And yes, the jet-lagged group had arrived, after having been shuttled from Milan by bus. Because Stresa's back streets, including the one where the Hotel Fiorentino is located, are so narrow, large tour buses cannot come into town. So the bus had parked in the lakeside parking lot where I had recently been walking and the weary travellers had to make their way to the hotel on foot. Fortunately, their luggage was ferried to the hotel in a tiny pick-up.
At the hotel, I met HWMBO, who had arrived safe and sound with the group from Milan, despite a harrowing series of connecting flights from the US. It was the first time that we had seen each other in person, other than virtually via Skype, since February, so the welcome was warm!
HWMBO then introduced me to the other group members. Including me, there were 20 of us. There I also met our guides. Guide K was a young German woman married to an Italian and who lives in
Umbria. She had accompanied the group from Milan. Guide P was Swiss, originally from
Zug in Switzerland, but who now resides in Minnesota in the USA. He was to assist K, who was an experienced group guide, in order to learn the ropes because this was his first season with the company,
European Walking Tours, contracted by Road Scholar for the visit to the Lake District. Both guides would accompany us everywhere we went. However, we would also have local guides who knew the regions well. They were scheduled to give field lectures during our walks to acquaint us with the sights that we were visiting.
The Bolongaros deftly assigned room numbers and there was a lot of bustle and hustle as the travellers checked in, collected their baggage and left to explore their rooms and freshen up. We reconvened at 12:30 pm for an
alfresco lunch on the hotel's terrace and some tentative and exploratory conversations, as people do when they are getting to know one another. After lunch, Guide K made the welcome announcement that everyone could rest for a while, if they wanted. We would meet our local guide at 4:30 pm for a walk through Stresa. And thus it was that we met Guide P, an effervescent Italian woman who was very knowledgeable about and proud of the Lake Maggiore region.
At first, we retaced my steps from the morning, stopping in front of the Stresa city hall
where the flags of
Italy, the
European Union,
Piedmont (Stresa's region in Italy), and
Stresa were displayed.
Then we strolled along the lakeside, stopping for photos of some of the trees that were still in bloom,
with occasional close-ups.
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