Mount Baldo

     It has already been a week of Italian living, and it seems like it has only been a few days.  I arrived in Verona last Tuesday after an entire day of traveling.  We had pizza that night, and I was in bed immediately after.  Of  course, I spent about four or five hours staring off into space thinking before actually falling asleep.  While adapting to a new time zone, new language, and new town has been hard, the beautiful Italian culture is definitely worth it.  This past weekend, Stephen, Michelle, and I were able to visit a nearby town on Lake Garda called Mount Baldo with some friends.  The traffic, since it was a Saturday morning, was terrible and the 1.5 hour trip turned into 2.5 hours, but we arrived safely and quickly found the cable car that reached the top of the mountains.  

     The cable car ride was fun, but packed full of people--many from Germany and Italy.  Upon reaching the top, we took in the beautiful view, the much-colder air, and decided to get some lunch.  While the food was not exquisite, it still hit the spot and gave everyone the energy to walk around and enjoy the scenery.  The mountain range is the southern-most part of the Alps in Italy called the Dolomites.  On the mountain was para-sailing, grazing sheep, alpaca for petting, and many hikers.  There was even a kids slide that cost about 10 centisimi (10 cents) with a bored teenager pushing the two little girls down the little slide.  After we finished walking around, we headed back down to the seaside town to visit the castle.

     We walked towards the water to find the beautiful castle with a small museum about the town.  The castle was big, and there was a wedding being held there that day, so as we walked along with the bridal party towards their reception, we all bought our tickets and went on.  The museum was not very much, it was mostly concerned with the wildlife and history, but the castle was very beautiful.  We were able to go to the very top where the bell rang since it was just turning 4:00 in the afternoon.  After seeing some beautiful view of the lake, and seeing some cliff-divers risk their lives (ah!) we decided to get some gelato and head home.

     The town was very beautiful, and we drove along the lake for most of the drive home, so we were able to see plenty of old, Italian men in Speedo's (the norm around here) along the beach.  Of course, when I think of a beach, I think of lots of sand and water, but here they do not have much sand: there is very little.  Instead, they sit along the grass or rocks that line the lake, but there are some nice, somewhat-sandy parts along the beach.  The water was actually very blue near Mount Baldo, but I hear the water near our town is more aqua-colored.  When we finally get to the beach, I will see!