Riva Del Garda,
Trentino-Alto Adige,
Italy
Friday, September 26, 2008
We slept sooo good last night-I don't think either of us moved all night! Very tired. Finally got moving, showered, and drowned the bathroom floor- no shower curtain! We packed, Carol went to the reception desk where they told her we could leave our stuff in the room, go out for a walk, and return after 10 to our new room and all our stuff would be in it. We walked into town, finally had breakfast- a croissant for Carol and a yogurt for me, walked more around the town and returned to the hotel at 10:30 to our new room-on the second floor, beautiful, a corner room with 2 balconies, one overlooking the pool and one into a garden. This is a beautiful place! Maria came by later and we walked back into town and later GP joined us, back to the hotel while he waited in the lounge while we freshened up, Maria had already gone home on her bicycle; then we walked to their apartment several blocks away for a wonderful home cooked Italian meal. There apt is larger than we had expected and contemporary Danish decoration. The meal was memorable - Sparkling water, white wine, Brucchetta, Vegetable crepes with cream cheese, Tiramisu for dessert. All of these were new to me and I enjoyed all, especially the dessert! GP left to visit his 103 year old mother and Carol, and Maria reminisced-Maria has all the letters, pictures, everything from Carols family including the diary she kept while living with Carols family-It was happy and sad and tears and joy for all of us! When we were ready to head back to the hotel GP insisted on walking us all the way-he didn't want us to have any problem. They are just great to us. Oh, they didn't tell us cause they thought we knew that all European hotels are Bed and Breakfast and we were to have our breakfast here this morning. We will do that tomorrow. Now we are dressing to go out to dinner with them again. They will not let us pay for anything! Maria bought a picture for Carols kitchen wall this morning and now wants to buy her clothes to have remembrance of this trip! We did go out to dinner in Torbole at Surfers Grill and it was wonderful. We met GPs brother Atailio there. He is in 70's, the typical Italian Gigolo/ladies man that you see in movies. He arrived in a new Alfa Romero convertible, dressed to the 9's, flirted with us, with the gal at the table next and her male escort, with the wait persons, bought Carol and I roses, just everything you would expect of an Italian guy from all the movies we have seen! The dinner was superb- though not sure what we ate-We had a trio platter of
Pastas-just perfect! Lots of vino, limoncello, and who knows what else. Interesting evening
