When my daughter graduated from Montana State University I arranged to meet her and her friend, Joy, in Venice, Italy. The ladies had spent a month hiking and climbing the Alps of Switzerland and Italy. After camping out under a tarp for a month I thought they would enjoy a little luxury. After a few nights in the bustling city of, Venice, I had rented a room in a B&B in a small village called Negrar that was central for hiking trails and Lago di Garda...or Lake Garda. Lake Garda is the largest lake in Italy and is an extremely popular tourist destination. It is a beautiful moraine valley and is populated with many restaurants and luxury hotels and is accessed via a VERY windy road where they all drive REALLY fast. Being the smart woman that I am I rented a car so that we could explore off the beaten track. WELL...I speak just enough Italian to be dangerous and get by but, I don't read it! HUGE miscalculation. I was the only one old enough to legally drive a rental car so it was up to me...and it was a shifter. I hadn't driven a shift car for many, many years and this one had a really touchy clutch and fast brakes. It wasn't pretty. The 2 other "adults" in the car were having such laughing fits that they were useless in helping me navigate. We were lost for hours and kept coming upon this little roundabout that had the proverbial "Mash" sign with what seemed like 20 arrows with names of things pointing different directions. (I haven't mentioned yet that I had also purchased Opera tickets for that night as a surprise. They were for Aida in Verona at the oldest operating outdoor, opera arena in Italy.) By the time we arrived at the B&B I was having a melt down...which was making them laugh even harder! Taking a 5 minute break to unload we were on the road again to find Verona and the opera arena...I forgot the tickets! More melt down and laughing. We finally got in and it was amazing! The next day I let my daughter drive and I sat in the back and tried to "relax". We came upon this beautiful lakeside beach and set up under a willow tree and enjoyed the breeze...and some much needed vino. Whew. La dolce vita...the good life!
IT'S THE HALFWAY POINT...ONLY 50 MORE LITTLE GEMS TO GO!
IT'S THE HALFWAY POINT...ONLY 50 MORE LITTLE GEMS TO GO!