All too soon, Monday morning arrived and it was time for us to head back to Germany. After breakfast, we cleaned up the Rose Apartment and I sent a message to the property owner, who came by to pick up the keys and the six euros of tourist taxes we had to pay. In Lesa, the office of tourism collects one euro per person over age 14 per night. There are a few other exceptions to this tax, which the owners had posted in the kitchen. Apparently, Lesa is pretty serious about collecting this tax and will supposedly hunt you down and charge interest if you don’t pay.
It was nice to meet the owner, who advised us that next time we want to visit, we should simply give him a call and bypass Booking.com. This is not the first time a property owner has told us that. I guess Booking.com charges a lot of fees for finding guests. I would definitely not be averse to going back to Lesa if we have the chance. It’s a nice place to unplug for a few days. I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a place to go if you want to stay super busy, but if you’re looking for peace, quiet, good food, and relaxation, it’s not a bad place at all… and it’s definitely less hectic than tonier Lake Como is.
We got on the road at about 9:30am and reached Unterjettingen by 4:30pm or so… Here are a few photos I took on the way back.
Here’s a view of where the lake is compared to where Rose Apartment is. As you can see, it’s only steps away.
Goodbye Italy… until next time!
Some guy was parachuting over the highway. I was glad when he managed to cross it without landing!
These are pictures of Lake Lugano, in Switzerland. Lugano is also gorgeous and worth a visit. There are too many places to see in Europe and not enough holidays! I had to take these as we were passing through.
A bird’s eye view of Switzerland?
Our drive back was pretty uneventful. We stopped at a couple of Swiss rest stops for pee breaks. Word to the wise. It’s a good idea to have Francs for the rest stops. Just like in Germany, you have to pay to pee, unless you stop at one of the more rustic (and disgusting) public toilets. The ones with restaurants and such usually charge. However, they are generally very clean and well stocked.
Against our better judgment, we stopped at that crappy Burger King again in Altdorf, but this time, Bill got chicken strips and mozzarella bites. No mayo! It always amazes me that such a crappy Burger King could be by such beautiful country. Right after the fast food break, you enter a tunnel and come out in insanely beautiful Sisikon, Switzerland on the shores of Lake Lucerne. I keep meaning to stop there for a photo break and lunch. Look at these pictures! Maybe sometime, we’ll rent a house there and spare ourselves the pain of traffic. Sisikon is probably around the halfway point to Italy. I have actually tried to find places near there but so far, I’ve not been lucky.
Anyway… that pretty much does it for this short series on Lesa. I can’t say it was one of our most exciting road trips, but we did enjoy our too brief time in Italy. I really would like to go back again. If anything, this trip reminded me that it’s usually worth it to book one more day than you think you’ll want or need on a long weekend. I could have used more than two Italian lunches. Oh well… there’s always next time!