Basta Pasta, When Eight Courses Are Truly Enough

Sunday. It's a travel day again. Jim says good bye to his friend at breakfast, we load up our bags and our cookies and head for one final Venice boat ride. We are planning on taking the infamous 5.2 but the 4.2 arrived first and was headed in our direction and we passed by Giudecca, which we hadn't seen before as a bonus. We had assigned seats on this train and they were great...Jim had leg room and the person sitting next to me was quiet and nice. We were able to board before all the people with the giant suitcases tried to board and drag their luggage through the aisles....don't even get me started on the over-sized suitcases! I read and we enjoy a cheese, cracker and Nutella lunch. While I am reading I become aware that Jim is holding an extended conversation with a young Asian girl in the seat in front of him....she is asking about her train ticket, how far to Lake Garda (which it turns out is where she is heading), what they should do when they get to Lake Garda and where would he suggest she go after Lake Garda...I'm looking around for the "Giacomo's Travel Consultation" sign....Jim is getting out maps and books and helping her to plan her whole trip....from his seat on the train! We arrive in Milano...I use the pay toilet...Jim won't (see "I don't Pay To Pee) and we are actually able to board early and get another good seat. When we arrive in Varenna we head into town from the train station, bags in hand, on foot. We pass a group of people (any of you that have ever walked anywhere with Jim will not be surprised by that fact) with luggage who had gotten off of the train ahead of us. As we are completing our check in process they arrive..they are staying at the same hotel...the one woman comments " you guys went flying past us...you were hauling ass!" Couldn't really argue with that!

Monday. Jim once again has access to Starzky and Hutch, and I have a bath tub (woohoo!!!) that has a window that looks out over the lake....that being said....we were not the first people at breakfast that morning. We take a wander around town and pick up salami, cheese and prosciutto for a beautiful lunch on our balcony. I do some wash (there is always wash), talk to the hotel cats and enjoy the view. It is very calm here and relaxing. For dinner we went to Il Caminetto. The restaurant is in the hamlet (population 90) of Gittana. The Chef Moreno and his wife Rossella are acquaintances from our precious trips. When we arrive there is a group of 12 already seated. The chef greets us and we talk a bit and then we each order the pasta and a meat second course and I ordered the missoltino with polenta appetizer. The missoltino comes and I eat it all. Rossella tells us in Italian...bravo and comments I even ate the heads...I ask if that is correct and she says yes in Gittana they eat the heads...but not her she does like the eyes looking in her stomach. The pasta comes and it's just right for two...perfect we are in great shape for eating our second course without any problem. The chef returns to the table with a bowl of gnocchi with Gorgonzola and says "the risotto with be right up" ....gnocchi! Risotto! This is not good! And we still have meat on it's way! We push on and manage to finish all three pasta dishes but we're not looking good....I am really regretting the missoltino appetizer! The chef comes back to the table to ask if we would like to shorten our second course order and we both exclaim "yes!" It turns out that the group was a Rick Steves Tour and they have a special tasting menu. The chef thought we should sample everything they were getting as well. Once the meal was finished and the limoncello (tonight it really was the we ate like pigs limoncello) we had a chance to visit, hear about the family and catch up and I practiced a lot of Italian. It was a lovely evening.