Visiting Italy's Lake District: Part Vb - Arrivederci to Stresa

After returning from our lovely day out, packing for next day's journey and showering, we descended en masse to the hotel dining room for our last meal at the Hotel Fiorentino, our little home away from home.  We cleaned up nice, at least for the most part!

We were sad to leave Carla and her family who had warmly welcomed us and made our stay in Stresa something very special.  But we were also filled with anticipation for the next phases of our visit.  Carla's husband, the chef, came to bid us farewell in person, while Carla hovered in the background..

Our Guide K then thanked the chef - and his son, the sous-chef - on our behalf for their kind hospitality and delicious meals.

They had prepared a very special tiramisu cake to bid us arrivederci.

I was not the only person there with a lump in her throat and certainly not alone in wanting to capture these moments.

Bright and early the next morning, the hotel's little shuttle truck trundled off with our luggage

while we ourselves walked to meet the bus that would take us to Lago di Lugano and, incidentally, into Switzerland

on our way to Lago di Como where we would stay during the rest of our visit to Italy's Lake District.