So, this post should have been before the week in Italy, but no one’s perfect! This blog is a collaborative effort with Nichole….from BFF to BFF!!
a while ago, wolfgang (moreso than paula) brought up to us about going to lake garda, italy for a weekend…to see if we were interested…DUH, of course we are. so it happened; the weekend of 3.27-29.09, we went (lake garda is a popular holiday spot for germans). we left school immediately on friday and went home, picked up our bags and wolfgang…set the GPS and we were off. the car ride was interseting. we borrowed a couple of books on fun psychological quizzes from lora…so we did some during the ride. we learned about who is the most daring-sarah; who is afraid of success-? who has the most self-esteem-nichole…then it said she was a liar about it, lol. so the 4-5 hour drive turned out to be almost 7 hours…we drove through germany, austria (which we are against because wolfgang thinks the country steals our money, haha)/the snow of austria and then to the top of italy. Nichole fell asleep and her head was bobbng all over the place A LOT..I thought either she was going to jam my nose into the window or she was going to crash or something…everytime I described how she “slept” or acted it out..we would laugh (we still do!). we woke up in italy and it was brilliant. it was dark, but i was in italy for the first time!
that night (even though it was about 11pm) we hung out with wolfgang’s friend at the hotel’s restaurant. we were tired so after a lit while, we went to bed.
the next morning, we went downstairs of our hotel for an italian breakfast. the hotel’s owner (i’m assumming because he did everything) and his mom (we think) had the table all set for us (since the vacation period is just starting, places are just starting to reopen after the winter…so i think we were their only guests). we had baskets of different kinds of breads/rolls, a plate of filled crossiants, a couple plates of meat/cheese (common in germany to make sandwiches for breakfast or a mid-morning meal), different butters/spreads…we also got an egg of our choice; we all chose scrambled and it was cooked in italian olive oil–oh my so tasty! i had orange juice as well. we chatted about our day and the sad news that it was very rainy/foggy, which as a shame. our hotel was on a patch of the huge lake garda, which was also surrounded by moutains. unfortunately it was so foggy that we could barely see the moutains on the other side. it didn’t even matter..we were set for that moutain. wolfgang made the executive decision that we would not do the full-out rock climbing/or that fancy ladder that goes up the side of a moutain at a ridiculous angle…but that we would “hike” or “wander” up it as the germans call it.
we changed and got all packed up for the day at the moutain. nichole and i rode with wolfgang’s friend…we made a stop at a local supermarket for fresh bread, meat and cheese for lunch food..then we were off. the roads are so narrow in italy and the cars are all tiny. we swerved around the lake and everything…i seriously felt like james bond at the beginning driving scene of his last movie. it’s like the italians built houses and set up vineyards and then were like oh shit, we forgot roads–so they squeezed them in when they could….and i loved it.
we started up our hike and nichole and i made it well known that we are in-training for the amazing race (you know, the show….that’s right, we are training for it! watch out america!). i felt good at the start…but then we found out that it was at least a 3 hour hike up to reach the summit off almost 1100 meters (= 3/4 of a mile!). we went up rocks, leaf-covered hills…we were hausy damen once AGAIN! we reached a cute little church and then it started to rain…we so desperately wanted to call it there (well “we” meaning the girls).I thought…YES rain, that means we turn around…but we kept on. we stopped at a great outlook spot for lunch…it’s raining by now but so beautiful–views like i’ve never seen. the rest of the hike was difficult; we went through tunnel-like caves that were used in WWI austria vs. germany…so we pretended we were watching out for enemies…it was fun. we had to use these steps or ladders that were made out of hardcore metal to help hike in areas that didn’t have much to hike up–again, very hausy. we finally reached the summit….WOW. the views were really awesome (we were ABOVE the clouds and fog!)….but more importantly, i was viewing from an area that i climbed. i felt good and strong. at the top, there was a large cross with barbed wire on it from WWI, i believe, and a book to sign saying “we made it”….still rainy so we snapped a few pictures (of course) and started making our way down, which i think was harder. the rain made everything slick and i swore my pants were just going to slip on off, haha. luckily we made it and we felt gross.
we drove back to our hotel, showered, rested our eyes for a little bit then got dressed (ps i realize that many of my sentences are run-on sentences). we went to our hotel’s restaurant for hot drinks…then we took umbrellas into our quiet town to find a restaurant with pizza for paula. we never found it (weird, huh?) so we ended up eating at this fancier restaurant (possibly the fanciest restaurant we’ve eaten at since we’ve been here). we were there for a few hours; europeon restaurants give you the table–there is no rush, pressure or fuss to get moving…you have to ask for the check; they just don’t subtly drop it off.
we all tried different foods…and everything was so yummy. oh and paula started off with a typical italian/europeon appetizer of melon and prosciutto (a rachael ray favorite). we also had a bottle of wine for the table and different breads/bread sticks. we enjoyed a really nice dinner of italian pasta and good company. we then ended it with dessert. I decided to get a ginger custard like desert…and a fabulous presentation (as was everything)….so to the side of it, there was crystalized red sugar design–just fancy! LOVED IT!
the next day, we enjoyed a similar breakfast…except i tried coffee. first real cup. i actually had a whole, small coffee pot to myself. italian coffee=aparently strong. it was about half coffee and the other half was sugar and really foamy (which i love) cream. i enjoyed it. i didn’t feel an effect and i haven’t had it since…but i can say i had it (the start of so many “firsts” when i’m in italy!).
then we paid for our rooms and packed up the car. we drove for awhile because wolfgang was set on taking us to this church….we drove for so long…up the moutain and around moutains–going through the fog this time haha. i was wearing wet shoes from the day before-gross….but the church, wow. worth the drive and the rain, i guess. it was built into a moutain..on a cliff. it was crazy. so beautiful. so inside of it, two of the walls were the side of the moutain–something special. i don’t get to see stuff like this ever–so i put it in my memory banks!
back in the car…and down the moutain and on a hunt for pizza for paula. after 3 tries we finally got it right! we stopped at a very local pizzeria…oh wow…this was probably more amazing than the summit or the church, to me. they made our pizzas right there–no hidden kitchen or hidden conventional oven–no way. brick oven, with wood/fire and everything! Nichole got up and asked (using less english words) if she could take some pizzas of the attractive pizza chef making our pizzas. he agreed happily (he does not speak english). but then the only other guy in the restaurant…he was sitting in the corner (and had earlier been talking to the chef like friends) started talking to be in broken-english. Nichole definitley appreciated it. She learned that this chef was the master and on busier nights, they would have some young guy top the pizzas and the master would maneuver them around in the oven (brought back SO many wonderful timothy’s memories/similarities). so she watched the master at his craft. he served us our pizzas and they were delicious. i got a vegetable pizza which was so good. Interestingly, it had potato and eggplant and each vegetable was divided into a section, not mixed up. It was served on a very large dinner plate–it cost 4 euro (unbelievable!). the master came over to check on us…and were more than fine! That guy in the corner-his name is fabio (haha….don’t think a smut novel cover…he didn’t look like that) introduced himself and Nichole got a picture with him! the master’s name is miracol and she got a picture with him as well! miracol brough us over “lemon liquor shots;” Limoncella, it’s very popular in italy to have this small drink after dinner (we had it the night before as well).
OH, the bathroom was just like a regular fine restroom, but except for the sitting down part of the porcelain, you basically squatted down…so this was the start of being popping and squatting (the first of many while being in italy)!!!