Lago di Garda and birthday!!

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Hi all! It's now my birthday in Italy, although I'm not even sure how to say birthday in italian...

Anyways, I wanted to give another update on what's been going on, and also comment more on the culture here!!

Yesterday, we took a bus to Lago di Garda, or Lake Garda, which is the largest lake in all of Europe, I believe. It was absolutely beautiful there, much more how I pictured Italy to be than Verona. It is a glacial, natural lake, and the water is still very cold this time of year, but it was still 100 degrees yesterday so there were lots of people laying out on docks and rock outcroppings and small beaches. The edge of the lake is a shallow blue-green, but then it turns to a deep blue in the middle, where it drops to 1,000 feet deep. We drove around the wide part of the lake and up towards the narrower end, not very far from Austria, actually! Some of my panoramic shots have the large rock at the end that I will be posting later, when I get back to the states and better internet!

The town we stopped off at was very beautiful, it reminded me of small towns in southern France that I've seen in French class movies-the houses/buildings, etc. were all very Italian looking, and the pathways were narrow and cobbled in stone, with lots of hills everywhere-very Italian, very gorgeous. Lots of little stores and pizzerias, etc. around, too. When we first got there, we had a brief tour before being sent to the castle to take photos for an hour, I think I got some very good shots, it's a gorgeous view. The castle is pretty neat, not very large because it was more for military and political use than as living quarters, but it was fun to climb around and climb the tower of, and it made for beautiful photos. There was also a wedding going on at the time, for an English or Irish couple, im sure it was stunning because of the view, mountains on one side and the lake on the other.

After the castle, we had about an hour to eat and browse a few shops. I bought a ring in one store (typical of me!) and just some water, thank goodness for my fairly weak stomach because it's probably saving me money! That, and carrying snacks and being a picky eater! We walked back to the bus station to meet up, and then up the hill to a place that has a giant sky-lift like machine that takes you up to the very top of the mountain! We rode it all the way up, and there was still snow up there but it wasn't very cold, just windy and summer-time warm. Three other girls and myself hiked over the mountain to the side where you can view the lake, and i took a lot of pictures there that i'll have up later! After that was the bus ride back, where most everyone slept, but i suck at sleeping sitting up so that didn't happen!

Showers were desperately needed after that, and then we headed off to dinner, where I had tortellini with ham and prosciutto cream, it was very good, and also a bellini, originally from Venice, its a champagne and peach puree drink, which was also very good! Then we went to find a drink over in Piazza Erbe, and apparently picked the wrong place-they were all 8.50 euro!! yikes! The drink I got was pretty decent, but we also passed them all around. Another girl got a spritz, which we'd had the day before and thought was awful, but hers was much better. After that, we tried to find a bar called the highlander, but in Italy, most things are closed on Monday, so I ended up turning 20 at midnight standing in the middle of Piazza Bra looking at a map! We never found the bar, but i have found the address, so I think we passed it while it was closed. We were also harassed and followed by three different groups of men throughout the wandering, but there were 7-10 of us at all times and the only time it worried us was when we passed 5 men, one of whom came after us for a while. We managed to lose them all.

We eventually gave up on the bar after we'd gone in a circle and ended up back by Piazza Erbe, where we'd originally left from, and went back up to the main part of the piazza and sat down at a different place for a drink, which was much cheaper, compared to everywhere else, only 6.50 euro! I had a cranberry cooler, which is cranberry and orange juices with amaretto. Very delicious. By then, it was at least 1:30, so we opted to walk back since it was beautiful out, although it took us a while since we were goofing around.

Today was a more relaxed day, we had class from 9-12 and a much-needed crash course in Italian from 2-4. Since then it's been fairly chill, but we are heading to the Piazza shortly to head up the hill and get pictures of the sunset, and then head to dinner and find a place to go for the night! Hopefully, we won't get lost this time, and my birthday will get better than class and language lessons, and I'll have to celebrate on my return the U.S.!

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