We made it to our wonderful hotel at Lake Garda after quite the journey to get here. We took a train from Innsbruck to Verona, then another train from Verona toward Milan, but got off at Desanzano, which is the closest train station to our Garde Riviera, where our hotel is. Then, we met some gypsies (story to come), before taking a bus for an hour to the stop nearest our hotel. Whew! But when we walked into our hotel, we realized how worth it the voyage was! Our hotel is an amazing resort, right on the water, with a view of the lake and mountains behind it right from our balcony. They upgraded us to a suite, and gave us free robes and slippers. It’s the best of the best! I seriously feel like a princess, and can’t wait to put that robe on tonight! You bet your bippy I’m wearing those slippers all night long too.
Anyway, here’s the story of the gypsies. So we get off the train in Desanzano, just like we’re supposed to. And we have four huge honkin’ suitcases, that we struggle to lug off the train. We hold up the line as we clank clank them down, but we make it. We start to go down the stairs to exit the train station, and these two women come up to us and offer to help us carry our bags down the stairs. I don’t think a thing of it- how sweet of them! I have a huge smile on my face, as she helps me carry my bag on down. We get to the bottom, and they turn on us, and start begging for money. Shizaa. They’re relentlessly pestering us, and we don’t know what to do. So we scrap together a one-euro coin, and a few other small coins, and hand them to them, and try to leave. But they follow us, and ask for more. They keep yelling at us and begging in Italian, saying that we didn’t give them enough money. We tell them to stop, and walk away. But they follow us out! We go out of the train station, and start looking for the bus to figure out that whole deal. But the two women keep following us, and insisting that we give them more money! They keep saying that we gave one of them one euro, and we owe the other one a euro. We kept telling them to go away, but they wouldn’t. So my mom goes and gets security, and the guy tells them something in Italian. But they don’t leave! We were on guard with our suitcases, to make sure nothing would happen. They’re sure sneaky! The security guard came over and helped us, and told us to watch our bags very carefully. We kept everything, and were fine, but definitely learned our lesson with the “sweet ladies who just want to help us carry our bags.” No cigar.
Anyway, we got dressed up and went to dinner last night looking rather stunning if I do say so myself. We thought we’d go to a nice dinner, and were walking along the promenade of the lake looking for somewhere to eat. We couldn’t decide and it was getting kind of late, so we just went in somewhere. It turned out to be a little bit of a dud. They brought us a plate of little fishies that still had scales on their backs, with bread and olive oil. I felt bad that none of us could even touch the fish, so I moved them around a little bit to make it look like we at least tried them. We ended up splitting a pizza, which was fine. But they say the pizza in Italy is supposed to be so delicious- I have to say I prefer good old Imo’s in St. Louis, but that’s just me.
This morning I went for a run along the lake, and explored the area as always. I saw the botanical gardens and the public library. The library was a beautiful building, with pillars in the front that were carved into angels. The roof of the building sat on the heads of the angels. Those angels’ neck muscles must be getting a little tight! I’m thinking they’re gonna need a nice massage whenever that library gets torn down. It’s such a beautiful building though. I think if our public library had angel pillars I might just do a little more reading! Anyway, I finish my run and make it back to our resort, and I see the outdoor swimming pool. It’s a little chilly out, but I decide to feel the water anyway. When I realized that water was heated, there was no stopping me from going for a little dippity doo! I wasn’t sure how to go about it, because I didn’t have a swimsuit. I was going to swim in my sports bra and undies, but I didn’t want all the people eating breakfast next door to watch me take off my clothes and know that it wasn’t a real swimsuit. So I grabbed a towel, went inside to the bathroom so it would seem like I was changing clothes, and then went back out. I was wearing a hot pink Nike sports bra and some navy Victoria’s Secret undies, and I swam like there was no tomorrow! A few laps of free, a few laps on my back, thought about trying the butterfly but decided not to, a few hand stands, and I was a happy camper.
After gorging ourselves on the hotel’s gourmet breakfast buffet and then checking out, we took a ferry across the lake to Desanzano, where the train station is. The boat ride was awesome. You could see the mountains all around the lake, and there were multiple islands within the waters. One of the islands had a castle built into it, and it looked like a castle out of a coloring book page. Definitely could have been the setting for our girl Rapunzel!
Mom and I went into the little basement area of the ferry to use the bathroom. We waited for quite a while, as someone else was in there. We wait and wait, as she’s doing who knows what in there. Then, finally, the culprit comes out, about 20 pounds lighter than when she’d gone in. Mom heads in next, and within about 30 seconds she sprints out, trips on the stair getting out, and takes a huge breath. “That lady gave birth to a rat or something!” she told me. I about died in laughter at all her little comments. We noticed when she came out, she didn’t really hide her face or anything. She must have just been thinking, “I’m never gonna see those Americans again, I think I’ll just let them enjoy the fumes.” I was up next. Good thing I did swim team when I was eleven, I managed to finish my business without having to take a breath. Gotta thank Coach Diana and the Cool Dell swim team for that!
Now we’re on the train, and we’re about 15 minutes from Venice. A few minutes ago, Mom and Caroline went to the snack car of the train to buy some drinks. I think they wanted to get a Mimosa. Apparently, they walked through an automatic door that closed pretty quickly after it opened. So Caroline went on through, and Mom was following right behind her. But the door closes, and squeezed Mom right in there! From three cars forward, I hear her little scream. I know the sound of my mom’s voice, and I knew it was her. So I was anxious for them to come back and tell me the story of the scream. Caroline heard it too, and turned around to see Mom stuck in the door. Now I’m going to give Mom a few interview questions to get the whole story. Here’s what she gives us: “It all happened so fast. But I’m going on through, just trying to get my Mimosa. And the door just closes on my and squeezes me in. I gave a little yelp and Caroline turned around and saw me, and her eyes were as big as saucers when she saw that I was smashed in there. My arm’s definitely gonna have a little bruise on there, but I made it out- I sure did. Caroline could hardly take it, she was laughing so hard. Down she went, straight to the floor! Sitting Indian Style right there in the aisle of the train, laughing as hard as ever…” Pretty dang funny.
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