Balogna, Verona, Varenna, Ravenna

 

A view of Varenna from in front of our room

We are not in Balogna, Verona, or Ravenna, but beautiful beautiful beautiful Varenna.  Catbird had seen pictures and heard stories about this place from my physicist, who has taught here before, but she never realized how precariously this little strip of village sits.  Immediately out our back window--not far away, mind you, but in spitting distance--the Alps rise almost straight up, we are that close to the border to Switzerland.  Out the front window, a 20 foot stretch of garden and then the lake, Lago de Como, with Bellagio and Mellagio and San Giovanni blinking on the far coast.

 

Villa Monestero as seen from the lake

We are housed in the Villa Monestero, but the entire town wedges between the shore and the mountain, a strip only slightly wider than a football field at its widest.  There are pedestrian walkways, and a ferry dock and a lido, but only one driving street in this town with at least a dozen hotels, and 6 public parking places.  None of the hotels have any parking of their own, either.  So not far from us, machines cahk cahk cahk cahk cahk all day long, chipping away bits of mountain to try to create sufficient space for a small parking garage.  Clearing the space is a 5 year project and we are grateful we are not any closer.

One of the two machines that chip away at the mountain

Funny thing, Catbird likes the sound of it (except when we have to walk directly past it--then we wear earplugs to protect what hearing we have left).  The sound reminds Catbird that none of these villas are here by magic or nature, but by hard work of folks who disturbed the peace in their own way, clearing, excavating, hauling and hammering.   We are always interacting with our environment, disturbing habitat, disturbing each other, and care should always be taken.

 

Evening view across the lake

When pressed on this issue by another FPS, as we sat outside listening, Catbird realized that the sound of machinery is also the voice of employment.  People have jobs, good work to do.  And what did your father do? asked the FPS when the conversation took another turn.  Oh, he was a construction worker.

 

From our morning walk, a view to Lierna, town to the south of Varenna

Ah.  Perhaps Catbird brings a little personal bias into these perceptions?