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Wednesday Vicenza
Well after the crush of Verona, what a relief it was to be able to wander the streets and alleyways of Vicenza.
We took and early train (8:53) to arrive in time for the shops to open, 9:30 for most, the rest 10:00. It was all a bit frantic because they close for siesta at 1:30 only to open again at 3:30 to around 7:30pm.
All in all the shopping went well: 4 tee shirts for me and 3 tops, 2 pants and a scarf for Jean. Sadly, despite our best efforts, no shoes. Still, there is still 5 weeks to go!!
We managed to fill in the time when the shops were shut by eating and strolling. Very nice indeed. Then back on a late train to Desenzano.
Quote of the day, about 11:00; " is there anything else to do in Vicenza other than shopping!"
We both enjoyed Vicenza. A beautiful city, with very impressive buildings and Piazzas and not too many people/tourists.
Thursday
Today we had an easy day, a ferry ride up the lake to Bardolino where there just happened to be a market day. Again, after battling hordes of people, mostly German tourists, we walked for an hour or so around the lakes edge to Garda. We picked up some ham, cheese and bread and had a picnic on the way, before getting the ferry back to Desenzano, a trip of about 1 1/2 hours.
Friday
Well today had the odd saga. It started with the best of intentions:
Plan A. Get an early breakfast in time for the 8:53 train to Verona. Then with 20 mins to spare, get the connection to Mantova arriving at around 10:15, pick up some bikes and spend the day riding. Catch the train(s) back to Denzenzano for dinner.
Well it started and finished as planned. Had breakfast, made it to the station in for the 8:53 Regionale Veloce to Verona. After this it was all downhill. Due to an incident further down the line, the train was 15/20 mins late. Instead, at 9:07 in pulls a Frecciabianca, which for you non Italian trainbuffs is a fast train and therefore tickets cost more, about twice as much. Anyway, we had a connection to make so after two false starts, ( we got on and off while it was at the station) we jumped back on without the right ticket. Standing in the doorway of the carriage because the seats are all reserved and we didn't want to draw attention to ourselves by taking the risk of sitting in a reserved seat we waited. When the conductor came through checking tickets, we engaged ourselves in a deep and meaningful conversation with a timetable in hand, and he walked straight passed. We were standing outside a toilet so he might have thought we were about to be otherwise engaged. Anyway, we made it to Verona, making up considerable time on the fast train but still managed to miss our connection by 5 mins.
So with 2.5 hours to kill until the next train we went into the back streets of Verona to find a supermarket and bought some cheese, ham, and bread thinking that we would have a picnic on our bike ride.
Back to the station and on the 12:30 train which was due to arrive at 1:15 and Jean realised that the bike hire shops would be closed for siesta. She was right, something we found out after a mad dash to both known shops, both closed.
Finding the second shop in darkness, we stood around the corner working out what we would do next, and as we headed off toward the river, we saw the shop owner lock the door and head off. He was in there the whole time. With conversation approaching a low ebb, we headed for the lake and found a nice spot for a picnic.
A slow stroll around the lakes for a couple of hours, we headed back to the station for the 4:30 train home only to notice at the train station, racks of hire bikes, money in the slot take the bike. This was indeed the final insult.
Anyway, it was a beautiful day weather wise and it was nice to have a physical, if not emotionally, restful day.
The trip home utterly uneventful, a good feed and that was the end of the day.
Hoping for a smoother day tomorrow when we head off to Bassano del Grappa.
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