Mon 6 Oct- Villa Cipressi and Villa Monastero

Mon 6 Oct- today after breakfast we took advantage of the beautiful weather, sunny and clear, 13-14 C in the morning warming to 19-20 C in the afternoon. We went by boat to nearby Varenna to visit the Hotel and Garden Villa Cipressi. There is a very pleasant promenade along the lake that we used to get from the dock to the hotel, rather than using the street. The water is quite clear; we can see many fish, and ducks and swans enjoying the lake. We enjoyed the small but beautiful garden that is part of the hotel property. There are many lovely vistas of the lake, neighboring villas, and mountains in the distance. Also of course, the beautifully laid out gardens on several levels of terraces, with again kin-mokusei and gin-mokusei trees scenting the air. The garden seems surrounded by wisteria; it will be lovely in spring when it blooms and fills the air with its fragrance. Kiyomi will recommend to her friends that they stay a few days here, in this boutique hotel. If it were not so far from the pier, we would cancel our reservations at the Villa Serbelloni and stay here - the price is much less, and the ambience is much more. This was well worth the small admission charge.
We then moved on to the Villa Monastero, just a few meters farther along the lakeside. It dates from the 13th Century, when it was a Cistercian monastery; but it was upgraded to a villa in the 17th Century, so the plants have had several hundred years to grow and flourish. The garden extends a long way along the lakeside, but isn't very wide. Almost every place along the path has a view of the lake, nearby towns, and towns across the lake along the base of the mountains. There are all kinds of plants to enhance the view; the kin-mokusei and gin-mokusei trees scenting the air, along with citrus trees of all kinds. This was well worth the small admission charge.
We enjoyed a beer and coffee on the patio of the Metropole back in Bellagio, enjoying the warm sun in the cool fresh air right on the lake. We were shocked to turn on TV and hear about the market crash. We wonder if the credit crunch will affect our credit card use, and whether our retirement funds will evaporate.
For dinner we continued our strategy of trying as many different selections as possible: 1/2 liter house red wine; cantaloupe with proscuitto, cheese, lettuce, arugula, and tortilla appetizer; fusilli pasta with tomato and meat sauce and cream of asparagus soup as first plate; stewed sausage with beans and grilled Lavaret (lake fish) as second plate; creme caramel and Sacher torte for dessert. Yum!