Drive faster vs tell my parents I love them
Its the climb, aint no mountain high enough, happiness is not a destination its a journey
We left Livorno, tummies full of fresh bread and spinach omelets, we placed our suitcases in our white fiat 500 and we were on our way.
julies mind- we will drive the 2.5 hour drive and pull off to wineries on the way
keiths mind- we will take the 6 hour back roads through vineyards and stop at wineries along the way.
As you can imagine that lack of communication on the plan for the day left two unhappy people
me- small amount of car time to get to beautiful lake garda
him- the whole day will be a beautiful road trip
The road trip was incredibly beautiful, as we were avoiding highways we were able to see a lot of italy.
We made our way to the top of the alps. Literally. I called them wet noodle roads because it literally looked like someone through a wet noodle on a map and decided to call it a road. keith had a little too much fun testing the fiat and its ability to not tip over. I have always loved going fast and i trust keiths driving. however, where you go around a hairpin turn at 80 miles an hour there is no reassurance that someone going the other way isnt doing the same thing. not to mention the road was ancient and on either side, it was just a vertical slope to your death. regardless i held on for dear life (3 hours of this) Eventually we made it to the tip top and i could no longer hold it. We found a teeny tiny town ( one building one restaurant) We stopped here and keith had some ragu, i had a bottle of wine.
I really loved that there was wandering wisteria wherever we went. It was amazing to see all of these little towns that relied on one vineyard each.
Eventually we made it to our one and only winery. We called ahead ot see if we could do a tasting. he said he could come up from the vineyard (gasp) we drove into this lovely vineyard and out comes a gorgeous italian man, sweaty from the sun. He and keith enjoy taking about the various grapes and he shows us the entire process of how his wine is made. He has a fat and loveable cat that follows him around and i quickly befriend him. later he will try to hitch a ride home with us. ( keith said i couldn't keep him :( ) after A LOT of italian wine talk we try his wines. They are indeed refreshing and vibrant. As we taste in an old barn a puppy sits across from me with its (very hot) owner. To his right him mother and father tinker away labeling endless bottles of wine. (very charming) The wine is the epitome of bottled summer.
We buy 5 bottles and head on our way.
Driving into Sirmione is heaven. Lake gaurda is amazing in every way shape and form. I quickly turn from cranky to giddy. This is the city i was most excited for and it is already all that i had hoped for. each house is enormous and stunning. Each shop is beautiful and quaint. As we drive up the peninsula you had phenomenal lake views out each side of the car windows. At the end of the road is a massive stone castle. Google maps tells me that the hotel is on the other side of the castle. Confused as to what to do, a gaurd comes up to use and asks our name. checks his computers and tells us to continue. With utter confusion on our faces we inch forward towards the castle. He shoos us on and we begin to drive over the drawbridge. the bridge makes all the sounds youd want an old castle to make, a clank clank and a wiggle of its chains as you casually drive INTO A CASTLE. its my dream and my face hurts from smiling. we then continue to (stressfully) drive about half a mile on a glorified cobblestone sidewalk. people press to the castle walls as we drive by in order to keep all 10 of their toes. we manage to find our hotel and a "spot" to leave the car while we drop our luggage ( 5 bottles of wine in my backpack)
We check in and head to our room. Its a cozy space with a balcony overlooking the lake. It is sunset, the sky is cotton candy. There are ducks below our window and im a happy girl.
we decide to return the car on time and head about 15 minutes out of sirmoine. There is an epic struggle to put gas in the car as the gas station only takes euro and only in 10s, or 20s at a time. we find an atm we fill the car up and head to the rental store. Once there we find the place to be completely empty and roped off. after a bit of frusteration, we manage to wedge the fiat under the rope and semi in the lot. we give up completely and leave the key in the mailbox. After an expensive taxi ride home, we journey out to feed keith.
Keith has an orange duck and i have ciao peppe with truffles. Its a delight but keith was not pleased. We were also fortunate enough to have choosen an excellent wine from the region. Keith is fed , we had good wine and all is right with the world. We instantly fall asleep, more than ready for our full day in lake garda tomorrow.
We left Livorno, tummies full of fresh bread and spinach omelets, we placed our suitcases in our white fiat 500 and we were on our way.
julies mind- we will drive the 2.5 hour drive and pull off to wineries on the way
keiths mind- we will take the 6 hour back roads through vineyards and stop at wineries along the way.
As you can imagine that lack of communication on the plan for the day left two unhappy people
me- small amount of car time to get to beautiful lake garda
him- the whole day will be a beautiful road trip
The road trip was incredibly beautiful, as we were avoiding highways we were able to see a lot of italy.
We made our way to the top of the alps. Literally. I called them wet noodle roads because it literally looked like someone through a wet noodle on a map and decided to call it a road. keith had a little too much fun testing the fiat and its ability to not tip over. I have always loved going fast and i trust keiths driving. however, where you go around a hairpin turn at 80 miles an hour there is no reassurance that someone going the other way isnt doing the same thing. not to mention the road was ancient and on either side, it was just a vertical slope to your death. regardless i held on for dear life (3 hours of this) Eventually we made it to the tip top and i could no longer hold it. We found a teeny tiny town ( one building one restaurant) We stopped here and keith had some ragu, i had a bottle of wine.
I really loved that there was wandering wisteria wherever we went. It was amazing to see all of these little towns that relied on one vineyard each.
Eventually we made it to our one and only winery. We called ahead ot see if we could do a tasting. he said he could come up from the vineyard (gasp) we drove into this lovely vineyard and out comes a gorgeous italian man, sweaty from the sun. He and keith enjoy taking about the various grapes and he shows us the entire process of how his wine is made. He has a fat and loveable cat that follows him around and i quickly befriend him. later he will try to hitch a ride home with us. ( keith said i couldn't keep him :( ) after A LOT of italian wine talk we try his wines. They are indeed refreshing and vibrant. As we taste in an old barn a puppy sits across from me with its (very hot) owner. To his right him mother and father tinker away labeling endless bottles of wine. (very charming) The wine is the epitome of bottled summer.
We buy 5 bottles and head on our way.
Driving into Sirmione is heaven. Lake gaurda is amazing in every way shape and form. I quickly turn from cranky to giddy. This is the city i was most excited for and it is already all that i had hoped for. each house is enormous and stunning. Each shop is beautiful and quaint. As we drive up the peninsula you had phenomenal lake views out each side of the car windows. At the end of the road is a massive stone castle. Google maps tells me that the hotel is on the other side of the castle. Confused as to what to do, a gaurd comes up to use and asks our name. checks his computers and tells us to continue. With utter confusion on our faces we inch forward towards the castle. He shoos us on and we begin to drive over the drawbridge. the bridge makes all the sounds youd want an old castle to make, a clank clank and a wiggle of its chains as you casually drive INTO A CASTLE. its my dream and my face hurts from smiling. we then continue to (stressfully) drive about half a mile on a glorified cobblestone sidewalk. people press to the castle walls as we drive by in order to keep all 10 of their toes. we manage to find our hotel and a "spot" to leave the car while we drop our luggage ( 5 bottles of wine in my backpack)
We check in and head to our room. Its a cozy space with a balcony overlooking the lake. It is sunset, the sky is cotton candy. There are ducks below our window and im a happy girl.
we decide to return the car on time and head about 15 minutes out of sirmoine. There is an epic struggle to put gas in the car as the gas station only takes euro and only in 10s, or 20s at a time. we find an atm we fill the car up and head to the rental store. Once there we find the place to be completely empty and roped off. after a bit of frusteration, we manage to wedge the fiat under the rope and semi in the lot. we give up completely and leave the key in the mailbox. After an expensive taxi ride home, we journey out to feed keith.
Keith has an orange duck and i have ciao peppe with truffles. Its a delight but keith was not pleased. We were also fortunate enough to have choosen an excellent wine from the region. Keith is fed , we had good wine and all is right with the world. We instantly fall asleep, more than ready for our full day in lake garda tomorrow.
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