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Book III - Italy

Wednesday, June 26

Yesterday, a whirlwind of travel had brought us to Northern Italy - specifically, the town of Riva del Garda on the northern shores of Lake Garda. Friends Luke and Sophie, also, had had a whirlwind day of their own, travelling north from Malta in a single long day of travel. Today, therefore, even though it was beautiful and sunny, and the beautiful lake-and-mountain scenery begged for exploration... well, today was best left very loosely and lazily planned.

Our "home" street

Via dei Fabbri

Seeing as we'd be staying in an apartment with a full kitchen for the next several days, we needed to hit a grocery store. Fortunately, there was one just a few hundred metres from our front door. We decided to split up: some of us would go and fetch food from the grocery store, and I would work on establishing our links with Luke, Sophie and Kate, who had set up residence in a lake-side apartment about a kilometre and a half away. The next few days would involve a lot of co-ordination between all nine of us, and it was important for them to know what we were up to, and for us to know what they were up to. We agreed to all return in a little over an hour to have a late in-apartment breakfast.

Our Apartment

Moka Express

Brother and Sister

D. Roemer Photography

Heading off to grocery store

I went off by my self in the direction of Luke and Sophie's apartment. I chose to walk down to Riva's beautiful waterfront and walk along it, passing through the main piazza and along the shoreline park to the east of it.

Archway to the lake

Town Hall

Main Square

Idyllic Moat

In about twenty minutes, I arrived in front of the two-story apartment block where we had briefly met Luke and Sophie and Kate the night before. I wasn't sure exactly which unit was theirs, so I hovered around a bit outside until I got a glimpse of someone I knew.

Soon I saw Luke (or Kate or Sophie) through the sliding glass door of one of the lower apartments, and I hopped the low fence and knocked.

The Wards in Riva

Soon I had the Ward family in tow, and we headed back into downtown Riva. Unfortunately, I completely underestimated how much slower it is travelling with a curious four-year-old child, and as a result I was very late arriving back at the apartment for the appointed breakfast. Miriam was not impressed!

After offering my apologies, we planned our afternoon. Most everyone in our apartment (that is to say, Asmir, Miriam, Daniel and Hanne) wanted to wander around Riva and perhaps do a little shopping. Sophie and Jenn wanted a quiet pizza lunch by the lake. Luke decided to take Kate and wander off on their own. And me... well, I decided to follow Jenn and Sophie around. Remember, this was an un-planned whatever happens, happens, sort of day.

courtesy JInnes

Stylish Dad

Riva, Main Piazza

Lunch break

courtesy JInnes

Cappella della Buona Morta

On Duty

Sophie in Riva

Our rambling day in Riva was capped off by a group dinner at the Leon D'Oro restaurant - the restaurant underneath our apartment, in fact, and run by the same family that runs the Leon D'Oro apartments. The meals were excellent, although the service a bit spotty. The staff completely neglected to bring Hanne her meal, and I had to ask several times - the last time with some force - to please bring her her meal. We were all well finished our meals and starting on dessert before she got her main course.

courtesy JInnes

All together now

Dinner at Leon D'Oro

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