July was spent mostly outside of London, with the first week in the BVI and then part of the second/third in Italy! This post will cover Milan and Lake Como and bopping around London for the rest of the month.
milan
My friends and I bought tickets to see Taylor Swift, the Eras Tour, a year ago and I was so excited it was finally happening! We stayed in an adorable Airbnb in Milan that had AC (KEY!) and was centrally located. We were only in Milan for a day and a half and made the most of it with a tour of the Duomo, eating delicious food (risotto at Ratana – amazing, lunch at Bugande – largest physical glass I’ve drank wine out of), drinking loads of white wine, and walking along the canals in Navigli. We had the Taylor Swift concert where I danced till my feet fell off and I completely lost my voice. She puts on an incredible show and I feel so grateful that we were able to see her!
lake como
One of my bucket list destinations has been Lake Como (I won’t lie, Star Wars had a lot of influence here) and since it’s only an hour train from Milan, we made the most of our trip and went to Como. We took the train to Varenna and the ferry over to Menaggio, where we stayed. Our Airbnb was a BIT tough to find, but it had sweeping views of the lake and was technically only a 7-10 minute walk to town (though the “walk” was a mild hike through a forest path with no street lights!). After arrival, we sat at a cafe overlooking the lake and it was incredibly relaxing after the hectic train ride to Varenna – we almost missed the train because we were busy at McDonald’s… and then had to stand the whole way! Note to anyone visiting, give yourself more time than you think you need to get to the train in Milan!
For our full day in Lake Como, we rented a boat and spent the whole day on the lake. The waves were a bit rough in the first hour, but it settled as the day went on. We had groceries & drinks, I brought a speaker, and we made our way down the lake. We stopped by Villa del Balbianello, which is where Padme and Anakin’s wedding is filmed in Star Wars and where they filmed parts of James Bond’s Casino Royale. The villa is absolutely stunning and it was so cool to see from the lake. We found a cove where we hung out for most of the day swimming and enjoying the beautiful views of the small Italian towns. I highly recommend anyone going to rent a boat, it was affordable since there were five of us and the best way to see the area. Once we got back, we went for dinner at Osteria Il Pozzo. I had gnocchi and it was delicious. After dinner, we had wine at a cafe in the main square, listening to a gentleman play the piano in the square and it was the perfect last night in Italy.
Our flight back was relatively early, so we spent most of the day traveling back to London. Of course we had to stop for pizza at Spontini (can’t recommend this pizza enough!!!!!!!) and we had left plenty of time so we had seats on the train. I definitely want to go back to Como!
london
After a whirlwind few weeks of traveling, I was looking forward to staying local in the UK for a bit. The Friday after we got back, we went to the London Zoo Nights, where the zoo is open late at night and is adults only – they have food trucks, beer stands, and live music. It was so fun & we were able to see the little lion cubs playing with their mom! I want to go back because the gorillas were asleep by the time we went, but overall, it was a great night out in London. George and I had lunch at Kipferl, an Austrian restaurant in Camden Passage that I love, and on Sunday, I went on the GoBoats in Paddington, where some friends and I rented a boat to explore the canals. The next weekend, George and I went for dinner at La Vita e Bella after I volunteered for their delicious Caesar Salad (but honestly everything is good there!) and then we went to see Deadpool vs Wolverine (hysterical, highly recommend). The Olympics started this weekend, so I went over to my friend’s house and we watched a few of the competitions & hung out. To round out July, we had our book club meeting to discuss Funny Story by Emily Henry! It was a fun summer read, which was just what I was looking for.
See you in August!
aventuras de alyssa 