16 - Here's hoping our immune systems are en Garda...

After Bled, we’d decided that lake based holidays may have become our favourite type of holidays so with Garda, on Lake Garda, next on the schedule we were pretty excited. So excited that we drove directly there without a stop.

We arrived to some stunning accommodation among olive groves just outside the centre of Garda and we were shown to the bicycles made available for guests. The last time I rode a bicycle was in Amsterdam which didn’t go so well (I was terrified and would get off my bike any time I came to an intersection while James rolled his eyes 300 metres ahead of me) so this news was met with a mix of joy and apprehension.

But before we get into that I have to rewind to Vieste, the fairly low key stop we made a couple of weeks earlier. It was here that James realised Tottenham Hotspurs would be playing Inter Milan at San Siro stadium on the day we arrived in Garda. He had decided that tacking on an extra 4 hour return driving journey (on a day that was already 5 hours driving) was completely achievable and set out to find himself some tickets to the game. Frustratingly you have to be a Spurs season ticket holder to get tickets in the Spurs section, so James took to Twitter to seek out anyone who may be selling their tickets.

He did find a guy who was willing, we just had to pay him the money and his friend would meet us at San Siro stadium and from there all we needed was Tipp-ex to scrub off his name from the tickets and add mine and James'. I was torn between supportive girlfriend and ‘what on earth are you thinking’ but James (usually the more sensible one in the relationship and excellent at doing jobs such as filling in complicated forms) seemed to think this all sounded very reasonable and that he should definitely go ahead with the transaction. I casually pointed out that we would be spending money and driving 4 extra hours, the friend may not even be there AND wouldn't it be pretty obvious if you used Tipp-ex on a football ticket? After some googling of ‘where can I buy Tipp-ex in Italy?’ he came around to my way of thinking but this didn’t stop him trawling Twitter for the next week and pointing out every member who was trying to sell their tickets.

This meant that our first evening in Garda was predetermined. We researched bars that would be playing the match (turns out there’s only one), booked a table (because anywhere that plays Tottenham is obviously going to be packed right?...wrong) and turned up at 7pm to watch. Anyway, Tottenham lost, James said how glad he was he didn’t end up getting tickets and I was relieved we wouldn’t need to pull over on the side of the road anymore to message someone on Twitter or call the Tottenham phone line to see if they were going to release tickets to the general public.

The next day we set off on our bikes down to the lake and had a relaxing ride along the lake edge stopping off for coffee in the next town along, Bardolino. It was drama free until we decided to get a takeaway pizza. The waiter was clearly ill and kept making this sound that didn’t resemble a sound I’d ever heard a human make. I told James that I was sure he was going to cough on our pizza but hunger pangs won and we still ate it. Tune in to our next blog to find out if the pizza man did indeed make us sick.

Another highlight from Garda (yes, the pizza was delicious despite possibly being coughed on) was a lovely meal that we had at Locanda San Vigilio. This was recommended by one of James’ colleagues and it didn’t disappoint. The restaurant is attached to a 16th century hotel that claims to have hosted the likes of Napoleon, Prince Charles and Winston Churchill. The quote from the front page of the menu, although factually incorrect, summed it up perfectly: “There are three areas in the world: Africa, Asia, Europe; Europe is the most beautiful in the world; Italy is the most beautiful in Europe; Lombardy is the most beautiful in Italy; Garda is the most beautiful in Lombardy; San Vigilio is the most beautiful in Garda. Thus, San Vigilio is the most beautiful place in the whole world.” - Agostino Brenzone, 1540. We enjoyed a drink overlooking Lake Garda as the sun went down, followed by a delicious meal and enjoyed every moment of it.

The final thing to share with you from this leg of the trip is that I bought some children's shoes. For about 12 months now I have heard ladies in the office talk about how they get their running shoes from the kid's section which I thought was genius but it seemed that I was the only person in the world who didn't know this was a thing. I always had assumed that my feet were too large for this option but in my last week at work I found out that children's shoes go up to size 5 UK/38 Euro/8 AU & US (I hope this covers all size conversions for our readership). James and I have both been looking for some new trainers and we found a shop in Garda that was selling the ones we wanted. I was going to pass on buying them but was aimlessly wandering around the store while James made his selection and stumbled upon the pair I was looking for in miniature form. I had a look at the boxes underneath and right there was a pair of children's size 38 trainers that were a perfect fit. I was pretty chuffed and feel like I am now part of this non-secret, secret gang of children's shoe wearers.

Because you love hearing about lakes so much, Orta San Giulio on Lake Orta is up next.

J & M