Walking along the lake, seeing the water taxis, small sailboats, kayaks, and larger pleasure crafts opens the aquatic panorama right in front of you.  Looking across the street is the LAC the cultural center of the city.  When the boulevard splits, and the well traveled pedestrian malls begins, the high end stores  are all around you.  Jewelry, fashion, and even music at the main Square, Piazza della Riforma, just envelops you.  I’d been looking at the square on a webcam for a few months; it’s a happening place for local politics, dinner, an expresso, or meeting someone.   It’s very busy from 12-2… il pronzo, lunch!

Walking up to the Cathedral of San Lorenzo is another matter.  Some of the mountain hikes were less challenging than the stepped pedestrian walkway to where the church overlooks the lake.  I discovered a parking garage with a staircase or elevator to bring me to the base of the walkway…it pays off doing a little exploring!

My proximity to the church prevented me from taking one wide-angle picture, so the entrance and the tower are depicted separately.  A church has been in this site since 818 AD, but the present finished facade dates to 1517.

The interior is very beautiful with numerous side altars dedicated to various saints and the Risen Christ.  The renovated sanctuary post Vatican-II is, in a word, “conflicted” with the remainder of the interior.  The “cathedra”  (left side), that is, the Bishop’s Chair, thus the word cathedral; the ambo or pulpit (front right),  and the main altar are unadorned, boring slabs of marble.  Considering that the sanctuary is the focus for sacred worship, in this case, at least for my liturgical taste, I found them, in a word, distracting.

Considering the high baroque architecture of the church, comparing the sanctuary to the grandeur of this side chapel emphasizes my point.

Of course, after the walk back to the Casa, I stopped for some refreshment. Mika, is a razzle-dazzle young man, who likes to impress his patrons. He waited on me Sunday, and I told him I would return, and so, I did. He was quick to strike a pose with the lake fountain behind him. Cheers!