Hangin' Down the Street from George Clooney at the Orso Bruno

During the weekend break from the ten sessions of U.S. Securities Law in Budapest, I met my wife at Lake Como in a wonderful, charming little hotel in Carate Urio, which we learned from everybody after we got here is famous for being where George Clooney has his villa.  We didn't run into George, but I want to suggest that if you are ever in this neighborhood, let Daniele and Simona Quattieri be your hosts at the Piccolo Hotel Orso Bruno.  Advantages:  absolutely charming; reasonably priced; we had a view of the lake from our room (see left); the Quattieris just purchased and now own the very nice restaurant Acqua Dolce across the street.  Also, the hotel is located at the dock of the Navigazione di Lago Como, which is the boat shuttle that runs frequently up and down the lake.  So even if you didn't have a car, and even though the hotel is kind of out of the way, you can still get from your door to just about any place on the lake you want to go.

The only disadvantage I could note was the one I wrote in the guest book.  If you are staying at a big hotel, you really don't care how hard Messrs. Hilton, Marriott, Sheration, etc. work, but when you stay here, you immediately become friends with these people, and it is simply astounding how hard they work seven days a week to run this place.  (Simona is a graduate of the hotel and restaurant school at Cornell.)