I am up with the dawn no matter where in the world I find myself. My husband is up with the owls and does not like mornings. This makes for some interesting travel logistics. Multi-room lodging is usually best, so I can get up and move about without waking him. But after three hours, if he isn’t up, I am pacing. It will take at least an hour after that before we are out the door. On good days we go with the flow, on others one or both of us are out of sorts because I wanted an early start/he wanted a late one.

Today was no problem as we just headed to the small village of Angeri. Our destination was Rocca di Angeri, an ancient fortress of the Boromeo family. The castle sits prominently on a rock cliff face and looms over the town. It can be easily seen from across the lake.

Despite the prominent location on the lake, it is harder to find by land. We drive up the small one lane road with two way traffic entryway and park. The ticket taker is super friendly and welcomes us inside. She comes out of the booth to talk with us and make sure we understand how the multi site tickets work.

The view as we walk up the entry road and onto the lower court are stunning. After oohing and ahhing over the view, we try to find the entrance. The signage is misleading and we find ourselves in an empty stairwell that is blocked. The false start requires us to turn around and find the actual entrance.

The castle also houses a doll museum which, it turns out, is the designated starting place. The strange and creepy dolls are hundreds of years old. Made of wax, wood, and every other conceivable material, they span the centuries.

Japanese dolls from the 1700’s. Nuns. Animals with children’s faces. And craziest of all, animatronic dolls. There are tightrope walkers, acrobats, musicians, and various other indescribable dolls in motion. But the most unexpected is simply labeled, old lady weeing. And yes, in fact she shifts on her stool, smiling, and peeing. Yikes! What manner of Italian weirdness have we gotten ourselves into? That is definitely unexpected. Not what I thought we were visiting when we set out to see a castle.

Things normalize as we travel into the main areas of the castle. Frescos from the 1000’s line the walls. Beautiful and fragile, the paintings evoke the splendor of an earlier time. Especially since this is just one of many castles owned by the Borromeo family. Their fortresses circled the lake and also filled the islands.

The echoing tiles and muted colors mesmerize me as we wander the rooms. And the views from the windows! Looking over clay rooftops, boats on Lake Maggiore, …. I can never tire of the view! I try to imagine living in such luxury in the 1400’s.

We climb step after step, each worn by a 1,000 years of climbers. Upward to the lookout tower and parapets. Up and up until we seem to touch the sky. The Alps in the background and the beautiful lake in the foreground. No invaders for us to worry about, just sailboats and water taxis. The defensive tower is now a sightseeing viewpoint.

It is hard to remember I am in the 21st century while exploring empty rooms with murder holes and garderobe. Sometimes when confronted with history, I am overwhelmed. I wish I had all these experiences during the many years I taught. My descriptions and explanations to world history students would be so much more informed and colorful now.

The castle tour complete, we wander the medieval garden. Herbs to cure fever, upset tummy, rheumatism….your pharmacy is only what you could grow. Artfully arranged to encourage contemplation and prayer, the gardens are peaceful and colorful. I almost feel like I could live there…if of course, I had someone to draw water and cut wood and carry it up all those stairs.

We try to visit the market along the waterfront, but there are no parking spaces. The police have blocked off most of the spaces downtown. It seems strange that they have a lovely park full of shops and they won’t allow anyone to park. We drive out of town looking for anywhere to wedge our small car. Nothing! So I route the gps back to the main road. Note to self, goat paths count as viable options in Italy. One way, two way traffic…..meaning open for two cars but only big enough for one…. Makes for unplanned adventure. Major relief when we hit the main road.

By now we are hungry and our plans for a small lakeside cafe are dashed. Instead we find Roadhouse, an Italian Western Sizzler knock off. Meat, meat, and more meat. My husband is in heaven. I am not thrilled about the food, but love the local atmosphere. This unplanned stop gives me an understanding of what an Italian must feel like in an Olive Garden. It is a caricature of American steakhouses.

They have burgers with a layer of mashed potatoes, double patty, and topped with onion rings. Fries are covered in nacho cheese and ham. My burrito has nicely flavored steak, beans, rice….but also Cole slaw, Italian cheese, and corn. Strange combinations, not quite right, not quite wrong. What is wrong….incredibly wrong….my place mat has an advertisement for an upcoming movie featuring a man holding a pigeon. The man is also covered in pigeon poop. Not what I want to look at when eating a burrito with unknown ingredients.

Since our afternoon plans are scrapped, we stay at the strip mall and join hundreds of other Italians in the shopping experience. We need to purchase an electric adapter as the two we brought are not sufficient for our electronic needs (we have no English stations and have to use the computer or iPad for programming). Add in phones that need charging and the two plugs we brought require a dance of coordination that fast has become a headache.

The electronics store is set up like Best Buy, but we can not read the signs and have to walk aisle by aisle to look for plugs. We find phone cords and extension cords and three way adapters, but none with an American plug. Finally after showing a photo to an employee, he walks us to the check out line where we find exactly what we were looking for.

After a chaotic drive in which hundreds of bicycles take up the right side of our lane and hundreds of motorcycles pass us on the left despite oncoming traffic (and sometimes motorcycles approach from the other direction as well). Think Bicycle➡️ car➡️ motorcycle➡️ motorcycle ➡️ car➡️ bicycle. That is a lot of traffic for a narrow road with rock walls and sharp curves. Add to the chaos, the Italian need for speed and……whew!

Once home, I need to chill out. Grabbing my trusty lawn chair, I head for Erno beach. I have the entire beach to myself, unless you count the ducks, who wander right up to my chair. I get an earful about not bringing a handout, but they eventually calm down. Just listening to the lapping of the lake is relaxing…. Until across the river a motley crew begins ringing bells, waving sage, chanting, and banging drums. Unplanned drum circle…. But I decide that was one adventure I could ignore. Instead I settle in with a good book. The ducks seem to be enjoying story time.