In Arona, we packed up and rolled our suitcases through a great looking market to get to the station, where we had parked the rental Fiat.

In 1998, Stresa was the very first place we ever slept, as a family, in Italy.  So for memory sake, we drove up to the North, just 30 minutes.  We parked in a lot and looked at the town and we both instantly knew where our hotel was.  Hotel Primavera has expanded and modernized quite a bit, like Stresa itself,  but it is still there.

We had a nice stroll, first around the lakeside and then around town where I bought some dried porcini to take home. 

We had a coffee and got back into the car to head for our hotel near Malpensa.

We checked in and asked where to grab a small lunch and got panini in a nearby bar.  Next table over, a group of cigarette-smoking, Russian sounding women were busy with lottery scratch-off tickets. Where are we??

Back at the hotel we got into the car and drove it to the rental car return spot at the airport and got picked up by the hotel shuttle.

After a bit of a rest we took another stroll.  This town is really not very attractive—or else we are in the wrong part.  Here’s one nice shot I got:

Interesting–they have these signs around the center of town, requiring COVID vaccinations:

Dinner at the hotel restaurant was surprisingly formal.  The food was fine and we had a nice conversation with a solo traveling Australian woman.

I am a bit nervous about our EasyJet flight tomorrow to Prague, and meeting their restrictive size and weight restrictions for our luggage.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  I’m also so sad to be leaving ,Italy but trying to focus on what a privilege it has been to do this lovely long visit.