Riva Del Garda

A rainy and overcast day in Riva Del Garda so Nicki was let loose on the shops of the town and I took the lads to a ropes / adventure park.  Where better to take 3 monkeys then into their natural habitat.  The only thing missing were bananas and the picture would have been complete. 

Lucky to get on the course as during the week it was closed due to rain and when we jumped in the car on the Saturday it was drizzling and then got heavier as we pulled up.  I told the kids not to get their hopes up and they were very good about it even when we saw the office hut closed.  Fortunately the bloke running the place said come on over and opened it up for them. 

Cold, wet and had a ball.

They were cold and wet by the end of it but you couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces.

Met Nicki back at the apartment and loaded the bike onto the car and Nicki dropped me off about 1400m up from where we were staying.  More or less rolled downhill the 30kms back to our place.  Cheating I hear you say by not doing the hard yards to get up the mountain but frankly I'm on holidays and I don't care.


Pizza for dinner in the old town and a few drinks in a funky bar.

Stray observations:  A women's love of shopping is not diminished by inclement weather.

Monkey 1.

Monkey 2.

Monkey 3 - Gladiator style

Riva Del Garda

Jumped in the car today for a drive in the countryside again.  First stop was the small town of Dro to visit castello Drna.  We had the castle to ourselves which was pretty cool and the fellow who was looking after the castle unlocked a door for us and let us climb to the top of the tower which the kids loved.

After that we spied a small village off in the distance at the top of the mountain so we drove up there for a look.  (Margone and Ranzo.) An amazing road that was literally cut into the side of the cliff with certain death awaiting you if you managed to crash through the guard rail.

On the way to Margone

Had a bit of a picnic up there at Margone and admired the view before almost getting the Kangoo stuck between two houses.  Our French car has a neat feature which allows the mirrors to rotate in to the car for just such an occasion.  There was barely a bee's whatsit in it and Nicki had to get out of the car to direct me through the tiny gap. 

Picnic at Margone.

Dolomites.

Drove down the mountain and off we went to Trento which is a fairly big town in the local region.  Had some gelatis there and saw the big castle in the centre of the city.

On the way home we stopped at the supermarket and got the world's largest sausages from the butchers.  (More of the German influence in the region.) Super stuff!

Castle at Trento.

Frescoes on a building in Trento.

Local snags - huuuuuuge

Riva Del Garda

Smarties eat gelatis.

Hired some mountain bikes today (€55 for 4 bikes, I've got mine) and rode up alongside the river that empties into the lake to a town called Arco.  Like every town around here it has a castle, a massive church, a medieval old town with tiny streets and loads of German tourists.  

They are everywhere, the Germans that is.  German is the second language here due to the huge numbers of them about.  

Church in Arco

Every time I ask a shopkeeper for something in Italian and I bugger it up they answer me back in German.  Makes for some interesting exchanges that's for sure as I'm happy to mangle more than one language as I then attempt to make myself understood in German.  

In the end I just revert to English and plead tourist ignorance.  



The ride was a lot of fun and in 4 hours we covered 22kms which is  fair bit for a little bloke like Ryan.  Fortunately most of the ride was on the flat and on bitumen at a fairly sedate pace.

Castello Arco

After lunch we headed about 15kms South of Riva Del Garda and along the Eastern shore until we found a rocky beach.  

No sand here just rounded stones.  Still with the mountains in the distance and beer and wine in our hands we weren't quibbling over the terrain.

Played some soccer with the kids and went for a sub-arctic dip.

 

It's OK......once you're in.

Beach soccer minus sand. 

Riva Del Garda - various towns.

Pop quiz Griswold lovers.

15 minutes is:

(a) 15 minutes 

(b) 900 seconds

(c) one quarter of one hour 

(d) ALL DAY!!!

If you answered (a), (b) or (c) you are WRONG!  15 minutes is ALL DAY according to Max when we announced we were jumping in the car to drive to the beginning of a walk.  What a huge drama some things are. 

Part of the trail - Busatte Tempesta
15 minutes = an all day drive to get to.

Besides the earlier histrionics the walk itself was great and wound it's way along the hillside of the Eastern shore of Lago di Garda.  This gave us terrific views of Riva Del Garda and the adjacent town of Torbole as well as the towering mountains surrounding the lake.  Where the track couldn't progress any further there were steel walkways bolted to the cliffs which helped get over the more difficult bits.

Castle at Tenno - Now private residences inside.
The kids loved the fact you could live in a castle.

Lake Tenno

After that we decided to head north for a drive in the countryside and visit a few of the castles in the local area and check out this magic turquoise lake we'd heard about at Tenno.  The lake itself was an amazing colour and was formed when about 500 years ago a landslide blocked the valley.  Despite the glacial temperatures of the water Max decided he'd go for a swim.   He was definitely on his Pat Malone there.

There's always one

Wrapped Max in the space blanket, restored feeling to his toes and drove off to see some other castles which are dotted seemingly on every hill top.  Apparently this area was a hotbed of territorial disputes over the ages due to its proximity to the Austrian border and every man Jack seemed to have built a castle at some stage.  Some are in better shape than others. 

Stopped at a deli on the way home and enjoyed some of the local delicacy which is some sort of salted rare beef only half cured called "carne salada".  Delicious, tastes much better than it sounds.  

Stray observations:  For some, 15 minutes is longer than you think.

Dolomites in background.

Riva Del Garda

Had a bit of a sleep in this morning before heading down to the waterfront for a look about.  The lake that Riva sits on is so big and with the buildings, wharves and jetties similar to those on the ocean it is easy to think you are by the sea. 

Riva Del Garda waterfront.

Talked to the tour information office and grabbed all the requisite information about Riva Del Garda before hitting up the mountain bike shop for some trail maps.  

Riva Del Garda is a mountain bike haven and people come from all over the world to ride here.  

There are literally hundreds of kilometres of trails and the hardest thing to do is to find out which ones to go to.

Riva Del Garda waterfront.

Found out about one that started in the mountains and finished at home so Nicki and the boys were kind enough to drop me off there in the afternoon.  It was cloudy and wet and I wasn't sure of the actual directions but luckily I met a Czech bloke up there who agreed to let me tag along.  

Garda lake in the background. 1200m below.

Of course "my English is not very good" equated to me talking all afternoon to him in English without him having barely a problem.  What a asset to speak another language. (Him not me.)  30kms all up.  540m of climbing and 1800m of descent.  Absolutely, hands down, best riding I have ever down.  

Home at 8pm and shattered.  

View of mountains I came down from opposite shore.  Riva Del Garda middle right.

Stray observations: 0.5L beer in pub - €4.50.  Pizza in restaurant by the water €7 - €8.  Mains €10 - €14.  Glass of wine at restaurant €2.50.  

Swiss, Germans & Italians don't like microwaves.  There hasn't been a single one in any apartment we've been in since we got to Europe.  Not sure why.  A culture of eating fresh food perhaps?   

Tattoos and body piercings are in very short supply over here.  We would see more in 5 minutes at home in any public space then we have seen here in 4 weeks.

Also, dogs don't bark much either in public or in the yards.

Milan - Some Outlet Hell - Riva Del Garda

4 stars!  We laugh at your pathetic 3 star hotels.

Left our 4 star digs (that's 4, count 'em) behind this morning after enjoying a complimentary (?) buffet breakfast.  

We assume “complimentary" because they didn’t ask us to pay and at €150 a night we weren’t offering.

Off to Riva Del Garda today in the North of Italy.  So far it’s been mainly me that has been scoping out what to see and do at each place we go to.

However today Nicki, like that scene in Rainman when he knows how many matches fell on the floor in an instant, somehow knew that there were 6 outlet shopping centres within a 50km radius of Milan so we picked one on the way to our next stop and off we went.

Woohoo!

170 outlet stores (and Nick saw all of them) all with CRAZY prices and UP TO 70% OFF splattered all over the place.  Found a playground for the kids which sorted them out and then searched in vain for a pub for me but all to no avail.  A word to the next outlet shopping centre designer.  Put a pub in and you will be a millionaire.  

Plenty of bored husbands and boyfriends moping around the place. 

I had to amuse myself by looking at the posters in the windows of the lingerie shops.

 

Outlet shopping.  It's a blast.

With the kids crying and at the end of their tether and my mind crammed full of mental snapshots Nicki tied her shopping to the roof rack and the trailer and we all boarded the Grand Kangoo and drove to our next stop.

An interesting thing happened on the highway today.  I say interesting but I really mean near-death-experience when I nearly ran up the arse of a truck in front of me that had suddenly braked in fairly heavy traffic.  My fault entirely as my concentration was broken by turning to look at something that Nicki was pointing out off in the distance.  

No, not some beautiful church or massive castle but a huge shopping centre of all things.  I can see the headlines now “Australian fool kills family whilst distracted by giant green shopping centre wall.”  Fantastic.

Stray observations:  

Outlet centres need a bar, preferably a sports one.  

Kids are not suited to outlet shopping.  

Green walls are not that interesting. 

The brakes on a Grand Kangoo are top notch.

Milan - Italy.

Milan

Caught the train this morning to the centre of Milan to check out the sites of the old city which where very impressive.  People milling about everywhere and it’s not even the busiest time of the year.  It must be something else when it’s high summer.

An arch.

Went to a Serie A game (Italian Premier League) in the afternoon to see the mighty Inter Milan and European powerhouse take on the bottom of the table Sienna at the world famous San Siro stadium.

After out 5-3 goalfest in Germany we were looking forward to the home team dishing out some rough justice to the plucky cellar dwelling Siennans.  For the uninitiated Italian football is a game polar opposite to the English Premier League where the build-up to an attack happens slowly rather than at breakneck speed like it does in England.  This resulted in a rather dour (others would say normal) first 70 minutes of football without a goal being scored.  At the 71^st minute the ball finally hit the back of the net but at the wrong bloody end.  One nil to Sienna.  Not to worry this’ll be just the thing Inter need to pull their finger out of the proverbial. 

San Siro stadium - Inter Milan vs Sienna

15 minutes later and after wave after wave of attacks by Inter…….GOALLLLLLLL!!!!!……..by bloody Sienna again hitting them on the break. 

Sienna 2 – Inter 0. 

Well you should have seen the crowd empty out of the stadium.  It was as if someone had pulled the plug from the bathtub.  The final whistle went soon after putting Inter out of their misery with the remaining patrons heaping loud boos and whistles on the Inter players.  No hanging around after the game signing autographs like at a Brisbane Roar game.

A poor result but still worth going to if only to see the histrionics the Italians players if so much as having been touched by a feather.  Pathetic really in the eyes of this Aussie but the locals didn’t seem to mind as they see conning the ref as just part of the game.

Duomo cathedral

Went back into the city and walked more of the old town and spent more time than I’ve spent in a church for many a year checking out Cathedral Duomo. 

After that we headed out to dinner at one of the restaurants on the Piazza and our wallets got roundly spanked for our troubles.  Still sometimes you have to splash out.

On the train home and back to our 4 star digs.

I'm hurt

I'm dying!

It's a miracle!

Not the result we wanted.

The boys may have splashed out on the wrong shirts.

Grindelwald - Lecco - Milan

Apologies if you're a subscribed fan waiting on the edge of your seat for your daily dose of Griswold adventures but unfortunately wi-fi (that's the internet access thingo Mum) is not available at every place we stay at hence the intermittent posts.  

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Packed and left Grindelwald and headed towards Italy this morning.  Nicki’s favourite memory of Switzerland is the Swiss border receding in the rear view mirror.

Just your average waterfall over the tunnel.

Raining and poor weather as we headed towards the Italian border through the Swiss Alps.  Unbelievable rugged scenery as we ascended the mountains and climbed out of the tree line.  Roads like you’d see in Top Gear with hairpin after hairpin and the clouds and the rain making it even more special.  Waterfalls all over the place again and even snow as we got higher.

Stopped at a place called Sustenpass for a coffee which was the highest part of the mountains and went for a short walkabout off road for about an hour.  

On the walkabout Harry and Max found some local mountain wildlife that they took by the hand.

Bike with road on the left beyond.

Went to get back in the car but after speaking with the lady at the coffee shop and finding out the next 15km were downhill, and only downhill, I ripped the bike of the back of the car and headed down the mountain with Nicki following behind.  60km/hr was the top speed on the bike with an average of about 50kmhr for 15k’s straight.  A huge hoot.

We thought we'd drive to Lake Como (George Clooney holidays here, Nicki had her fingers crossed) and stop the night in a town called Lecco.  Hit our first major drama of the trip so far by underestimating the popularity of our next stop.  Our tactic of just rocking up to the tourist office and trying to get accommodation backfired spectacularly as the rooms listed at the tourist office were miles more expensive than the ones on the internet.  (We had been lulled into a false sense of security by how easy it had been so far.)

Decided to bail out of there and try our luck in Milan an hour away as we were going to go to the soccer the next day anyway.  Told the kids not to worry, it was only 4pm and we’ll get something "no problem".  

“If it’s dark and we still don’t have a place then we’ll start to worry”.

It's a big city, how hard could it be?

Four hours later and now driving from hotel to hotel to hotel on a Saturday night, in the city, in the dark, with trams, and vespas, and 4 million cars, on streets as wide as a tootbrush in the ever nimble Grand Kangoo we checked into a 4 star hotel on the outskirts of Milan for €150 a night blowing the accommodation budget right out of the water.

Local Swiss one-eyed trouser snakes. Hard to catch.

Stray observations:  Holidaying where George does without a reservation may not be a good idea.

Sustenpass.

Grindelwald - Lauterbrunnen - Interlaken - Grindelwald

Hooray ! ! ! Day 4 in Switzerland and finally all 5 of us have left the apartment for the first time since we got here.  

Thought we’d better give Nicki a highlights tour of the Grindelwald locale so we grabbed our sick bags and jumped into the head-turning Grand Kangoo to hit the road.

Stechelberg - village at the end of the valley

Headed up the Lauterbrunnen again and made our way to Stechleburg at the end of the valley.  The area at the end of the valley is a UNESCO designated world heritage site.  As Nicki and Harry were feeling a little bit green we left those trails for our next European vacation and headed back down the valley.

The valley we drove up is quite spectacular and hemmed in on both sides by huge cliffs rising vertically from the valley floor with waterfalls (72 apparently) cascading down the cliff faces everywhere you looked.  Very impressive, even a second time around.  Went up to the same waterfall we were at the other day, this time in better weather, and enjoyed the view from the tunnelled rock platform.

Arty waterfall picture

After that we drive down to Interlaken and walked through some local markets enjoying the ambience.  Thought we may get some dinner but we were horrified by the prices so we thought about grabbing some local hotdogs (bratwurst on bread) instead.  €6.00 per doggie (about $39 Oz for the family for bloody hotdogs) put an end to those thoughts so as a fallback position we decided to hit up some very local Swiss fare going by the name of Ze McDonalds Familia Ristorante!  A couple of cheesies and we were out of there back to our apartment to pack.

Stray observations:  Switzerland, beautiful one day, an expensive, vomiting wreck the next.  Super!

Griswolds at Isenfluh

Typical Swiss house

Trying the settings on my new camera.

Grindelwald - Brienz - Grindelwald

The fourth horseman (diarrhoea) of the apocalypse rode in last night to signal the beginning of the end of days and promptly took out Harry and Max during the night.

Awakening to an apartment strewn of bodies only Harry, Ryan and I could manage to venture outdoors so we left leaving the dying and wounded to the vultures circling above. 

Gorge with an unpronounceable name

Drove about 10 minutes out of town to a gorge called Gletscherschluct which has walkways bolted into the side of the cliff faces that go about 800m in.  The water comes bolting down from a glacier above and is quite loud and an impressive sight.

After that Harry pulled the pin as last nights activities took their toll so Ryan and I drove down to Interlaken and then along Lake Brienz.  Lake Brienz is a beautiful turquoise colour and the road winds along the shore through little towns dotted by the water.  Stopped at one to scope out a 13th century castle and then at another to enjoy an ice-cream by the water.  

Ringgengberg castle - with church built on ruins.

Not the most action packed day but nice to get out of the house and into the sunshine. (And away from the dead and dying.)

Stray observations:  Kids (7 year old monkeys) can't help but dob you in to your wife just because, maybe, and the jury is still out, maybe you may have inadvertently entered a small airport and driven halfway across a runway.

Lake Brienz - from castle rampart.

Just more boring scenery while you're driving.

Lake Brienz

Mad geology behind house - for the nerds