Sirmione

The following are pictures from a nearby castle in the town of Sirmione.  We went last weekend with friends and it was a lot of fun.  Quite a walk from parking to the castle, but it was worth it!  I do have more pictures that I took with another camera from all the way on top of the castle but unfortunately that camera is having problems.  Hopefully, I'll be able to post those pictures soon.  The view was really incredible.
Google Map of Lake Garda

 

 

It was the clearest day that I had seen so far.  Usually, you can barely see the outline of the surrounding mountains.  It was a perfect day for sightseeing.

 

Brett and me in front of the castle.

 

We saw a couple of mini-cars drive into the castle, which was kind of surreal.  Once we crossed the moat, we realized that it connects to part of the city.  If you have paid a certain expensive parking fee then you can drive in, if I read the signs correctly.

 

Just an example of how they started the boat making process.  There were tools below the logs that showed how they scraped out the inside and outside, but the picture turned out blurry.

 

Stairs that you had to climb to reach the top, although there were a lot of stairs after that level to reach the highest tower.

 

A well in the center of the castle, which was really just a fortress.

 

The view from halfway up.

Taken from Internet: view from the top of the castle

Driving in Italy

The following is information I just received about driving in Italy.  It was written a few years ago, but the general info, I believe, is still accurate.  Some of it is interesting.  Some of it, just downright HILARIOUS!  For example, "Hazards of the Road" and the last paragraph.  Now off to read the "official" driving rules and signs...

SPEED LIMITS: Speed limits in Italy are 130 kph (80 mph) on the Autostrada, 90 kph (55 mph) outside of cities and villages, unless posted, and 50 kph (30 mph) inside of cities and villages. These speed limits are the maximum allowed and, in many cases, are too fast for conditions due both to physical and environmental hazards, as well as the aggressive attitudes of Italian drivers. These three conditions have resulted in a high vehicle mishap rate.

 HAZARDS OF THE ROAD: The poor conditions of Italian secondary roads have resulted in many Americans being involved in mishaps. The typical Italian road is narrow, does not have a shoulder, and the edge of the road drops off into a ditch which is often filled with water. Most curves (many are extreme) are not banked and will have a large tree planted at the curve. Increasing the hazard are "curbies" on the side of the road; curbies are small concrete posts with reflectors that will flip your car over if you hit one. To make matters worse, Italy has many mountain roads that have extremely sharp curves and no guardrails. Watch out for and yield to buses going around curves on these mountain roads. You are highly encouraged to have your car’s brakes checked out before driving through secondary mountain roads. Tunnels through the mountains are not always illuminated; always turn on your headlights prior to entering a tunnel.

Italian roads are unforgiving. If you lose control of your vehicle and it leaves the road, your car will most likely be totaled.

DRIVING ATTITUDES: Italian drivers are extremely aggressive. It is quite common for a road marked as a two lane road to become a four lane road. Italian drivers will pass on blind curves so always look for an escape route as you enter a curve. At intersections with a traffic light, look both ways and proceed with caution, since it is not uncommon for a vehicle to run a red light. After driving in Italy for a while, Americans tend to pick up local driving attitudes with tragic results.

ITALIAN RULES OF THE ROAD: Prior to driving any vehicle, ensure that it is equipped with a warning triangle. You are highly encouraged to carry a first aid kit since Italy has a Good Samaritan law requiring you to aid an injured person in an accident. According to Italian Traffic Code, every driver involved in an accident that may have caused injuries or who comes upon an accident with injuries has two obligations: (1) The obligation to stop, and (2) the obligation to render aid to victims by transporting them to the nearest hospital, so long as this is reasonably possible. Failure to stop or failure to render aid are punishable by up to 12 months confinement and a fine of up to 2,000,000 lire in case of injuries. In case of property damage only, the fine will be up to 800,000, lire. Because of the potential for infection from blood-borne diseases (AIDS), we also recommend you ensure your first aid kit contains latex gloves.

Have you ever asked yourself why European-made cars do not provide any gadgets to hold your drinks? Well, the answer is that drinking soda or coffee, eating snacks, or changing the cassette or CD is something that you should never do while driving on Italian roads IF you want to stay alive! You must place 110% of your concentration on the road. The slightest distraction can cause you to lose sight of the road or the traffic, increasing your chances of having an accident.

 

The "P" sign refers to new drivers.  This is how you know to say away from them.  Bring it!

A Trip to the Grocery Store

Today started with a trip to the market.  It rained last night, so everything was glistening and refreshed.  My stomach was growling on the way to the store.  We're still getting used to Italy's timetable.  Most shops are closed on Sundays.  We didn't realize how low on food we had gotten and forgot about not being about to shop on Sundays.  We don't have a car yet, so we couldn't just drive across town to one that was open.  We scrounged on what we had left but were still hungry when we went to bed last night.  We do have a couple of small containers of applesauce left, but that's not exactly a protein packed breakfast.

As far as the market goes, it's pretty small.  It's not exactly your hometown Walmart.  When I get to the register, I put my basket on the conveyor belt, but I have to take out the items for the cashier to ring them up and bag the items myself.  It's not really a big deal, especially since I only get a basketful at a time.

 Thankfully, their bags are really strong.  Every time I walk back to the hotel, I think of that scene in Home Alone.  You know, the one where Macaulay Culkin is walking home from the grocery store and the bags break open, spilling the contents on the sidewalk, and overwhelming dejection ensues.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgQpv0_STDw  Knowing my luck, cans of spaghetti sauce and spices would roll into the street, causing me to dodge Italian drivers.  If the items stopped on the crosswalk, I might survive, considering that drivers are usually good about slowing down for pedestrians at those areas.  However, if it was in one of the many roundabouts, forget it.  Just because there are turns doesn't mean that the vehicle will slow down out of concern for what might be around the corner.  Like me chasing groceries in the middle of the street.

A few notes about driving.  A lot of the cars here are small, although they do have their share of bigger vehicles.  It is law that all vehicles must drive with their headlights on.  I'm not sure if that applies to all streets though.  The autostrada runs east/west directly below Desenzano, where we are staying.  So, I've ridden on it a few times to get to surrounding cities.  It is a three lane highway.  The speed limit is about 80 mph, but nobody follows it.  If you do want to go the speed limit, stay in the right lane.  The middle lane goes a bit faster, but the left lane is reserved for those that like to go above 100 mph.  I recently rode with one of those drivers.  Terrifying.

Hotel fixtures

Per request, here are some different items from our hotel room.  The room itself is pretty basic.  Little kitchenette, small t.v., futon, and table in the living room.  Our bedroom actually has closets which are uncommon in Italian homes. 

The view from our hotel room balcony.

 
Our bathroom: The box above the toilet is the button to flush.  In case you don't know, the thing next to the toilet is a bidet.  A very interesting European invention.  If you don't know what it does, look it up.


 
The fixture that makes up for the lack of water pressure from the shower: A towel warmer.  We want one for our house, where ever that will be.  It is wonderful...

The hair dryer.  It works by taking the hose off the hook and lifting the middle.  The air doesn't come out as strong as an American hair dryer but it gets the job done.  


An Italian coffee maker.  It works like a percolator. It only makes about a cup and we're still working on getting the method just right so that it is drinkable.  Oh yeah, the water here is not drinkable, period.  The farmers use pig manure to spray their fields, which leaks into the groundwater, which causes Americans and Italians alike to buy cheap bottled water.



Coffee on the go. 

We have arrived!

A lot has happened since the last post.

My visa came in late, along with a myriad of other important details, so we didn't fly out until the 7th.  Originally, we were supposed to be in Frankfurt on the 2nd for a layover.  That was the day that two Air Force soldiers were shot and killed in the airport.  Praise God for his protection! 

Our flight over was good.  They had a lot of movies, so between those, a bit of sleep and reading, the trip went by faster than I expected.  I couldn't/didn't want to sleep because of all my excitement.  I couldn't believe we were actually on the plane, leaving American soil for 2 years.  Not just visiting another country but living there.  We flew over the Alps and they are amazing!


Quoting Annie, I think I'm gonna like it here. You know you want to start singing it right now, too.  Go ahead. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nM_-CFRBS8

We are staying at a hotel in Desenzano del Garda until we find a house.  The hotel is fine, but I am already ready to have our own place that we can start setting up.  I don't know if we will stay in this city or in one of the surrounding towns.  A lot of it will depend on availability. 

The guy that picked us up from the airport showed us around town after we arrived, partly to keep us from falling asleep too soon.  (I happen to be typing this at 4:30 in the morning due to jet lag, anyways.)  He told us that we would see lots of women going out to eat because it was Woman's Day.  It turns out that it's an international holiday, but only a few countries actually celebrate it, Italy being one of them.  Indeed, we saw pairs of elderly women dressed in very classy attire and groups of younger women and their daughters out and about everywhere.  Desenzano's carnivale had ended a day or two ago, so there was confetti all over the streets, especially in the center of town.  There were also a few kids that were dressed up in costumes. 

I loved walking around the city.  I love the old architecture, the narrow cobblestone roads, the lake, etc.    Earlier today (which is tecnically yesterday) I spent about 3 hours walking around the city by myself while Brett was at work.  Other than realizing that I need better walking shoes, it was great.  I realized that I really do want to get a bike.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to, after hearing horror stories about Italian drivers.  However, I saw several people in their 70s and 80s riding around town.  I figure if they can do it, then so can I, although I will get a helmet to start off with.  I still have this picture of a car mowing me down or my bike hitting a bump and then flying up in the air without me.  I really want it more for riding around in the rural outskirts of the city anyway. 


Desenzano has several hills in the city.  After huffing and puffing up the steepest hill I found, I turned the corner and saw an elderly woman walking up another hill beside a bicycle with groceries in the front cart between the handlebars.  Looking back, I think she may have been using it for support.  Either way, she was going steadily up that hill.  I was in awe.  I hope I can do that when I'm her age.  Yet another reason to get out just to walk around or ride a bike.

Italy has a riposo, which is their version of the "siesta".  I thought it started at noon, so I made sure to get to the nearby market at 11.  However, they were already closed.  So, I figured I would just explore a bit.  I went to the city's castle.  It seems every city or village has at least one.  They are only open on Saturdays (if I read the sign correctly).  They were also doing contruction/renovation on it.  There is a lot of construction going on around the city.  Cranes and scaffolding of some sort can be seen on nearly every block in the main part of the town.  I discovered that a lot of places that I thought were small castles are actually just people's houses.  It was strange to see midieval turrets with atennas on top of them.

While I was out, I was encouraged by the language.  I've been studying Italian ever since we received the official orders in January.  There is still A LOT that I don't know or that is not sticking yet, but I am at least able to communicate with people on a very basic level.  I was able to speak with the hotel's receptionist (who still would mostly just talk to me in English), the cashier at the cafe where I had lunch, and a lady outside of the market.  She just assumed that I could speak Italian and started talking to me.  I got that she was telling me the market was closed and then asked me where some other place was and I was able to say I don't know.  So, it's not a lot, but I am still happy with it.  I look forward to continuing to be out in the city and practicing the language daily. 

Funny story to end with:
While we were still in the States, we visited Brett's Meemaw at her retirement village.  She introduced us to her friends, which included a gentleman in his 80s.  While I was talking with the women, he motioned for Brett to come over to him.  He said that he was in Rome sometime around World War II (not sure exactly when).  He said that his buddies and he went to the Colloseum and peed on the 7th pillar to left and that Brett has to do that whenever we visit.  Brett said he almost lost it.  The ladies nearby were giving them weird looks.  Men don't change, no matter what age, and I can totally picture Brett, twenty years from now, telling the next generation to pee on ancient artifacts while traveling.

Moving Week

We fly out of New York on March 1st.

We are waiting on the movers to arrive to start the week-long process.  The walls are bare but the rest of the apartment is a mess.  They told us if we pack anything in advance, they will just have to repack it.  So, we've pretty much left everything like it is. 

Our checked luggage is mostly packed.  We found out yesterday that instead of the three 70lb free bag allowance that United Airlines gives to military and dependents, we will only be able to take one free 50lb bag.  One additional bag will be $50 and carryons can only weigh 18lbs.  Our laptops alone weigh 18lbs! We will be in Italy for a month before any of our other luggage arrives, so I'm stressing just a bit. 

However, I know we will be fine. Philippians 4:11-13 "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength."

We're nervous about what this new adventure will bring but excited to see what God will do!