Notes from Old Europe: The good life

Travel notes: We’ve just begun a two-week trip through Italy and Greece. Following are some of the high, and low, points so far.

Overheard in the lobby of The Standard , a trendy hotel on Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip: “The only thing that I like about this hotel so far is that we were signed in by the Dalai Lama.” (Our assumption was that the guy was referring to the nationality of the desk clerk).

Trip advice: Never, if you can help it, drive in Los Angeles. Because of a scheduling conflict, we chose to fly down to L.A. on Wednesday evening, even though our flight to Milan wasn’t leaving until Thursday. That meant, of course, that unless we wanted to be stuck in our hotel, we had to rent a car. And even though as a California native I’m familiar with L.A. traffic, I’m apparently no longer capable of dealing with it. After several honking, yelling and making-obscene-gesture incidents, I was only too happy to return my rented car.

Take every advantage to see a movie: Of course, one nice thing about having a car was that we were able to go to the Arclight Cinemas, near the corner of Hollywood and Vine. And the movie we chose to see was “Capote,” the study of the late writer Truman Capote and his writing of the classic nonfiction novel “In Cold Blood.” The movie is, by the way, a brilliant portrait of a troubled, troubled man.

Trip advice: Always bring a good set of earphones on international flights of nine hours or more. We sat right behind a woman who two toddler-age children who screamed nonstop for the first two and a half hours out of Los Angeles. After that, the woman must have drugged them because they fell asleep and didn’t make a peep the rest of the way.

Italian drivers: Our friend Allen picked us up at Malpenza, the Milan airport and drove us the not-quite-an-hour-long trip to the home that he owns with his wife on the shore of Lake Como, Italy . On the way, we were passed a half dozen times by cars traveling in excess of 100 mph with their left-hand turn signals permanently on. That light means, “Get out of my way or I will ride your tail until you do.”

Stealing beauty: Like the name of the Bernardo Bertolucci movie, Lake Como stole our hearts when we awoke this morning. Surrounded by mountains, the green slopes of which haven’t been completely trashed by one housing development after the next, the placid lake would fit in nicely with any Northwest fjord. And George Clooney lives nearby.

Trip advice: Never depend on your rudimentary language skills. In an upscale pizzeria this afternoon, I ordered a salad with my pizza that I was certain had only vegetables. But it came with a layer of thinly sliced beef on top. Next time, I resolved once again, I would use my pocket dictionary to check every word.

Trip advice: If you’re as old as I am (I can remember President Eisenhower ), always take an afternoon nap. It will help you get through your trip in much better humor. That’s what I’m going to do right now.