Italy trip 2003: part 5

28 June 2003
Saturday was another travel day. It was uneventful except for the Gypsy family at the Autogrill. The lady behind the counter watched the feral girl running around with the stroller like a hawk, also watching the father. I merrily fell for the distraction, or maybe it was the mother's droopy boobs; they could have easily stolen anything at that time.

We found the house in Garda (actually the house is in Torri Del Benaco) easily (the directions were very good) but the traffic was pretty bad. Not only were people coming up to the lake for the weekend, but there was some triathalon going on as well. Lots of bicycles on the road, thank god they were not in our lane. But judging from the amount of Germans and tourists in general, there is high volume on the weekends. I bet there are a lot of people who stay for longer, but a much bigger number are only here for the day or weekend.

So about this house: It is beautiful just like the other, but this is much more modern. The windows have screens!! And there is a nice breeze coming off the lake all the time it seems. We have a pool again, although it is smaller, a gorgeous view of the lake (we’re on a steep road up the hill, and no one blocking the view). There is a small yard with lots of chairs to sit under the trees, or sit on the balcony from the front room. The TV has satellite with 3 English channels and the rest German. (We saw Conan on!! And then Jackass, and then South Park). All in all, this house is very much worth the price, since we have electric fans along with small AC units.

I read in some letters in the guest book that it would be a good idea to make reservations. So of course come dinner time the place we tried first was full. That was probably only because it was starting to rain and the outside was closed. We did find a place, and the waitress spoke German.

After dinner and pretty much all night we had some spectacular thunderstorms. It started at the north end of the lake, to the west of the mountains, and worked its way south. Then when we thought it was dying out it swung back up to our side of the lake. That was around bed time, and we got some nice big flashes and one giant thunderclap. It was awesome, except I had to close the window because rain was blowing in.

29 June 2003
Today we got a late start because we were waiting for the Grand Prix (Ralf won, Rubens got 3rd Michael got 4th) to start. I had read in one of the letters about a gondola up to the top of Mt. Baldo. We headed up the lake to Malcèsine, got on the gondola, and spent a few hours up at the top. The gondola ride had a midway stop where we got onto a bigger car. The second car had a longer distance, and it actually spun around as it went up! It rotated very slowly so that for a while you didn’t know you had moved (unless you were sitting on the center seat). It made one full revolution up the length of travel. That was probably one of the coolest things I’ve seen.
So at the top there were a lot of flies everywhere. We found out why when my brother and me went over the hill to find lots of cows grazing. We went down a path to find a little point where you could get a good picture of the town at the top of the lake. It was hazy again, even after the long rain last night. [There were a TON of little tiny bugs in the grass, and they were all over me. I’m surprised I’m not completely covered in bites.] I don’t think my pictures turned out very well because you couldn’t see the south end of the lake. But, it sure was neat up there. There is a ski resort on the top, and it looked like it would have been a lot of fun. My brother played chicken with a cow along the path back to the gondola. My brother won, and then the cow started mooing like she was summoning the herd to attack her defeater. I wanted to get a picture with a cow, or at least make friends with one, but those little bugs were driving me crazy! I also felt a little like running around and singing “the hills are alive” but I contained myself. It was a lot cooler up at the top than down at the lake. There was a sort of brisk breeze, but it was definitely welcome.

So that was basically the day, we had dinner at the place that was full last night. Part of the dinner was shaved parmisean on pear and arugula, and it was good, so sayeth the Maya.

to be continued...