Villa Melzi and Carlotta
When we woke up the first thing we all did was peek out of the window: drizzle, fog, you could not see more than 10 meters ahead. You couldn't even see the lake. Drat. Thank God food is a great comfort so we pigged out in harmony over breakfast till we figured a plan of action. We thought we could head for Bellagio and walk around the town, at least we would be near cafes during potential downpours.
However, the weather did improve quite a bit over the morning. The drizzle lifted and we were able to walk through the lovely gardens of Villa Melzi without the need for an umbrella. It also meant I could take some great pictures, much better than I expected at this rate. The only sad thing is that we had missed out on the rhododendrons (spelling?) in bloom. It was so disappointing because you could tell that everything had been landscaped so as to maximise the vivid colours of pink and red vs the blue of the lake. It still looked pretty, but no way near as its potential.
We then had a drink by the lake shore in a pretty cafe and then decided to transfer across the lake by boat to get to Villa Carlotta. Nathalie had raved about it for months... it was supposed to be THE highlight, the thing that was going to make my mother go 'wow' as it was just splashes of colours after colours (150 different types of rhododendrons and azaelas). However, because we had just missed the bloom season she was SO disappointed. We were gutted too but I guess it was worse for her because she knew exactly what we were missing out on. Instead of this amazing display of colours that was so breathtaking that people flew over from all over the world to witness it, it was just more green and shades of green. We did see some post cards at the Villa's Gift Shop showing how it should have been, and yes, it did make you want to cry. But I guess there is nothing you can do to predict when the best bloom will take place. She is adamant she had visited Villa Carlotta at exactly the same time (last week in May) 2 years ago, however, in 2008 it seems that early May would have been better. This is the one thing you cannot predict properly and very few people have the luxury of playing it by ear.
The afternoon got worse and worse weather wise and unfortunately we missed our return boat by 5 minutes so had to wait another hour for the next one. Not great. We asked if we could go all the way back up the stairs to reach the villa again and sit inside instead of waiting under an old tree and getting wet.
I did manage to take some lovely photos, but I know that if it had all gone according to plan, I would have taken 100 more... oh well.
So we are really unsure how to plan our week. We will have to see how each day feels and how the weather holds or not... I just hope I can take at least one glorious shot of the lake from our terrace since the view is the main reason we booked here! To be cont.
When we woke up the first thing we all did was peek out of the window: drizzle, fog, you could not see more than 10 meters ahead. You couldn't even see the lake. Drat. Thank God food is a great comfort so we pigged out in harmony over breakfast till we figured a plan of action. We thought we could head for Bellagio and walk around the town, at least we would be near cafes during potential downpours.
However, the weather did improve quite a bit over the morning. The drizzle lifted and we were able to walk through the lovely gardens of Villa Melzi without the need for an umbrella. It also meant I could take some great pictures, much better than I expected at this rate. The only sad thing is that we had missed out on the rhododendrons (spelling?) in bloom. It was so disappointing because you could tell that everything had been landscaped so as to maximise the vivid colours of pink and red vs the blue of the lake. It still looked pretty, but no way near as its potential.
We then had a drink by the lake shore in a pretty cafe and then decided to transfer across the lake by boat to get to Villa Carlotta. Nathalie had raved about it for months... it was supposed to be THE highlight, the thing that was going to make my mother go 'wow' as it was just splashes of colours after colours (150 different types of rhododendrons and azaelas). However, because we had just missed the bloom season she was SO disappointed. We were gutted too but I guess it was worse for her because she knew exactly what we were missing out on. Instead of this amazing display of colours that was so breathtaking that people flew over from all over the world to witness it, it was just more green and shades of green. We did see some post cards at the Villa's Gift Shop showing how it should have been, and yes, it did make you want to cry. But I guess there is nothing you can do to predict when the best bloom will take place. She is adamant she had visited Villa Carlotta at exactly the same time (last week in May) 2 years ago, however, in 2008 it seems that early May would have been better. This is the one thing you cannot predict properly and very few people have the luxury of playing it by ear.
The afternoon got worse and worse weather wise and unfortunately we missed our return boat by 5 minutes so had to wait another hour for the next one. Not great. We asked if we could go all the way back up the stairs to reach the villa again and sit inside instead of waiting under an old tree and getting wet.
I did manage to take some lovely photos, but I know that if it had all gone according to plan, I would have taken 100 more... oh well.
So we are really unsure how to plan our week. We will have to see how each day feels and how the weather holds or not... I just hope I can take at least one glorious shot of the lake from our terrace since the view is the main reason we booked here! To be cont.
posted by Sylvie at 4:53 PM
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