September 24, 2011

Day 17 - Lake Garda

I still didn't feel so great this morning so after breakfast, I went back to bed. We ended up leaving Verona around 1pm for a trip to Lake Garda. We stopped on the way at a supermarket for some cough medicine and some lunch. This store was like a Target Super Store. The first large market we've been to in Europe.

We ate our bread and sliced chicken on a bench on the southern end of Lake Garda. This is the life!

One of the first things we saw as we made our way up the coastline was a museum devoted to olive oil! How could we not stop? The museum took an hour to go through and was really well done with videos on the history of olive oil and how it has been made through the ages. They had exhibits of the ancient equipment and the new. The nice thing was that it was free. The only thing was that you exited through the gift shop, of course!

The giftshop was like going to a vineyard for a wine tasting, only this time there many many, many kinds of olive oil available to sample either with bits of bread or on a spoon. I really enjoyed experiencing the differences. Rick, who hates olives, abstained! If you want a virtual tour of the museum you can go to their website.

We continued to drive on the east shore of the lake heading north. There was a lot of haze over the lake and surrounding mountains so we decided not to take a boat ride. As the sun began to set we found a place to pull over and watch it. It was lovely.

Marco had suggested another restaurant for us and with our late start, our timing was perfect to arrive after 7pm! It was at the very northern tip of the lake, and has been in the family for generations. No one spoke English but they did have an English menu. Marco had told us to try the "fried meat." I somehow made a mistake in ordering and after the appetizer of sausage, polenta, and sauerkraut, the server brought us a serving of carpacchio. The people at the next table laughed at me when they saw my face as I realized what I had ordered. I rarely eat red meat, let alone meat that has been smoked but not cooked! The pickled veggies were wonderful. The next meat course came fried and I actually enjoyed it. It was accompanied by two kinds of beans. The one I liked tasted just like baked beans. We had their special, grandma's secret recipe apple cake for dessert. It was the best!

It's now 1:30am, Rick is a sleep, and I'm feeling the best I've felt in days! We leave lovely Agriturismo Sommavalle tomorrow. I have really enjoyed our time here despite my cold and will miss it!

As our vacation is drawing to a close, Rick and I have been talking about how different it has been traveling without Susan and Werner. Besides being totally disappointed that they weren't joining us, I think we were both a little apprehensive about having three weeks with just the two of us. We always believed, despite the differences in our personalities, that we traveled well together. This time, we know that we are a great traveling team. We complement each other in many ways. I can't imagine having such great experiences with anyone else by my side!