Presqu'ile de Champaubert

No chance of missing that rain!  It kept on and relentlessly on from Thursday evening until during the night this morning (Saturday).  Yesterday, being 1st May, was a bank holiday in France and a tradition we have seen on previous visits is for children to sell small posies of lily of the valley on street corners etc.  As we left Mulhouse, we saw many of these little groups getting soaked in the pouring rain.  We just drove 42 miles to the little village of Rupt-sur-Moselle to stay on the Aire for motorhomes beside an old station on the Voie Verte (cycle track on disused railway).  The plan was to have our lunch there and go for a ride along the track in the afternoon.  Yes, we did have our lunch (inside) but just because we needed a little bit of exercise and fresh air, we ventured out in our walking boots and wet weather gear for about half an hour.  But of course we got soaked!  A lovely area in the Vosges along the infant Moselle, so we shall need to come back some time.

A little something to cheer us after our soaking!

Today has been cloudy, but mostly dry, so we were able to have a walk around where we are for tonight.  Presqu'ile de Champaubert is a small promontory into Lac du Der-Chantecoq, near St. Dizier.  We have been here before, but at a different campsite.  It's worth a bit more exploration in the morning but that depends on the weather! 

We have read all about the birth of the new Princess this morning, and eagerly await the announcement of the names. 

This is possibly our last blogpost before reaching home as this bit of wifi we have now is just for this evening and tomorrow we plan to stay at a France Passion.  Then on Monday we do the last few miles to Calais and home sometime during the evening.  If you are reading this, then thank you for sticking with us - and remember the password for the little prize!
 

Mulhouse, France

Another fine day, so it was on the bikes along the canal into Mulhouse.  The central square reminded us of Freiburg which of course is not very far away, and this bit of France has been Germany several times in its history.  We wandered through the streets and found some very quirky things - one smallish pedestrian shopping area had dinosaurs dotted about on the paving - on one street corner there were a flock of sheep made of metal barrels - in the main square there was a lady sewing a pretty knitted/crocheted cover for a lamppost and all around the town were knitted covers for tree trunks and handles on shop doors!!  A hunt for a geocache led us to the flock of sheep, although we weren't quite sure what we were going to find beforehand.  The clue was Proctologie - we are sure some of our readers will know what this is, but we needed to google it.  The photo will point to the part of the body this refers to!

After a tasty lunch at one of the cafes, we cycled back beside the canal and continued on past the campsite into the countryside a short way.  We believe this bit of canal is navigable and we passed a couple of locks, but there were no sign of any boats.  We saw trains, though, as the railway runs aong the other side of the canal.  So much freight being carried by train here - one train with 2 layers of new cars seemed to go on for ever.  What a good idea that is - those huge car transporters on our roads are a menace.

It's just starting raining this evening and the forecast is rain for tomorrow, but we shall be moving on a bit so maybe we will miss it.

The sheep!

Art in action

Place de la Reunion, Mulhouse

Three countries in one day

Doing a bit of catching up this evening (Wednesday) because we've been without wifi for a while.  On Monday morning the rain had reached us at Sirmione so we were pleased that we had planned to do some journeying that day.  We left Lake Garda behind us and drove west via Bergamo, crossing the border into Switzerland at Chiasso, just north of Como.  The motorway took us between the arms of Lake Lugano, with very cloudy views, and then back into Italy again
at Porte Tresa on the western side of the lake.  Camping International turned out not to be the most exciting of campsites and it was very gloomy in the rain.  But we dusted off the brollies and took a look at our surroundings - but not for long! 

Yesterday morning, it was a different story altogether - lovely sunshine and even the campsite looked quite pretty. From the van, we could look over the wall to the lake and the little town of Porte Tresa.  We could watch the traffic queueing at the border control where the river into this section of the lake divides the two countries.  It must be quite frustrating for people going to work one way or the other.  We walked calmly over the bridge and none of the officials took any notice of us even though we'd remembered to carry our passports.  We caught a train on the narrow guage railway that runs between Porte Tresa and Lugano.  At one point it travels onto the main road and diagonally crosses to the other side - there are lights, but no barriers, so it was quite an interesting journey. 
In Lugano, after a quick look in the cathedral - not much to see as the whole interior is being renovated and there were just glass partitions to see the work going on, we walked steeply down to the Piazza della Riforma with it's very expensive shops and continued on beside the lake to Cassarate.  As it was such a clear day, we decided to go on the funicular railway to the top of Monte Bre (925m) to had our picnic and a bit of a walk.  The main path took you up some steps and then down lots more through woods to the village of Bre which was perched overlooking another branch of the lake.  We knew what goes down must come up again and we counted the steps on the way back - 389!!  But there's a cafe near the funicular station, with superb views ....  Back down in Lugano, we whiled away another half hour or so in a park where we briefly used the free city wifi to check our emails and to see if there were any geocaches nearby.  There was, and it was just a few yards away in our park.  Our 'Rough Guide' suggested that we go and see the church of Santa Maria degli Angioli, which although very plain on the outside and now overshaddowed by the new ultra-modern Cultural Centre, was quite amazing inside.  The church was founded in 1490 and in 1529 Bernardo Luini painted a huge fresco of the Passion and Crucifixion on a wall separating the nave from the chancel.  Much smaller, but just as impressive was another of the Last Supper.  As if we hadn't climbed enough steps in one day, we climbed another lot beside this church on the way back to the railway station - another 286!!  Phew.

Bre village

The funicular

View from cafe Monte Bre

Another view from cafe

Driverless funicular!

The fresco

Monte Bre from the steps up to station

After crossing the border again this morning - even in the van nobody took any notice of us - we couldn't leave without driving the mile or so to Caslano and the Alprose 'Schokoland'.  We were expecting a Willy Wonka experience and although we were each given a bread stick dipped into a chocolate fountain on arrival, we seemed to have come on the day all the Oompa-Loompas were on holiday!  We could look down on all the machinery and conveyor belts, but nothing was moving and had to be satisfied with a short video of what goes on.  The shop, however, made up for it all.  There were chocolates of all shapes, sizes and flavours - this is Switzerland - and visitors can eat as much as they like!!  Mind you, there's a limit to how much you feel like sampling at 9.30 in the morning.  But we're bringing home some goodies and for faithful Blog-Followers there will be a free sample - just use the password:  "Schokoland"!

Then we did quite a chunk of driving, all the way north through Switzerland and into France - 3 countries in one day and 194 miles closer to home.  Now at Brunstatt on the outskirts of Mulhouse which we will explore tomorrow.

Lugano

2 days of country hopping. Italy- Switzerland - Italy by road to Porte Tresa yesterday. Today by train Porte Tresa to Lugano. Sitting by lake in lovely park using free town WiFi. More news next stop.

Sirmione

 We decided to have another day just enjoying the lakeside, so just rode into Bardolino again yesterday to see things without the massive market - there had been a children's cycle race instead, with some quite young children all kitted out in the racing cycle gear and there were huge trophies waiting to be presented.  I did think about going up the hill to the swimming pool, but thinking was as far as I got ....  But we did walk into Garda in the evening, which is a lovely time of day to look around the shops.  Although still warm, it was quite an overcast day and did rain a little bit on our way back from Garda.  A pity for the people putting on a music concert on one of the piazzas - all the chairs got wet and the concert didn't start.  The rain didn't last long, so maybe it happened later.

This morning we left our lovely spot at La Rocca and came the short way to Sirmione - our last port of call at the south end of Lake Garda.  We settled in at Camping Village San Francesco, then cycled to the narrow promontory that extends into the lake for 4km.  We knew it was likely to be busy, being Sunday, but we were very pleased not to be trying to park a vehicle!  Leaving the bikes, we crossed the small bridge over an inlet beside the castle of Rocca Scaligera, through the little village of Sirmione with its many giftshops, restaurants and ice cream parlours and onto a path which eventually led to the end of the peninsular.  On the way, we stopped at the small pool surrounded by rocks at the lakeside where Garda's mineral spring water has been piped up to.  I paddled in the warm water and then got a bit too close to the spout - and oh boy, was it hot!  At the headland high above the lake, are the Grotte di Catullo, the remains of an enormous 1st century BC/AD Roman villa (167m x 105m).  We marvelled at how clever those Romans were - it had been 3 stories high and with some arches and walls that are still standing.  Back in Sirmione village we had a (very expensive!) cup of tea/coffee before the ride back to the van.  Took an evening stroll along the lake to find a geocache.

Bardolino and Verona

Yesterday we had an easy day and just cycled along the waterfront into Bardolino to take a stroll around their weekly market.  This was probably the longest market we've ever been too - the stalls are all in a very long line along the prom for at least half a mile.  John bought a new leather belt and we found a geocache under a jetty despite the huge crowds.

A bit of Bardolino market

Today we caught the bendybus No.164 to Verona.  It only took an hour and we were in the heart of the city.  We walked just about everywhere - over the bridge at Castelvecchio, by the Duomo, San Fermo Church, through lots of piazzas, saw arches, towers and beautiful buildings, marvelled at the enormous Roman arena and enjoyed lunch at Caffe Alle Fogge in the shade.  We also admired the many cafes in the huge Piazza Bra, but had a cheaper sit down in the small park by a pretty fountain.  And of course, we had to go to see Juliet's balcony!  It was actually quite fun, because the tiny courtyard was full of people, some writing messages to put on the wall, some leaving their personal padlock, some cupping the statue of Juliet's right breast (which is meant to bring new love within the year and is extremely shiny!!) and some paying to go up and stand on the balcony that was done up in Gothic style in 1935 to capitolize on the Hollywood movie!  Our quest was to find a particular padlock with the geocaching symbol on it and use a code to unlock it and sign the log. The funny thing was that it was right behind the statue, so at least a dozen people now have a photo of themselves not only with Juliet, but also with John's bottom while he was bending over unlocking and locking the padlock!  
Altogether a grand day out.

Gardone Riviera

Taking advantage of this fantastic weather, we cycled the short way to the ferry at Garda and caught the boat across the lake to Gardone Riviera, calling at Portese and Salo on the way.  All so beautiful.  We met some Americans between Salo and Gardone who were spending most of the day travelling over the lake and we were able to confirm that Malcesine and Riva were well worth spending time at.  Gardone was very quiet when we arrived so no problem finding somewhere to have lunch.

Our cruise ship

Salo

Salo

Then we climbed the hill to Il Vitoriale degli Italiani, the former home of the poet and nationalist Gabriele d'Annunzio.  He was a very eccentric egotist and the house has been left as it was when he died in 1938 - each gloomy bizarre room filled with strange artifacts from Buddhas and toy animals in the bathroom to a machine gun in one of the libraries. On the table in the dining room, as a warning to greedy guests, is a huge gilded turtle with the shell of a real one that had died of overeating!  On one wall were written the 5 Deadly Sins - he left out Lust and Greed - that says it all really!  The gardens are built into the steep hillside and include an amphitheatre, museums, an enormous mausoleum (with fantastic views) and the prow of the battleship Puglia sticking out between the trees.  So it was a very odd place to visit, but fascinating all the same.

A pretty corner of Gardone Riviere

The Prioria

View from the mausoleum

Battleship Puglia

The prow of the Puglia

With time to kill back down at the waterfront, we whiled it away with a gelato at one of the cafes, then relaxed on the ferry trip back home.