Friday, January 15, 2010

Bus Trip to Lake Garda!

I just couldn't head back home to the U.S. without going to Lake Garda.

I hopped on the city bus and got off at Porta Nuova, the main train station.  There you can get on buses for destinations outside of the city.  At the ticket / information office I asked for the bus to Riva del Garda ... but I had missed it and since it isn't a very frequent line, I decided to head for Sirmione in the southern part of the lake instead of heading north towards Riva.  The bus line to Brescia (via Castelnuovo, Peschiera, Sirmione, Desenzano) has a bus every hour and I could get off and on as I wanted .... if I wanted...  I thought that would be my best option at 11:00 am with half a day already passed.


View Larger Map

This bus line is very familiar to me, for few years during high school years my family lived in Bosco di Sona, literally on the bus line.  The bus driver would honk and wait for me in the morning when, inevitably late, I would be running to catch the bus to downtown and to school...

On the bus were few passengers, and, incidentally, all foreigners. I could identify at least some origins from countries fro the ex-USSR, Asia, and Africa, ... and me...what am I now?  American?  Italian?  How would a bus trip be economically justified if not to serve these communities?  And how can a trip from Verona to Brescia be economically justified at all with just 6-8 people on the bus?  That will be another blog altogether, more to come!

In Verona, the bus circled the area around Valverde and then around  Corso Porta Nuova, and I couldn't help asking myself where all the "ladies" went.  Porta Nuova used to be the well known area for "business ladies" back in the days and it now appears to be all "cleared up", and so was SS11 on the way to Peschiera ... nice job.

The first town by Lake Garda is Peschiera.  During the summer, mom and dad kept a camping trailer in a campground in Peschiera.  These were my teenage years.  We would make the trip from Verona on the bus or in the car every week-end, and I sometimes was able to bring a friend.  We would enjoy the water, the sun, and the company of friends.  Dad would do his fishing, mom ... not sure, probably cooking and cleaning, and may be shopping ... yes, I spent most of my time by the pool meeting new friends.  

Buy the time the bus got to Sirmione my excitement had built up and couldn't wait to get off the bus and go by the water!!  The bus stop is right by the entrance to the old town, a sliver of land that forms a peninsula deep into Lake Garda.  This place is unbelievable, a real castle with a moat and a draw bridge!  Here it is ... here is what welcomes you ... what a sight ... is this for real?  By these walls and beyond them is a magical place...