23rd day of Summer Vacation: in which we explore Stresa

We're safely esconsed in our lovely apartment in Stresa. It's got a tiny elevator for luggage but is clearly meant to be a walk-up. Our place has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a tiny kitchen, and a large living-dining room. The deck is small but can hold a couple of chaise lounges and a 4-person table. Also a drying rack, because although we have a laundry machine, there's no dryer!

We were all pretty jet-lagged by the time we drove into Stresa on Thursday. We unpacked a bit and walked downtown to find dinner; we just walked until we found someplace quiet. The woman spoke good English, and the menu had an English section... we were too tired to wrestle with translating Italian! It's called La Botte Trattoria and comes highly recommended by several guidebooks.

I had wide noodles with saffron cream sauce and mushrooms. Also baby artichokes cooked in butter and garlic. It was really good!
FIL: eggplant ravioli with a concentrated sundried tomato garnish (really good)
DH: Gorgonzola risotto with pear puree (he didn't love it)
Elder: Milanese chops (thin veal, breaded and fried) and french fries (very good)
MIL: Cod in tomato and polenta. I thought the cod was overcooked but the polenta and sauce made a great combo
Younger: spaghetti carbonara (very good, no visible bacon)

Then we went down the street for gelato. (Gelateria - good prices, good gelato, although not the best we had in that city.)

The tourist area in Stresa has about a dozen gelato places and two dozen restaurants, all within about 5 blocks of each other. I got postcards and Bergamot soap.

My FIL and I went to the Friday market in Stresa. (Open 6-2, I believe) It has lots of clothes, leather items, and tourist gear. There's a smaller food area, where I mostly failed to get any good pictures. Sorry! You'll have to envision vans with umbrella awnings that pop out of the top to make the stall.

The sausage and cheese vendors give you free samples, but they're also very pushy! Very few people spoke very much English - they kept trying Spanish, German, and French on us. I got a blue shawl, and we got sausage, cheese, and cookies. Also pre-cooked chicken and pork ribs, very good. Then we found a tiny little bakery, run by Americans, and got a huge round loaf of whole-wheat bread that was extremely good.

Now off to see the Isola Bella, a tiny island in the middle of Lago Maggiore.