26th day of Summer Vacation: in which we laze around and eat really good food

We decided to rest our feet for a day and enjoy the lovely view from our rental units. We got a carry-out lunch from a little sandwich shop called Cicinin Panini al Metro. I have no idea what was in them, but man were they good. (Edited to add: one was soprasetta and the other was roast beef with Asiago.)

We went for our "fancy dinner" of the trip to Ristorante il Vicoletto. You should definitely eat there, and you should also definitely make reservations. We were lucky that they could squeeze us in at opening time, but we were given a firm departure time of 7:45 so the 8:00 seating could get the table.

Appetizers: spinach souffle in cream sauce (so good) and seafood appetizer, consisting of chopped smoked salmon, a grilled scallop in pea sauce, hot shredded cot, an anchovy wrapped with pickled red peppers, grilled octopus over a squash sauce. Also so good.

First course: Four of us had gnocchi in cream sauce with a huge piece of crispy fried pork; the others had squash ravioli with saffron sauce. Both so good. So rich.

Second course: MIL had a seafood tagliatelle in saffron sauce, from the 1st course menu. The rest of us had lamb chops or rib-eye steak, but I had salmon in curry sauce with mussels and fried oysters. The salmon sat on a raft of steamed spinach. It was divine. Everything was really good.

The house special dessert was apricot and Grand Marnier cake, and that was very good, too.

25th day of Summer Vacation: in which we take a train into Switzerland

We took a train to Domodossola, and then another train over the mountains to Locorna. Lovely views from the train, although it was hard to get good pictures.

Lunch there at Sensi: Ristorante Fred Feltpausch, which had a nice view of the water and some very aggressive sparrows.

I had the chicken marsala with saffron risotto (the former too salty, and with too much sage; the latter very good.)
DH and I split a caprese salad that was competent, but not amazing.
Younger Son and DH each had pasta carbonara, which was very rich.
MIL had lake trout with saffron risotto. She said it was very good.
FIL had a pasta dish with basil, tomatoes, and maybe capers? or anchovies?
Elder Son had some kind of schnitzel with fries.

Then we took a slow ferry back along Lago Maggiore, to Stresa. MIL thought the ferry left at 2:10, but it actually left at 4:15. We walked around town and found a nice shopping district. I finally managed to find good face lotion and we bought freshly squeezed orange juice and Swiss pastries. But we spent a lot of time sitting around on the dock.

There was no passport control either way, although we'd been warned to take our passports with us.

The ride back was lovely and took about 2 hours 45 minutes. Most of us sat inside, under A/C, playing cards. I popped outside every half hour to take pictures.

Then DH and I went out to eat by ourselves. We found a lovely little place (edited to add: Luina Albergo Ristorante) that advertised fluency in English. Limited menu, but the food was really good. We shared a salad of rocket, Cafone cheese, and pears with balsamic dressing. Then he had schnitzel with fries and I had fish-filled ravioli with a sauce of tomatoes and more fish on top. It was divine.