FLASHBACK #64F: Italy - Garda, Prescheira, Milan

Day 14 – 14 July – Garda, Lake Garda

After waking at 9am, we went for breakfast which consisted of the usual crap! From 10.30am to 1pm, we sunbathed by the pool; I oiled myself up and continued reading Angel's & Demons. After 25 minutes, I had to swim in the pool; the sweat was just rolling off me and I couldn't handle it anymore! After 1pm, we went for a walk into town for a wander and bought some water and soda. Bree suggested we stop for an ice cream so we did. It was lovely. We watched people walk by and noticed how calm the place was.

There was a steady flow of people, not packed like Rimini was and nobody was rushing to get anywhere. Afterwards, we walked around and I bought a t-shirt for my niece, some fridge magnets and some more postcards and stamps. We headed back along the waterfront and it was then that we noticed that there were speed boats for hire – one hour for €50. I was tempted. We asked them how much two hours would cost, they said €90. It seemed a bit much so we left it.

On the way back to the hotel, I said to Bree 'Oh, let's do it, but let's bargain'. So we packed a rucksack with towels, swimming trunks etc. and headed back down to the harbour. To cut a long story short, the large moustached Italian guy would not bargain. It was €90, take it or leave it. The boat was new and sparkling clean so we accepted the charge and got onboard.

The minute Bree started the engine and revved out of the harbour, I knew we had made the right decision. It was so cool! We headed north and, within half an hour, we drifted not far south of Mount Baldo. Bree went in for a swim first, followed by myself. On the surface, the water was very pleasant. In the water, if you put your feet down, you could feel the biting cold beneath the surface. It was refreshing to swim in a lake such as this.

Bree told me that we had used half of our fuel already after just 30 minutes and I wondered how it was possible. After taking in the view and taking some photos, we headed back just to ensure that we would be nearby in case we did run out of fuel. We sped back, passing a sailing school of some 20 boats and a water-skier who waved as he passed. We stopped once we reached the beach we had visited the previous evening. Bree dived in. Well, when I saw he dived, it was more of a cross between a belly flop and a botched-up suicide attempt from the front of the boat. The fuel motor read ‘empty’ and I said to Bree we still have another hour, but no fuel. We decided to head back and try to pay for one hour instead of two.

When we arrived back in Garda, we had been gone for 1 hour and 20 minutes and they insisted on charging us €80 for an hour and half. An argument erupted. I claimed the fuel supply wasn't adequate for two hours. Bree joined in by demanding that they accept €50 or nothing at all. I could tell that people on the nearby tourist boat were watching and I thought this was a good thing; we had been constantly conned and overcharged throughout this trip and now it was payback. Enough was enough. We left €50 with the guy and just walked away with a sense of satisfaction.

We went to a nearby beach, swam and chatted for an hour before heading back to the hotel. It was nearly 5pm and the heat of the day had taken its toll. While Bree slept, I finished writing some more postcards, downloaded another load of photos onto the laptop and got ready to go out.

We walked into town about 7.30pm and, as we walked along the waterfront once more, we saw four men on a boat who were participating in some kind of stand-up version of rowing. We found a restaurant and I tucked into a shrimp cocktail, sirloin steak and a fruit salad with ice cream followed by Grappa, an Italian brandy made from grapes. Yummy! There was a rather large, elderly lady near our table who had a hell of an appetite. You couldn’t not notice. As we left, to our amusement, she had fallen asleep at her table in the restaurant. Oh, dear!

When we headed back to the apartment later that evening, I showed Bree the mini-clip of his botched-up suicide attempt. It was so funny! In bed after midnight.

Day 15 – 15 July – Garda to Prescheira to Milan - 31ºC

After nearly two weeks, I had given up hope on getting a decent breakfast. After eating fruit salad and yoghurt, we decided to make the most of the immaculate poolside and it's view of what I call the ‘Rock di Garda' – it kind of looks like the Rock of Gibraltar.

We packed, checked out, loaded up the car and hung around by the poolside until about mid-day. After a couple of swims, I lapped on the oil and admired the sun, perhaps for the last time on this trip. The afternoon heat was fast approaching and, already by mid-day, we could feel the heat rolling into the region once more.

About midday, we set off due south, along the eastern side of Lake Garda. We passed a number of towns which, like all the others, were very tastefully done; not overly commercialised and certainly not crowded on this July day as one would expect.

Within an hour, we had arrived at Prescheira and were bombarded with adverts of Canevaworld, a water park – it had been our intention to visit there after spotting some printed material about the place a few days earlier. We pulled into the car park and headed to the entrance, paid the entrance fee, placed our stuff in a secure locker and set off enjoying the various water slides and lagoon.

We got there about 1pm and didn't leave until 6pm. There were two very memorable experiences on this day. One was the ride where you had to sit on a rubber ring that resembled the number '8' and seated two people. We stood in line, collected our '8-ring' and then headed up to the launch spot. Little did we know that when you left the launch slide that, momentarily, you wouldn't be able to see the surface of the slide itself. The aim was to position the body in such a way so as to go down this slide and overcome another raised slide – it's difficult to explain.

The first time, we failed miserably, but we tried again later in the day and succeeded, very much to the amusement of the crowd waiting for our ring below. We realised the second time around that the secret was not letting your bum fill the ring itself, but to lean back. This is what actually happened:

We went to the launch bay, placed the 8-ring on the conveyer belt then sat down and waited for the conveyer to transport us to the slide just one metre away. The moment came and there was that momentary rush where the ground beneath us just disappeared. We headed down the steep slide, the ring built up an enormous speed and then the slide started to rise again. At this point, we raised our bums to avoid friction with the surface of the slide and proceeded to literally 'fly' over the second slide. It was thrilling.

The second experience of the day had to be the Kamikaze. Having gone on every ride in the park, the only thing left was the Kamikaze. Bree didn't want to go on it so I went alone. When I walked to the top, I was treated to an amazing view of Lake Garda. To cut a long story short, I got to the top, sat down on the water and took sharp, deep breaths for five minutes before simply pushing myself off the 'edge'. Within seconds, I was at the bottom, mouth spluttering and my trunks up my bum! It was a thrill and Bree stood there in amazement. After ten minutes, I managed to persuade Bree up to the launch bay. He was very hesitant, but displayed remarkable courage and we both went down the Kamikaze. Whoo!

By the time we left the park at 6pm, we could feel the heat of the day in our bodies. It was the first day during our trip we had spent the whole day in the sun and it felt fantastic. I felt tired, but in a nice way. We continued along the lakeside and headed towards the A4 Autostrade. We sped towards Milan, arriving there after 8pm. It took us a long time to locate the centre, but when we did, the really symbolic thing was that we emerged on Piazza del Scala where we had seen the Opera house and the impressive statue of Leonardo da Vinci at the beginning of our trip.

We ventured upon the idea of staying at the Hotel Dei Caveleiri like we had done during the first two nights of the trip. After a long while, just before 9pm, we managed to find the hotel. I went inside, enquired as to availability on this Friday night, and they were intent on charging €109 despite our earlier custom! Via an online agency, we had paid €70 per night so I thought 'no way'! After a bit of a whinge, we continued driving. Just before 10pm, we managed to find a Congress Centre outside of the centre for €70. We had saved nearly €40 and that would go a long way towards our very own Last Supper in Milan!

Why were we in Milan anyway when our flight wasn't until 1pm the next day? Well, Bree wanted to see the Last Supper painting by Leonardo da Vinci. By being in Milan the evening before, we could relax, have a nice night out and wake up fresh for our 9.15am reservation to see the painting.

We emptied everything from the car and our hotel room soon looked like a burgled home! We ignored the mess, showered, dressed smartly and headed – by car – to the boat on Naviglio where we had dined two weeks earlier.

We ordered a bottle of Rosé, shared a Quattro Stagioni pizza followed by the best Seafood Spaghetti. After a break where we reminisced over the experiences of the last fifteen days, we ordered the ice cream with Grand Marnier and coffee. Yummy!

We drove back to the hotel, rubbed aloe vera into our well-sunned bodies, laughed at the bruises Bree had sustained on his bum from the 8-ring, packed our suitcases and got into bed. It was nearly 1am by this time.

Day 16 – 16 July – Milan to Helsinki - 26ºC

After an early rise of 7.30am, we headed to breakfast which had so proved pretty predictable. However, at this hotel, there was cake! Soft cake! I downed two slices of it with lot's of coffee and water and yearned for a nice Finnish breakfast sandwich with punajuri!

We set off just after 8.30 in search of the Chiesa di Santa Maria delle Grazie. We got there just before 9am, but not without a minor incident this early on a Saturday morning. As we approached the church, we located a parking space behind us and intended to reverse into it. The taxi driver behind us, however, wasn't intent on reversing in order to make this any easier. The taxi driver started gesturing in such an Italian way by placing his thumb, index finger and middle fingers together and simply waving them about!

Bree responded by doing the same hand movements and joked that he would miss arguing with his hands! We eventually got into the parking space and collected our reserved tickets from the ticket office. We waited for our 9.15am entry while chatting outside in the spacious piazza.

Before long, we were huddle inside a booth which was then dehumidified prior to our release into the hall where the painting stood. Out of the twenty or so tourists, I would say that more than fifteen of them were of Japanese origin. The painting had enjoyed a recent boost in popularity with the publication of Dan Brown's novel Da Vinci Code.

The painting itself WAS impressive, although one can't help but question its validity. Is the person sitting on the left of Jesus a man or is it a woman, as suggested by Dan Brown? It looks very clearly like a woman… and can we really believe in a painting that was painted more than 1500 years after the event itself? Bree and I discussed this while, at the other end of long hall, was a painting of Christ's crucifixion. Again, the painting raised a few questions: why would people play dice games beneath the crucified three? And what's the temple in the painting placed behind the crucified three? Still, it was an experience, but as with all religious paintings or places, you left with 101 questions, but no one to seek answers from.

We left the hall and headed to the shop where we bought postcards of the Last Supper, just as a souvenir. From there, we drove around the city, killing time. We filled the hire car with petrol and I bought a couple of bottles of Bacardi before we returned to Milan's Linate Airport.

We left the car in the designated car park, returned the keys to the agency and then checked in. Apparently, our flight departed at noon and not 1pm as indicated on our e-tickets. It's a good thing we arrived at the airport early! We boarded the flight to Stockholm and admired the mountains from the window, perhaps the very mountains were had driven over just days ago.

Last Words…

The trip to Italy was to be my last trip with Bree, at least as my boyfriend. When I moved to Tampere in Finland in November, 2001, I moved with the intention of working in a project for two years to earn a bit of extra money. In April, 2002, I met Bree, a wonderful man.

For nearly four years, Bree had been my guiding star in a land very different from home. He was my best friend, and still is. I decided to return to the UK in September 2005 - things were not working out for me in Finland and I needed a change of scenery.

Understandably, Bree didn’t want to leave the thing he knows as ‘home’ while, for me, it was time to return to mine. However, my love for Bree has not died. If anything, my love for him has got stronger. When I told him in the June that I wished to return to the UK, it was an emotional time for the pair of us. Right up until my departure in September, he had stood by me every step of the way: if I needed help, he was there. If I wanted a buddy to go swimming with, he was there. If I needed company from the unbearable loneliness, he was there; he remained at a time when most would have blocked out the pain and sought other distractions.

I experienced very much the same thing with friends in Helsinki – during my last few weeks in Helsinki, each and every one of them shared their deepest feelings with me and it dawned upon me just how many lives I had touched and vice versa.