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| Top of Mount Baldo |
We were all ready to move into our house with one small problem. Our shipment was stuck in customs. Instead of moping around waiting for it to arrive we decided to take our first vacation. In two days we planned a whirlwind trip to Italy. Limoncello out of lemons!
There really was only one place to start. The Ferrari Museum. Our plan was to leave early Saturday morning to make the five hour drive to Maranello. It was a good plan except for one thing, Bavarian school holidays began that day. We were driving to Italy with what seemed like ALL of southern Germany. We had been warned, but figured traffic couldn't possibly be that bad on the
autobahn. We were so very wrong. That five hour drive? It took eight! We will never leave on the first day of school holidays again.
Luckily, we made it to the museum before it closed and we were able to enjoy a wonderful afternoon there. This is hands down Steve's favorite museum, ever. The mix of history, the old and new cars, the racecars. We unfortunately were too late for the tour of the racetrack. We'll just have to make another trip.
We spent the night in Modena, Italy. The hotel was an older, beautiful building, with the teeniest showers we have ever seen. We asked the owner for a dinner recommendation and ate at Zelmira. The food was delicious but much more nouveau cuisine than our kids had ever experienced. They were however particularly excited that they were all served lambrusco. When in Italy...
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| Pool kids |
The next morning we drove to Bardolino which is on Lake Garda. Steve's co-workers had recommended Lake Garda as a popular summer vacation spot. We stayed at the Parc Gritti hotel which was right across the street from the lake and a had a gorgeous swimming pool. The kids were thrilled too because the boys had one room, the girls another and Steve and I a third. Steve and I didn't mind that either.
The next three days were mostly about relaxing and proving that traveling in Europe was going to be fun. We walked into town for dinner, enjoyed long Italian dinners and ended our evenings with gelatto.
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| Corte San Luc |
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| Pizza at Il Gabbiano |
Pizza on the first night lived up to everyone's expectations. Personal pizzas take on a whole new meaning in Italy. They are huge and so very, very tasty. Another restaurant we ate at in Bardolino was also delicious and the waiter talked us into a sample of desserts which were of course amazing. Plates of profiteroles, tiramasu and lemon cake filled our table. We decided that you should always say YES when the waiter says he has something special for you. As a bonus while we were waiting for dessert we watched an elevator rise out of the terrace next to where we were eating. Not just any elevator, an elevator for a car, for the underground parking.
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| Stefanie |
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| Dominic |
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| AJ |
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| Rachel |
We also took a day trip to Mount Baldo. we rode the cable car up to top of the mountain for some magnificent views. It was a popular tourist outing so we had a long wait but that allowed the kids some time to make friends with the Israeli kids in front of us. Turns out they all knew the "chopsticks" math game that is played with fingers. Fun to watch. While we weren't quite dressed for hiking and definitely didn't have proper footwear (remember we were still living out of suitcases, our household was stuck in customs) we did get to explore a little. The kids enjoyed posing for pictures with the awesome view behind them. Then we were surprised by an out of the blue thunderstorm so we had lunch in the cafe at the top and then evenutally made our way back down.
It was a wonderful trip and the perfect way to relax before we started unpacking and organizing our house. Luckily we timed things perfectly and our shipment arrived the day after we returned to Germany!
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| Bardolino |
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| Bardolino |
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| We were really there! |
