Day 13 - Milan to Kalamazoo

Our return trips meant a day's worth of travel for both of us.  Mona and I were each on separate flights heading back to Kalamazoo.  Mona's flights took her from Milan to Frankfurt to Chicago to Kalamazoo.  My flights took me from Milan to Miami to Chicago to Kalamazoo.

We got breakfast and got on our way to our gates.  As we passed through the airport was noted several interesting things.  First, Mona spotted a couple of soldiers from the Italian army doing rounds in the terminal.  I later learned that the standard issue Army rifle for Italy is the Beretta AR70/90, chambered for 5.56×45mm NATO rounds.  The soldier on the left in this picture is carrying an SC70/90 Random factoid: like the US move from the M16 to the M4, Italy is in the process of moving from a weapon popularized in the 1980s to a more-flexible system allowing more customization and variety of a single platform, instead of many, specialized rifles and carbines.

Next, we spotted a very (ahem) interesting add for a new car.  It was funny to see paparazzi clustered around a car, taking pictures.  Still, it was a good laugh to start the day and served as a good landmark to find our way between the departure/arrival gates and the hotel.

In the terminals, we said our goodbyes and split up for our separate gates.  Mona did great getting to her flights, but I managed to go most of the way down the wrong terminal, as I thought she had texted me.  In fact, I had just re-read a text from earlier in the trip.  DOH!  This meant that I ended up sprinting down most of the B terminal to get to my gate.  I was the last passenger checked in, but there were still passengers lined up on the jetbridge getting onto the plane.  I basically ran all that way, just to stand in line.  Oh well!

When we connected back in Kalamazoo at home, we regaled each other with tales from our individual flights.  Nothing major to report, but I did want to sum up my observations on this trip.

Clothing - 8/10

We both made pretty good decisions about what to bring to wear.  Mona says that many times she brings too much variety of clothing, and only wears 70% of it.  I wore practically everything I brought, except for one pair of heavy pants.  When we were planning, weather reports for Venice were in the 50s and 60s; in reality, they were never below 65 and got up to 75 twice; once in Venice and once in Cinque Terre.  Next time, I'll probably bring the same layout.

Luggage - 8/10

For this trip, Mona took her standard rollaboard bag.  It's seen travel all over the world - we've had it for so long, I can't remember the first trip it when on.  I'll probably have to look at our travel pictures to see when we first got it.  Over the years, the wheels have stayed on and functioned well - which surprised me, based on the number of three-wheeled bags I always see.  However, the zippers have all broken off, one by one, and when we got to Lugano, Switzerland, the handle finally broke off.  The bag survived long enough to get back to Kalamazoo, but it's going to go in the trash next.

My new REI backpack worked pretty well.  I was able to fill it with all the clothes I needed on this trip, and the chest strap pulled the weight of the shoulder straps to the front, making it more comfortable.  The bag was balanced well-enough for me to run with it on my back, which proved to be the deciding factor in my dash to the gate in Milan. The only thing it lacks is a waist strap to pull more weight down to my hips.

I also bought a smaller daypack to replace the single-shoulder messenger bag I've carried since our trip to India.  The new pack was big enough to comfortably carry a tablet, where the old bag could not.  This smaller daypack had both chest and waist straps, which was really nice for keeping my hands free.  The top was also a drawstring, which made access pretty easy.  I think this bag will see a lot more use for our smaller trips, since it fits everything I need.

Money - 10/10

Thanks to our Capitol One card, we were able to pull cash when traveling without paying any extra fees.  We always got good exchange rates, so this was very nice.  ATMs were conveniently located in every location we visited, which was nice, but very many places accepted credit cards.  We also used card+PIN everywhere we used the credit cards, which was a pleasant surprise.  The Post Italia ATMs in Italy and Switzerland did not charge a fee for withdrawals, so we basically pulled money from our accounts at market rate.  Score!  We did a good job spending the cash we converted, too.  I spent all the Euros I had, and in Switzerland we gave the last of our Swiss Francs to the hotel shuttle bus driver.

Travel Accessories - 6/10

This is the place we have to find a way to improve.  Travel accessories, like water bottles, umbrellas, etc. just don't seem to make the trip.  Very early on, Mona lost her favorite pink water bottle.  I, too, lost my water bottle on the train to Melide.  I also lost an umbrella.  Even though I have hooks for everything, it's still very easy to unhook things and forget them.  Ah well!

Universal plugs - 10/10

Italy uses a specific power plug style for its plugs.  I had two universal adapters (one grounded with three plugs, one un-grounded with just two) from Amazon for less than $10 in total that worked great everywhere.  It was easy to plug in our US travel chargers for our devices, and still have a standard, grounded outlet to plug in laptops.  This made it super-easy to stay charged every where we went.  Italy used the three-prong plugs everywhere, but in Switzerland, we needed to use the two-prong plug (the grounded plug in Switzerland is a little different).  In Milan, Mona could use the ungrounded two-prong adapter to plug in her iron. which was nice.  If you're visiting both Italy and Switzerland, you'll definitely want both a three-prong and a two-prong adapter - older hotels may only have two-prong plugs.

Overall - Great Trip!

This trip was a true and utter blessing from my wife.  With all of the care she took in arranging our tickets and our stays, it was easy for me to just focus on getting around.  Getting to-and-from many of our stops took a lot of mental effort and discipline.  Not to mention, dealing with street signs and directions in Italian, navigating unfamiliar roads and keeping track of our bags.  On our next trip, I'll probably look to consolidate more things into a single daypack, and see what I do to keep my hands free.

I'm very thankful the weather cooperated the entire time.  We no rain on the trip until we got to Milan at the very end, so we could travel easily and see everything we wanted to see.  As we look at our next trip, I'm sure Mona will help us pick another great destination, and we'll believe for more great weather!

Thanks for following along with us on this journey!

Day 12 - Lugano to Milan

Sadly, our last day in Lugano came very, very early.  It was a damp, gray morning, as the rain had

settled in overnight.  The day would be much cooler, only getting to 60 degrees.  Mona would be gone to her conference today, and I would have errands to run to get us ready to return home.

We headed down to breakfast, enjoyed the last of our coffee and took in the gray clouds descending on the mountain.  After breakfast, we packed Mona's bags, so that we could drop them at the front desk for the day - this freed her up to carry less stuff for her last day.  I walked Mona to the bus stop just down the street from our hotel.  We rode them #4 back to the train station and headed over to the #436 bus stop.  This bus stops just up the street from Franklin University, making for an easy walk.  Dropping Mona off at the University, I returned to the room to pack.

Unfortunately, the luggage I bought for Ramona was too small, so I had to take it back to the department store.  I quickly packed my belongings, then brought down my bags to the front desk.  From there, I returned to the train station and rode the funicular train back down to the department store.  Returning the luggage finally freed me up for the rest of the day.  What to do?

I took the train from Lugano to Melide, to see a park called Swissminatur.  This park features almost 200 miniature replicas of famous buildings, churches and castles from all over Switzerland.  You can easily lose hours here.

Returning on the train, I met Mona at the train station and headed back to the hotel.  We met our

shuttle driver at the front desk, and quickly returned to the station.  Our train arrived after a short wait, and we finally on our way!  The first class car we sat in remained very quiet most of the ride.  We passed the time looking over pictures of our trip and playing a few games on our phones.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the train, was that the first class car was SOOOOOO quiet!  I mean, the sound of the outdoors were masked in the car.  There were only one or two people in the car between stops, so there was little conversation.  An overhead display showed our current stop, next series of stops and the arrival times at each.  Because of this, only very quiet announcements were made just before each stop.  It was incredibly peaceful and relaxing.

Shortly after nightfall, we reached our destination - Milan airport.  Mona had booked a night for us at the Sheraton hotel, so that we could quickly pass through security for our early morning flights.  The hotel was actually located within the confines of the airport, much like the Westin at Detroit Metro.  After check-in, we took a walk, exploring the enormous airport.  We walked all the way across the terminal, getting a feel for the food courts.  Sadly, my ability to get one more gelato was thwarted by my need to rest my aching feet.  I've been averaging more than 18k steps a day for the last two weeks and I was ready to get back to normal!

Returning to our room before bedroom, there was just a few minutes to push out a quick blog post and call it a night.  In the morning, we would catch our flights back to Kalamazoo!

Day 9 - Riomaggiore to Lugano

Sadly, today was our last day in Cinque Terre.  I mistakenly thought we had visited Monarola, so we got started early to go and visit. This would finally cap our tour of all of Cinque Terre.

The weather was quite cool in the morning, just like yesterday, but that only meant that it would

quickly warm up, just like yesterday.  After finishing the last of the yogurt and other snacks for breakfast, we took the train one town over.  Monarola was just as quiet, with a tall, steep road leading up into the even-steeper foothills.  We climbed the road to stop at a nearby coffee shop, to have an Americano.  After a pastry and coffee, we proceeded back down towards the train, stopping for more arancini (breaded risotto balls).  Mona also spotted a nice store for souvenirs, so we snatched up a few t-shirts, a bag and jewelry.  One store over, we also grabbed another magnet for the fridge!

Monarola now visited, we took the train back to Riomaggiore and packed our bags to leave.  We secured a late checkout from our host, so we were able to leave our bags, while we toured Monarola.  The next train would take us to Milan, where we had a layover before our train to Lugano.  We made our way back to the Riomaggiore station for the last time, and waited only a few minutes.  Our next train whisked us away to Levanto, where we awaited a train to Milan. The Levanto station was quite small and simple, just two tracks.  I passed the time attempting to purchase a Salami sandwich from a vending machine, online to be denied.  Fortunately, I was able to get a Twix bar.

The train arrived and we were on our way to Milan.  There were a few stops, so our trip would take a couple of hours.  Ample time to make the first edits to this blog, and to watch a movie.  I had downloaded Shazam to my tablet, so I had something to kill part of the trip.  As the movie played, I was still drawn to the Italian countryside that flashed across the window.  Industrial areas, sprawling meadows, farms and railspurs made Italy feel much less like a foreign country, and more like just another neighborhood.  As with all our travels, "the world became just a little bit smaller"...

Arriving in Milan in the late afternoon, we were returned to the densely-packed Milano Centrale station.  Yup - just as busy as the last time we were here....  We pulled our luggage off the train, and stopped at rail station service desk.  The helpful attendant directed us to a ticket kiosk to book our final train from Milan to Lugano, Switzerland.  As we waited, Mona helped a confused couple using the kiosk before us.  They were having a bit of trouble telling the different travel classes apart (1st class and 2nd class).  Mona explained as best she could and they made a decision on their tickets.  The couple was from Singapore, here on holiday, and had a short exchange with Mona about Yale NUS.  We had visited this school during our Malaysia trip with students from her program at Western Michigan University.  Obtaining tickets of our own, we had about two hours to kill before our departure.

Fortunately, there is a luggage service at the train station to hold your bags.  If you need to find it, it's

on the Ground level, near the McDonald's.  None of the directions or posts indicated what floor it was on.  We dropped our bags and were now free to explore Milan for a bit!  We planned to make our way to the Brera neighborhood, but got turned around a bit at the start.  This didn't leave us much time there, so chose instead to find a closer place to eat.  We tried a restaurant that Google said was close and open.  Neither of which were true.  We finally decided on a nearby market, where Mona selected a salad with rice and I grabbed the sandwich I was denied early.

We stopped at a nearby park and ate on a park bench.  The sun was minutes from setting as we

finished, but we had ample time to get back to the station.  We headed back, crossing busy street after busy street, before finding ourselves before the station entrance.  We entered what appeared to be the right side of the building, but once again had to crisscross to get to the right floor.  Retrieving our luggage, we made our way back to the gate and awaited our train.

The train arrived a few minutes late and made a last minute change from one track to the next.  For some unknown reason, this led to a mad dash of passengers heading from the original track to the new one.  Did they know something we didn't know?  We our seats in jeopardy?  Not knowing, we rushed along with the crowd to our train.  Mona jumped aboard the last car and we started trying to figure out our seats.  A helpful woman indicated we were off by one car, so we headed to the adjacent car.  Not sure if we in the right seats, a helpful young man pointed out our seat assignments were on our tickets the whole time, and even indicated we were right where we belonged!  Finally settling in, we relaxed for the last portion of our journey.

Under the cover of night, there was very little to see from the windows.  We could only tell we were

nearing a stop when the overhead display and audible announcement called out the stations.  We finally made it Lugano station and left the train, now in a different country from where we started!

According to Wikipedia, Lugano is a city in southern Switzerland’s Italian-speaking Ticino region. Its Swiss-Mediterranean mix of cultures is closely related to that of Italy’s northern Lombardy region. This mix is reflected in its architecture and cuisine. The city stands on the northern shore of glacial Lake Lugano, surrounded by mountains. 

From the station, we caught a taxi and made it to the hotel in mere minutes.  The front desk clerk checked us in, and a bellhop lead us to our room.  I was a little surprised that the taxi driver and the staff all spoke to us in Italian, until I remembered what Wikipedia said.  I had been practicing my "ciao" all week, so I was glad to see I could get a bit more mileage out of it.  The Villa Sassa hotel includes a spa, and is highly-rated for its amenities.  Our bellhop indicated there are five buildings connected on the property, with both indoor and outdoor pools and a spa available to the guests.  When we reached our room, we found robes and slippers waiting for us.  The view of the city at night was incredible, magnified by the cool glow of the lights in the outdoor pool.  With such relaxing amenities, it would be no wonder that we'd get to relax and enjoy the conference, after the go-go pace we'd maintained for much of the week!

Day 8 - Riomaggiore and Cinque Terre

What a day!  After coming all this way, what else would we do?  "Why, let's visit six towns in less

than 24hours!"  Challenge accepted!

If you count our visit to La Spezia last night, we would visit all of the towns of Cinque Terre in a single day.  We planned to start our day early and get a good head of steam going.  Since we had a good stock of fruits, breakfast foods and - most importantly - coffee, we were in good shape.  Just as in Venice, we had a nice moka pot, so strong coffee was easy to come by.  

Mona's yogurt and granola cup actually included a spoon in the lid.  Better yet, it

extended into a full-length spoon!  Manufacturers should really take note of this...

With breakfast done, we planned to take the train and check out the other towns of Cinque Terre.  Each of the five towns are a little bit different and provide their own atmosphere, so we wanted to experience them all.  Just outside our apartment, the street was already bustling with small trucks delivering goods to all the shops that had opened.  With the weather alert lifted, all of the restaurants that were closed yesterday were all open, and there were scores of people walking around.

At the train station, we soon learned of a 24-hour national rail strike.  No one was really sure how this would affect the local trains, so we planned to take whatever was available, whenever it was available  It was just too hard to know what this might entail.  To simplify things, Mona purchased a pair of Cinque Terra travel cards, which gave us passage for the day on the local trains, the local buses and gave free access  to other facilities in the area.  It was like having a hop-on, hop-off pass for the trains, which would certainly make travel very easy today.  The weather was a little warmer than yesterday, and today's high was expected to reach 72 degrees.  This was warm for October and pretty much at the upper-limit of my attire.  I had shorts and a thin shirt, but in the mild humidity and very strong sunlight, it felt like it was nearly 80.  Maybe I'll see a bit of tan in my pictures?

Mona and I boarded the train and took it to Monterosso, near the end of the Cinque Terre.  This way,

we could hike our way back, take the bus or take the train.  From the Monterosso station, we merged with a massive queue of people leaving the station, heading into the city.  From here, we could catch one of several trail heads to hike the many, many walking paths.  As we walked along the sea, we encountered maps of the trails and relative distances.  We soon saw some of the times: 1hr and 45 minutes just from one town to the next.  Mona was well-prepared for quite a bit of arduous hiking.  I was less-than enthused, but still willing to give it a go.  As the walking path turned upwards, we started to climb to one of the trail heads. From there, we wandered a bit into town, searching for souvenirs.  We wandered a bit through the small town, then ambled down to the seashore.  The water was surprisingly warm - it felt almost as warm as the lakes had been this summer. Perhaps my enterprising wife might take a dip in the sea???  As we worked our way back to the train station, we made a stop for gelato, as a sign beckoned "local lemon".  We had seen many citrus trees - oranges, lemons and limes - in different areas, so I was curious.  It turns out the local limone gelato has a much sharper flavor than the limone we'd tried in Venice.  Yum!

After lunch, we took the train (which seem to be running fine) to Vernazza, the next city to the east

from Monterosoo.  The city is known for it's small enchanting bay and castle with an ancient lookout fortress, where you can see the entire gulf of Cinque Terra.  As we climbed the path, however, an older Italian couple near the top warned us that the path was closed, due to the heavy rains. Due to the rain, the path to Corniglia was closed, so we opted to walk just a bit further and head back to the train.   We proceeded just a bit further and encountered a young American couple.  The young lady eagerly took a few pictures for us.

At the station, we took the train to the next city over, Corniglia.  This city is famous for its houses perched along the steep cliffs, and is visible from all of the other cities in Cinque Terre.  There is an apparent lookout from which you can see the other cities, but we were unable to find it. From the train station, we saw signs pointing to the town and started on our way.  Just under 1km from the station stop, we met a large set of stairs, leading to the center of town.  A small, handwritten sign had a noteworthy message.  We began climbing the stairs, thankful there were plenty of benches for weary climbers to stop and rest.  Along the way, we were greeted with a warm, seabreeze and the smell of ripening citrus fruits.  At the top of the climb, we reached a road leading to the central area of Corniglia.  We followed it down, snapping pictures as we went.  Satisfied with a few pictures, we turned ourselves back to the station, to head to Riomaggiore and lunch!

We reduced our load a bit, and headed to lunch just a few doors down from our apartment.  At a nearby restaurant, Mona got an order of gnocchi and I had a plate of fish and chips.  Ramona was very excited to try an Italian beverage called Galvanina Bio Fru.it, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

The weather had cooled slightly from the sweltering heat of the morning, but it was still hot enough for Mona to take a dip!  She donned her swimwear and we got back on the train to Monterosso.  Back on the beach, Mona strolled right up, dropper her things and dove right in!  It's official: my wife had now swam in the Ligurian Sea!

The Manarola marina did not disappoint.  The small marina was covered with a variety of fishing boats.  Cool, blue waters sparkled in the late afternoon soon.

From Monterosso, we opted to take the train line to the end and visit Levanto.  Like La Spezia on the

east end of Cinque Terre, Levanto was a larger city on the west end, with the smaller cities of Cinque Terre wedged between.  We walked just a few steps from the station and could suddenly hear much, much more vehicular traffic, as many more cars, motorcycles and delivery trucks roamed about.  We even saw tuk-tuks, small three-wheeled trucks, like the ones we'd seen in India years ago.

We continued through Levanto to the seashore.  We were greeted with a gorgeous view of a sprawling beach.  While not teeming with people, it was about as busy as the beach at Monterosso, but it had a different cilentele - surfers!  As the evening waves wafted in, a dozen or more surfers were spread across the shoreline, catching the occasional wave.  We were content to stand and watch for quite some time, watching a few of them get up on a wave and take a few turns.

We made our way back to our apartment and opted for a simple dinner of pasta.  Tomorrow would see us packing up from Cinque Terre and making our way towards Lugano, Switzerland.  As we had visited all the cities of Cinque Terre, our challenge was completed!

Day 7 - Desenzano to Riomaggiore

Before long, it was time to say farewell to Desenzano.  Our next stop would take us to the oppositeRiomagiorre, one of the five coastal villages of Cinque Terre.  Read the Wikipedia article - it's pretty nice and takes 30 seconds. 👍 She also booked our train tickets, three separate tickets to get us from Desenzano to Milan to Cinque Terre.

coast of Italy.  Just as we left the Adriatic Sea behind in Venice for the quiet shores of Lake Garda, now we would head to the Ligurian Sea off the west coast of Italy, near Genoa.  Mona had booked a few nights for us in

Overnight, we had a bit of rain in Venice, as I found the streets were still wet from an overnight rain.  Rain was forecasted for the area for the next few days.  Later in the day, I would learn of the heavy rains and flashflooding that affected Spain, France and Italy - don't worry, folks, we are just fine!

We planned to book a taxi to the train station in the morning, instead of carrying our bags through the streets for the mile walk.  Before bed, I booked a taxi online.  In the middle of the night, the reservation had been canceled.  Doh!

  After spending a bit of time, I found the number for a local taxi and stammered my way through explaining where we were and that we needed to get to the train station.  Google Translate for the win!!!

Quick note - you can easily use debit cards at train/bus station kiosks, grocers, museums, attractions and "touristy" locations, but there are plenty of "cash-preferred" services, like the pay toilets (anywhere from 1 to 2 euros [1€ to 2€]), taxis, bus token machines, bars, etc. that prefer currency.  

Still, we needed to pay cash for the taxi, so I headed off in search of a bank machine.  The post office in Italy includes an ATM machine, and fortunately we had passed one the other day.  I walked into town and asked for directions, which got me there in plenty of time.  However, the walk back was taking so long, I opted to jog as much as I could.

Getting back to the apartment, we packed our belongings and headed down to meet our taxi.  He

arrived a few minutes early, and quickly spirited us off to the train station.  At the station, however, we discovered our train had been cancelled at our stop.  Good thing we got there early!  Mona swiftly booked new passage from the station to Milan, and even got us onto an upgraded coach.  We headed down to the platform and waited just a bit for our train to arrive.  While we waited, both a freight train and high-speed commuter train blasted through the station.

Our train arrived and we rushed aboard, as the platform was teaming with riders.  Settling into our

seats, we had barely an hour in the leg, and would arrive at the station 15 minutes ahead of our original arrival time.  How?  We had passage booked on a high-speed commuter train.  This train was newer, faster and certainly more luxurious.  During the ride, I noticed the information display said we were travelling over 190kph, almost 120mph!  The latest high-speed railcards in Italy are currently the fastest ones in all of Europe, reaching over 360kph or 223mph!  That's Kalamazoo to Detroit in less than 45 minutes!

The ride was terribly quiet and smooth - so much more so than I'd expect at this speed.  Even with

nine scheduled stops, we quickly arrived at Milan.  As we exited the train, I was impressed with the architecture - a mixture of classic, marble columns and high steel-arched ceilings. As we looked for our platform, Mona spied a coffee stand, so we grabbed a few provisions.  We soon boarded our train from Milan to Genova.  This was not a high-speed line, just a traditional commuter train.  It was noticeably slower and a bit louder, as you could hear the diesel engine slowly pull away from the station.

Our next stop put us in Genova for a bit, before our final train to Riomaggiore.  This train

experienced more stops, as it dropped passengers along the cities of Cinque Terre.  We waited at the door as we neared Riomaggiore, but didn't hear the announcement for the stop.  The train seemed to come to a stop, but the door didn't open.  Before we realized it, we were moving again, headed to the last stop on the rail line, in La Spezia, the largest of the cities in this region.  Doh!  Ahh well!  We found a train running back in the right direction, leaving just moments after we arrived.  Back at the right station, we finally made it to Riomaggiore.  Heading into town, it was clear we were in a VERY hilly village.  The small

path leading away from the train station seemed to rise into the sky,

just like the tall, multi-story houses along the hills.  We found our lodgings and deposited our luggage.  As the region was under an "orange alert" from the heavy rains, many businesses in town had the option to close.  With time to kill, we wandered down the hill, having a look at what shops were still open.  The local market was open - and quite busy - as were quite a number of the local bars and restaurants.  This seemed like a good omen, but we opted to head back to the train station and go back to La Spezia, assuming this larger city would have more choices available.

On the way to the train station, we detoured to the marina, since it was in the same direction.  We were greeted with a fantastic view of the rugged cliffs below the city and stopped to snap some pictures.  A winding path led from the marina up to streets running through the city, so climbed it for a better look at the shore and city.

Retreating from the marina, we returned to the train station and made our way to La Spezia.  The train tickets were 4€ per person, one way, around $4 USD.  Pretty cheap travel!  As we waited by the train doors, we were ready to "push the exit button", certain to NOT get ourselves stuck on a train again!  In La Spezia, we noted we were

certainly in a much, much larger city, given the density of traffic and high concentration of people.  Near the train station, Google pointed out dozens of eateries, so we wandered off in search of what we could find.  What we found was a neat burger stand called HOB Burger.  They featured a classic mix of hamburgers with interesting ingredients.  Mona opted for a Mediterranean Burger, while I had Pulled Pork.  The fries were served in a little carton with a long wooden skewer.  I could utterly soak my fries in ketchup and not get my hands dirty. HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS?!?  Ahem.  I will certainly invest in this idea when I return.

After dinner, we headed out in search of our daily gelato fix.  Uh-oh.  It was almost 8PM and many of the gelato stands we'd visited moments before were now closing for the day.  Undeterred, we headed back to catch a train and see what our options were back in Riomaggiore.  Doh, again!  Since it was almost 8PM, there were fewer trains running, and we'd missed the last one by mere minutes.  The next train was nearly an hour out.  So, we walked the streets a bit and found a market that hadn't yet closed.  We grabbed desert and other snacks, and made our way back to the station.  It wasn't gelato,  but it was a nice panna cotti - tasty!  Back in Riomaggiore, there was little to do but unpack, update the blog and prepare for tomorrow's adventures!

Day 6 - Desenzano

At long last, the day Mona had been expecting had come!  After picking up our Vespas last night, it was finally time to live life like Europeans - tooling about on our scooters!

Valerio recommended a few stops on the lake, indicating it would take four-and-a-half hours to make the trip around the west loop of the lake to Riva del Garda, a city on the north end of the lake.  From there, we could continue the loop around and get back to Desenzano late in the evening, to meet him at his shop at 7PM.

After having breakfast, we loaded up our supplies on our scooters and proceeded on our route.  We

would first follow the coastal road out of the city and onward.  For first timers on scooters, I thought we were off to good start.  However, the wind and bugs kept my speed down, which, in turn, kept our overall speed down.  We were consistently a little below the speed limit, which (surprise! surprise!) might be a genuine first for me.  My high school driving teacher would have been very pleased...

As we wound through the seaside road, we could houses terraced along the sides of the cliffs, overlooking the lake.  Wow!  We pulled off for what could have been the first of many pull-offs for pictures.

After a brief stop, we returned to our drive.  At our pace, we realized that we were quite behind the timetable our guide laid out for us.  Uh oh!  We were more than 45 minutes out from our lodgings, but had only traveled less than 30km.  At this rate, it would take over six hours just to reach Riva Del Garda.  We might have to rethink things a bit...

We pressed on, undeterred.  With the aid crutch of GPS in front of me, it is a lot harder to navigate when you take time to read road signs.  I was overly-confident that putting Google Maps on Navigation, I could follow the turn directions from one earbud.  Unfortunately, it was hard to keep it in, and even when it stayed, the directions were sometimes a bit unhelpful.  Fortunately, much of Italy is covered with roundabouts.  Unfortunately, you still have to be careful!  On more than one occasion, I took the wrong exit from the roundabout and had to double back to the route.  Not being to easily communicate this to Ramona didn't help, as hearing each other was a challenge.  Even better, I also managed to get on the highway.  90kph is an easy speed to achieve on a 125cc Vespa, but the wind is unreal. Fortunately, it only took an extra 600m to get you a turnaround. This, too, added to our delays.

Before long, it was time to stop and get a bite to eat.  Ramona took the lead and pulled us in to a small cafe in a little town called Salo. We procured spaghetti for Ramona and I had a panini.  Unlike the prices we'd paid in Venice, this was a very reasonable price and actually left us with change!  Back in the parking lot, we adjusted our plans to

shorten up our drive.  We opted to drive to the east side of the lake instead, and see some of the sites on the opposite shore.  So, we opted to turn around and head in the opposite direction. Like clockwork, I exited the wrong road and needed to turn around.  I passed an open driveway on my left and turned in. Mona turned to follow me, but the sharp left and soft gravel was a bad mix! She took a very hard tumble and scraped up her knee, hand and elbow. After we regrouped, she soldiered on like the trooper she is!

We next headed towards a little town called Cola, on the opposite shore. As before, the pace we kept and the increasing traffic slowed us down. So much, in fact, that Mona and I had to split up and make it there on our own. It was certainly very interesting to watch the Italian countryside play out on the drive. I passed farms of horses, fields of wheat, vast vineyards and the glittering seashore.  Truly, seeing the countryside like this was a joy!

In Cola, Mona texted me that she had stopped at a McDonald's. Google showed her location on the map, so I navigated in her direction. Our red Vespas 🛵 stand out, so it's always easy to see them! She was finishing her coffee as I arrived. As the day had really worn on, we wanted to try and reach the seashore for a picture. We headed back towards Sirmione, the peninsula that stretched into the lake. We spotted a marina on the way and took a quick picture.

Following the coastal road, we reached Sirmione and headed to the castle at the tip of the peninsula. Just before sunset, the park at the castle was full of visitors. We were fortunate to find dedicated scooter parking near the front, so it was a short walk inside.

Our gelato quota had not been met, so we made a customary stop! Having time for a few pictures before sunset, we turned ourselves towards Desenzano. I made fewer wrong turns,  so it took much less time to get back. We navigated to the Vespa shop and saw Valerio, the owner, waiting for us. We needed to put a little bit of gas in the bikes, so we headed back past a petrol station. The attendant was a bit surprised we were filling up two bikes, which generated a few looks. 🙄. Undeterred, we headed back to the shop and Valerio greeted us warmly.

He was very surprised at Mona's injury, and kept asking if she was in pain or if she was hurt. We

exchanged contact details, so that we could settle the repairs on the scooter. He also recommended a restaurant not too far where he regularly dined and were off to dinner.

At the quiet restaurant, we were the only patrons dining. However, the friendly waitress really made up for this with lots of conversation. She asked a lot of questions about where we were from, and what the weather was like back home. She also talked a bit about the ease of travel to other countries, and how she works long, hard days during the high season, so that she can vacation in January. What a life! 

Dinner over, we circumnavigated the neighborhood (oops) to get back to our lodgings. Tomorrow would see us checking out and headed to our next stop via train!