Hotel Villa Beatrice Brenzone

... the lake. The food produced in this area of Italy is another of the many highlights, the number of cheeses, ham and wines to sample seems infinte. The area has all kinds of diverse scenery and vistas to enjoy. I have been visiting this area for over 5 years and have come to the conclusion that the aesthetic and cultural assets are hard to beat.

... haut, on avait une tres belle vue sur toute la ville! Ensuite ca ete la visite de quelque eglises, puis le theatre romain de l'autre cote de la riviere. finalement, on a vue un tres beau pont attacher a un chateau en bordure de la riviere.

nous avons eu le temps de prendre quelques coupes de vin local, accompagne d'excellent bruchetta avant de prendre le train pour milan.

... I think the oldest building I've ever been in - it was built in 30 AD (that's a 2 digit year, not a typo)

Castelvechio was also pretty cool and had some great art inside.

Stopped at Osteria Verona in the main square for some predinner drinks and had some awesome house wine before going to La Taverna Di Via Stella for dinner. Really nice place with friendly staff and great food. Had ...

... of undying love to each other. Makes for quite a sight really. There were nice markets there and a sort of mini colosseum which is still used today for concerts.

There was also a statue of Juliet which is meant to bring you good luck if you rub her right breast. Her right breast is very polished!

Jumped back on the coach to the next stop!

... were very tasty though. But luckily their moustaches were all burnt off!

Venezia was the same, just alot windier, colder and more wet.


We went on to Verona, and wow! Verona is the most beautiful town I had seen in Italy (at this point). I cannot describe what it was about the place, it was just, so different to anywhere else. It had ...

... well. Well, untill he tried to order vinegar in the fruit market instead of Dill (he had just learned / memorized the work for Dill (aneto) but under the pressure, it came out as vinegar (aceto). Otherwise, am very impressed with his language skills. A few more days and he could totally pass as a native, especially with shorts and sandles like he wore today in late october.

So now we are in ...

... caught a vaporetta which is just like a ferry down the Grand Canal, under Ponte de Rialto to Piazza San Marco where the markets selling tourist stuff were right where we got off. Katelyn was impressed with the Carnivale masks which were pretty impressive and not really that expensive (probably made in Asia). St Mark’s Square was flooded right in front of the cathedral and they had a narrow timber walkway for people to ...

... summer. Katelyn thought that there must have been a concert the night before as there were cigarette butts everywhere and some rubbish behind seats, but we had to remind her that we weren’t in Switzerland anymore. It would have been great to see a concert there.

We moved on to the Castelvecchio which is a castle or home to a couple of the noble families of Verona but is now a very important art gallery with religious paintings which always had some form of ...

... wouldn’t see on a Saturday night in Sydney. There were market stalls in one of the piazzas and I found someone selling chestnuts so I was happy- I hadn’t seen any in Innsbruck and they didn’t seem to be too common in Verona. As we were looking for somewhere to eat, we noticed that all of the restaurants had similar menus, and go figure, it was all Italian food. We hardly saw restaurants for any other type of food.

... ants nest. not the best pitch we have ever had. We spend the first day lounging by the lake, this part of the lake is dirty and nothing like the romantic picturesque images we were looking forward to. nevertheless it was relaxing the food was good and the beer was cold.
what more could I ask for?
a pitch in the shade away from the ants and the children, too much to ask?