Day 30: Lago di Garda

Today has been the best day of our trip, perhaps even my life (I think I am high on the lake).   A big statement, but the kids smiled all day and didn't complain once, so I will stand by it.   It started with 2 hours of canoeing on two kayaks around a little island in the middle of the lake.  We swam off the sides and just floated and soaked up the serenity of this heavenly place.  Boats passed, we waved and yelled out ciao bellas.  The kids laughed and tried to string some funny Italian songs together.  It was gorgeous, and a moment to savour being a parent. Next up, bike riding.  We hired four bikes for the day and made our way to Malcesine, 7km up the road.  Zachie was on a bike attached to Rick and had many “bello bambini” comments along the way.  He was most insulted to be called a baby, but he did look particularly cute and little with his hat and sunglasses dressed the same as daddy (by chance).  The ride was breathtaking. There is a track that runs for kilometres along the waters edge that is littered with gleaming white pebbles and little spots for holidaymakers to sit and enjoy life. The water was so clean and blue and clear and beautiful.  I kept pinching myself that were here doing this on such a perfecto day, and I thought of our time at Cinque Terra and wondered why tourists would bother. We stopped at a lovely cafe and had pannini's and spritz's, an orange cocktail that I am growing very fond of and consuming daily.  Oh to be on holidays.  We finally reached Malcesine and it was busy busy with lunchers and shoppers everywhere.  We tried to navigate the bikes through the small streets but had to walk in the end. Time for a gelato and to cool down. I decided to treat myself and got a tiramisu and pistacchio icecream. We moved the kids into the shade to sit down and of course, my ice cream fell off the cone before my first lick. And then Maxies fell out of his hand on to the ground and there were tears galore.  It was like an episode of Mr Bean.  Another round of ice-creams and we were energised and ready for some more riding back to Camping Denise.  My wrist was aching.  I think I may have slept on it funny or it could have been from lifting our bags into the room, but it was really hard to ride, so we stopped at a funky spot under some umbrella's along the way home for another orange cocktail which quickly turned into the third just to numb the pain.  The kids went for a swim on the gorgeous beach and quickly made friends with an English boy called George who was on holidays with his mum and grandparents.  The grandparents had been traveling through Europe for the past 2 months.  How divine, they were in no hurry and had no plans and decided the day before where the next destination would be.  Oh to be retired and cashed up. This kids collected shells and played over the rocks trying to find crabs (lake equivalent), while Rick and I enjoyed another cocktail. Home to Camping Denis for a swim.  We decided to eat in the cafe to make things easy after such a big day.  We were all pretty exhausted. Hopefully we'll get to dine somewhere else tomorrow night.  Gorgeous Claudia came with another home brew, this time a type of walnut liquor/grappa.  Vincenzo followed shortly with his prune grappa and we were rocking. It was a beautiful day and my favourite in Italy.