Day 24 – Acqui Terme/Lake Garda

As much as we would have liked, we felt we had stayed long enough and had to move on at some point. Today, my girlfriend and I would be splitting up with the 3 girls for half the day as they wanted to go for a day trip in Milan. As we were staying with my friend in Milan at a later date, we opted to just go on to Lake Garda. The train was early enough so we said our goodbyes, took some group pictures together (I blinked in practically everyone) and got left at the train station in time for our train to Milan.

In Milan, we changed platforms to catch our next train to Venice, getting off at Desenzano, whilst the girls went to store their bags in the station and visit Milan for a few hours. The weather was apparently getting better from West to East so we were moving with it and taking it to Lake Garda with us. We didn’t complain of course. At Desenzano, the first thing we had to do was find out how to get to Moniga del Garda, just north of where we were. However, the only instructions we got were to get a bus, but not where or what times they are at etc…

In the station, we asked the cashier in the shop where and when the buses were and she directed us towards the bus stop down the road. It would be an hour wait for the next one but was relatively cheap – we asked a taxi driver how much he would charge and the answer was about 4 times more than the public transport. We opted to get lunch at a cafe opposite the station and wait for the bus. My girlfriend got a cold vegetarian panini and she wasn’t really impressed. I was smarter and got two slices of pizza, you can never go wrong with pizza in Italy.

Whilst waiting, we enjoyed watching people and looking at some of their horrible fashion, both adults and children. One woman in particular had got off her train in a truly terrifying melon coloured dress, showing a bit too much leg and massive high heels that clashed with the dress, her eye shadow and her hair colour, all of which were complelty different colours and just didn’t work. Somehow, her grey, two-piece Reebok model of a boyfriend was loving her. I wanted to ask him why but my girlfriend wouldn’t let me.

Although the buses were so confusing, we finally got to Moniga and had to walk from the bus stop. Thankfully google maps helped us out and we were at the gate in no time. Simone greeted us as the owner of the apartment complex and let us in, showed us around and was so helpful that words couldn’t do him justice. If there was a problem, he said he would fix it and he did it as soon as he could. Letting us settle in, he said he would call in later to collect payment when the girls arrived. Not long after we had unpacked, the girls had arrived, paying for a taxi rather than a bus (I suppose there were 3 of them).

The girls told us about Milan, how by the time they got their bags stored in the station and the subway into the centre, they hadn’t spent long in the centre, but managed to see everything they wanted to. We hadn’t planned to do much in Lake Garda either until tomorrow so tonight we were going to just cook dinner and chill in the apartment. We all walked to the shop and got our supplies, taking much longer than expected because everyone was so indecisive. Finally, when we returned, my girlfriend cleaned some of the dishes and cutlery before we started cooking. She likes to give everything a good clean when we go to an apartment like this and told the girls not to put anything in something she hadn’t cleaned yet. Unfortunately, one of the girls either didn’t hear her or forgot, emptying a whole pack of Doritos into an unwashed bowl. My girlfriend was not very happy after this and I’ll not mention the language used from us all, as it was very colourful.

The mood was improved thanks to the nice dinner and we had some of the wine that we bought from the wine tasting. The only thing on television with a suitable signal, was some awful turkish-german show called kebab for breakfast, in Italian. We didn’t have a clue what they were saying and the acting was so poor that we couldn’t even work it out either, making it hilarious to watch.

All laid up in our beds, we listened to music from one of our phones (not mine unfortunately), so I had to listen to ‘Fifteen’ by Taylor swift, not fifteen times, but more like a hundred. It was hard to hear the actual song over the girls singing, and I’m sure that Simone could hear them in his house a block away! Somehow, I was so tired that I fell asleep early and I think the girls followed soon after. Tomorrow we would be more adventurous and fun, promise!