, Pat, from Vail, Colorado was one of them. The second "buddy" was Ken. The third buddy was also a Ken. He was the husband of the first couple I had met earlier in the day. Ken and his wife, Lanny. Right now I can't remember where they are from but, while this Ken was an admitted chain smoker, vodka and Bloody Mary drinker, Lanny was gentle and childlike. I found out later that they had only been married 8 years when I assumed they had been married 30. Our second night together in Varenna, we discovered that they were secretly celebrating Ken's 67th birthday. During our "feast" together in Venice, Ken came strolling into the restaurant holding a rose he had purchased from a street vendor for his wife. There were no obvious signs that this man was a romantic or that their relationship was anything more than rocky but they showed me more than once that they had a very strong and loving marriage. I really liked this couple.
My third favorite couple, Bruce and Renee. They weren't married but had been together for 6 years. She had been married before and had 2 daughters. He had never been married. She was 46 and he was 54. Bruce was a wine connoisseur who loved to order bottles of wine and share with the whole table, and had a sarcastic wit. Renee was alot of fun to be around. Well, they both were. We had alot in common and it was great being around people my own age. I spent time with them in Bolzano (after seeing the IceMan) and again in Venice. While they frequently came across as completely annoyed with eachother, it was the little gestures that showed me they had a very strong bond. Bruce got sick with a bad head cold on the second day and missed our hike to the Dolomites.
Rick and Maggie were from the south (Texas, I think). They were another couple I had met outside of the hotel before our actual meeting as a group. Maggie was extremely friendly, the kind of woman you just wanted to hug. Her husband, Rick, didn't come across as being as friendly right away. He was kind of a Type A personality (although he didn't think so) and his first concern was whether or not to tip the waitstaff in Italy. A "money guy", he needed to know the details of things that the rest of us weren't really concerned about. He had a gigantic smile you couldn't miss a mile away.
Then there is Beth and Beth. Seriously, both Beths. They were from Texas and even used the expression "bless their heart" (a comedian we had heard once said that that expression is used when talking about stupid people). Both large women, one had never been married and the other was divorced with no children. They were in their 40s and 50s. The younger Beth had a problem going up and down stairs and getting out of the bus. She got sick by the time we were in Venice with a nasty head cold and missed the day we went to St. Marks.
Amy is a man-ish woman who doesn't say a whole lot unless you talk to her. She's kind of a loner and paid the extra fee to have her own room the entire trip. I swear I have met her before but we couldn't figure out the connection. I can only assume she had a doppelgänger somewhere.
The other couples I still don't remember their names. Jordan and his wife: he's a big goof and pretty fun to be around. He and his wife once lived in Sandy, Utah so we had that in common. They've never had children but seem ok with that. They live back east now. Another couple, they'd been married the longest so they got to go on the gondola with the musicians while we were in Venice (the couple married the least amount of years also rode with them). And the last couple, the only thing I can say about them right now is that they bailed on the gondola ride, and the hike up in the Dolomites in the snow. They are elderly and both complain about the heat of the bus and he has a strong New York accent.
My roommate, Pat, which I mentioned earlier isn't a bad roommate to have. She's pretty quirky and my fellow travelers have felt sorry for me a time or two because of her strange and outspoken behavior. She's messier than I am and once in awhile, coughs up a lung or two. She doesn't snore, thankfully, and I haven't had to wear earplugs. There have been times when she insists on tagging along when I wish I had some time alone. When we were in the Dolomites, I was lucky enough to end up with a room within a room alone. I really enjoyed the peace and quiet and hardly ever saw her. She is sweet and well-intentioned but sometimes, I just need a break. She could definitely be worse.
I really lucked-out with this group. They have been helpful and friendly and supportive. When I see them, I call them my family. I know at the end of this trip, well I hope, that at the end of this trip, I will be able to maintain contact with a couple of them. Some are more forgettable (obviously) than others but, the ones I could describe in detail, I believe we will find a way to say in contact.
Next post: the bus driver....
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