In & Around Como

You mean I ordered THIS?! Shells and all?

While Kent and Kate visited, we had some really fun adventures right around Como. Originally, we were planning to spend a night in Lucerne, Switzerland (which is about 3 hours from here) but Eva's and my paperwork is still not complete. Our immigration consultant recommended staying in Italy! So we stayed. It's taking forever for the paperwork to be processed, and we're beginning to wonder if it'll even be done by December - and how that will effect our trip home for Christmas. So we continue to wait...

It was great to get to celebrate Kent's birthday here in Italy! (We also got to celebrate Dad's birthday during my parents' trip in August! A fun coincidence.) We went out for a birthday dinner at a restaurant recommended by many of Cole's coworkers. Kate even tried a seafood dish! This was stepping way outside of her comfort zone... We're talking about clams and jumbo shrimp still in their shells. Eyeballs present. ;) You get the drift!

We also took a hike near Como to Baradello Castle - along the route we finally found chesnuts! Cole's boss here had been telling us we could gather them and then roast them since it's chestnut season right now. So we gave it a try! We weren't too impressed with the flavor, but it was fun. I also bought some from a street vendor in Rome to compare ours with his... His definitely had a better flavor, but still weren't a hit with the group... Anyway, here are some more photos from our hike.

Eva's favorite place to be... 

Reading about the castle...

The view was pretty awesome! :) Looking down over Lake Como, towards Switzerland and also the Po Valley.

Gathering chestnuts...

They were excited! :)