We woke up to a cool morning and noticed the trees over our motorhomes had changed overnight. I am so glad we have a chance to see the foliage as we drive north. Having moved to Florida from New England, I miss the change of seasons.
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| We woke up to fall colors! Oh, I miss New England! |
Today was a big drive day; we sadly left Italy and ended up in Klausen, Austria but enjoyed the most spectacular scenery to date!
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| As I was wildly snapping photos, I took a picture of this neat building. I had no idea what a surprised there was behind those walls when we unexpectedly stopped to spend awhile....... |
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| Driving by, you would never guess what a lovely city lies beyond these walls! |
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| Great little shops in the courtyards behind the walls |
We were allotted an hour or so to browse the adorable shops (I never buy anything on impulse, so it was not nearly enough time for me ) and then we traveled along scenic Lake Garda with mountains climbing in the background.
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| I wonder what's up this path? Let's go check it out! ( another walled city with wonderful shops ) |
We stopped for lunch at another city that was a hundred or so years older than the first. We did not know the treasures that lay hidden behind those ancient, flowered walls, so we wasted too much time having lunch, during which we watched acrobatic parasailers doing somersaults or loop-d-do’s in the air, and then competently land in a very small strip of grass near the water’s edge.
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| Gorgeous Lake Garda! I could love to come back here and stay awhile.......I do suspect, however, that during thebusy season it would be much to crowded to really enjoy. |
Afterwards, we quickly checked out a few unusual shops, but unfortunately they were closing for the afternoon (which we have found very common in Europe). Oh, I wish I knew.
For the next hour or so we were captivated with beautiful landscape of this area in Northern Italy.
Click below for a short glimpse of the beautiful Lake Garda, and a couple of the many tunnels we drove through.
We were then warned by the trip leader that we were going to “climb”. And climb we did, as we headed straight up and over the Italian Alps! It was a perfect day, and the sun was lowering behind us, casting shadows across the miles and miles of grapevines which were planted in every available place from roadside to mountainside and every place in between. Did they plan this trip so that we traveled with the sun behind us not glaring in our eyes all afternoon?
As we climbed, we watched the thermometer on the dash drop, and the color on the trees brighten. Fall is in the air! After about a 5 hour drive we finally arrived at our campsite looking directly at a centuries old mountaintop monastery above us.
After quickly setting up camp (5 minutes or so) Dieter took us down to the old town so we could get a feel for the area. We just love these centuries old places with the huge wooden doors and shutters, and ohhhh…. the hand-forged hardware on them is magnificent. What craftsmanship!
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| This clown and I hit it off right away! I loved the way he always has a big smile for me! |
At 6:30 we all went to the restaurant located at the campground and had a very special meal, right down to the ice cream with fresh warm raspberries, and an after dinner liqueur of our choosing. The alcohol was flowing pretty freely, so we helped each other down the steps back to our rigs for the night.
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| It was hard to imagine such an incredible restaurant is located in a campground! |
