Day 5 – Cremona and Lake Garda…

As we leave the hotel we first head up the street to the piazza where there is quite the ceremony going on. Ah … June 2 that would be Festa della Repubblica, basically the Italian 4^th of July. There are speeches by people wearing sashes, there is a band and soldiers and firemen and policemen and nurses(?) and old veterans in old uniforms… lots of pomp and pageantry… in a charming local kind of way.

Today we head for Lake Garda. The lakes region of Northern Italy is really quite beautiful and very popular… on a national holiday the lakes region is EXTRA popular. We left early because we knew it would take a good hour and a half to get there and then if we wanted to find a tour boat for that water side perspective of the famously beautiful shore line, that would take some time too. What we hadn’t counted on was the new roads and poor Sean the GPS thinking that we were going 4 wheeling through the farm fields and across the countryside. “In … meters… in … meters, turn… in meters… “ It would have been funny if the thing didn’t sound so oddly distressed. Ok, it was funny.

We head for Sirmione, a little town at the very end of a little peninsula that sticks up into the lake from the south end of the lake. Kinda like Leelanau up by Traverse City except way smaller. It turns out about half the population of the the north half of Italy thought this might be fun too. We fall into a line of cars that basically has no chance of ever ending. Streams of people , strollers, dogs and children are making much better time as they walk past the creeping cars. We bail on the Sirmione idea and head up the east side of the lake towards Bardolino. When we get there there isn’t nearly the crowd but parking is still tough. Jack suggests we grab some lunch and leave the car in the parking lot while we walk to the shore and explore a bit. He says he saw a place about a block back… “Left here!” he says… and we arrive at Walle’s (“American burgers with Italian taste.”) Uh… hmmm… but there IS parking. I’ll not embarrass the others, but I had a bacon cheeseburger and a Sierra Nevada beer. It was actually pretty good.

Nuf said.

The lake is beautiful and there is a loooooong boardwalk. We skip the tour boat and just enjoy the walk and the water and the people watching and a bit of gelato. They have some weird looking ducks here… It turned into a nice day at the shore.

Back to Cremona for our final night in the city of violins. It rains for a little while which cools everything down a bit. I go for a walk. I Meet a violin maker named Adriano who is beginning to carve the arching of a viola back. His door is open so I strike up a conversation. Between his limited English and my limited Italian, we actually get on pretty well. I learn that there are about 140 violin shops in Cremona and probably upwards of 500 makers. It’s tough competition. I ask about his materials and he brings out some top blanks that he tells me are between 20 and 30 years old that are absolutely beautiful pieces of wood. I ask what he has to pay for such material and tell him a blank like that in the states would cost upwards of $250… he paid about 40 Euros… about $50. Sigh.

Cremona is swarming with bicycles. Kids, students, shop keepers, old folks… bicycles everywhere. I’m not talking racing bikes or mountain bikes or fat tire bikes, I’m talking your classic basic sit up straight, wicked witch of the west bikes. And, if you look at a bike rack only about half of them are locked up! There are a lot of electric assist bikes. Several different brands. I might be persuaded to ride a bike if I could get one of these cool electric ones. They really know how to do bike baskets here too.

Dinner (Yay) Tonight we eat at Osteria La Sosta. Not as fancy as last night.. but that’s OK. Donna and I both have the … ready? Coscia d’Oca cotta a bassa temperatura alle Erbe aromatiche con patate arrosto. Crispy baked goose thigh with aromatic herbs etc… It was amazing. Chef Claudio Nevi, his son Alessio and his daughter Maria Laura have created a very special restaurant. GO THERE!

Oh… and anyone who knows me knows that I’m fond of my coffee. I was served, hands down, the best cup of coffee I have ever had… I cried.

http://www.osterialasosta.it/en/