Some times things change... for the BETTER. I had originally planned for Sunday of the Creative Retreat to be a day of rest. I know traveling so far to Italy can be exhausting and I wanted to the ladies to have the next day to relax by the pool, sleep in or just walk the town.
BUT... when something "reveals" itself to you, you have to make changes. Now I know how I am when I find out some special event is going on when I'm on vacation. I get EXCITED! And that's just what happened when I started looking into the Antique Markets in Italy! These don't happen everywhere and they don't happen very often. Sure, there are LOTS of markets all over Italy, but Antique Markets are quite rare. So when I found out that there happened to be one on the ONE Sunday of the month that WE happened to be on our Retreat I just KNEW I had to see about taking the ladies!
It was in Bergamo, an ancient walled city on a hill about 1 1/2 hours away from Bellagio.
Well, once I mentioned this Antique Market to the ladies on our Yahoo Group, there was NO napping going to happen on Sunday! lol... EVERY lady wanted to go shopping instead!
So we got on a private bus for 20 people and headed to Bergamo on Sunday morning! And, as with any trip to Italy, unexpected things come up... Like a BIG parade of local musicians in their authentic dress from days gone past!
So instead of driving down this street, we had to stop the bus for about 20 minutes and wait. Which just made it a fun adventure getting to Bergamo...and a GREAT photo op! :)
So, after the parade cleared, we headed to the "city on the hill" of Bergamo. You can just barely make it out in the far back of the photo above.
Once we finally arrived, the ladies were LOVING Bergamo and the unique little streets and piazzas!
The Piazza the Antique Market was in had been totally transformed into a garden for some weekend garden expo. But the Antique Market was still there and my nightmare the night before was unfounded... (I dreamt we got here and NO Antique Market)
The market is small, but FILLED with goodies. Here's just a few things that were fun to look at:
Some of the ladies found a treasure box of little "finds" at this booth. It's where I had found quite a few treasures this past summer when I scoped this market out with Rebecca. They decided to use some of these "finds" on their shadow box class with Lisa Pace! But take a look at some of the antique shadow boxes AT the market:
The architecture of this city and this square was beautiful enough to not even need the Antique Market for a reason to explore this city. I know the ladies LOVED looking around this square, seeing the beautiful churches and buildings here, the people and the lovely shops.
We even had a bit of the parade follow us up to the ancient part of the city and serenade us! :)
We finished the day with a wonderful lunch at Il Fornaio and a few photos on the city wall.
It was a wonderful day and I know the ladies would go back in a heartbeat to this beautiful city!
We still got back in time to enjoy the rest of the day in Bellagio and take in the sights and sounds of Lake Como. Dinner that night was at Princess Bellagio, a little restaurant tucked away on one of the cobblestone streets of Bellagio. It has beautiful decor in white and black with Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe AND has the most amazing "pink angel" that you'll have to order if you come with me next summer!
Speaking of which...
I will be REVEALING the details of next years event THIS NEXT MONDAY!!
So come back here Monday to get more information on this AMAZING retreat and how to sign up for next years Creative Retreat!!
Ciao,
Laura
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