Today started off beautifully. We were able to sleep in a bit. Mike was especially happy about that seeing as he was still so jet lagged. We went to our breakfast at the B&B. The setting was incredible. The tables were set up in an outdoor area that overlooked the water and neighboring cities. The food was fairly elegant for a B&B. We sipped our hot coco and ate our fancy pastries and other tasty breakfast items. We enjoyed the scenery and wondered why we were leaving that day. After breakfast we had very little time to pack our things and check out. Luckily the owner allowed us to keep our car parked at the B&B so we didn't have to worry about driving it down to town then paying for parking. We walked down to the beach and rented two chairs with an umbrella. Normally I'd say forget the umbrella but the sun was so strong at 10:15 I figured it might be best to have the option to put it up. We laid in our chairs and took it all in. I was happy to see a lot of the same beach goers as we have in America. There were plenty of women who shouldn't be in the sun anymore because their skin looked like leather. Lots of women in bikinis that might have looked better in a tankini, and not surprisingly more men in speedos. Of course there were a few European beach goers I haven't seen much of in the states. Mainly the women who did not shave their underarms and the young girls who preferred to go topless. By young girls I mean under the age of 10. It kind of threw me off a little to see so many little girls in nothing but a little bottom. I wonder at what age they start buying tops to go with the bottoms? Maybe they don't, I don't know, but I'm kind of curious. After a while Mike decided he wanted to give paddle boarding a go. He's seen it done numerous times and always wanted to try it. He rented a paddle board for an half hour and I thought he did great. He only lost his balance once and looked like a natural on the water moving quickly and easily. He made it look much easier than I would imagine it would be for me. After he was done we both just rested in our chairs with the umbrella up for a good two hours or so. It was so relaxing to listen to the crashing of the waves on the rocks and the rolling tide coming in and out. The ocean gave off a nice breeze that combine with our umbrella made it perfect weather. My tan might not have increased as much as I would have hoped but I didn't get burnt and that was all I cared about. Finally around 2:30 we knew it was time to get our things together and head back. We found a nice little pizza and hamburger shop that had a nice view of the ocean. We quickly ate our lunch then went looking for some good gelato for the road. This time I got stataciello and pistachio. There was a little bit of a panic as we walked back up the hill. Mike could remember where he put the keys to the rental car and was worried he had put them in his backpack which was currently in the back of the trunk. We had a brainstorming session retracing our last several encounters with the keys. Finally we found them in my book bag, which was luckily on his back. We breathed a sigh of relief and continued our trek up the hill. To get situated in the car we had to get the GPS going with directions to Verona. We knew it would be a three+ hour ride so we hoped that a fully charged GPS would do the trick. Just in case I had goggled directions and taken a picture of each step on the iPad to use as a backup. I also wrote down the directions the GPS gave us so I had both if we needed them. We set out, back into the winding, turning cliffs of Cinque Terra national park. I was happy when that 45 min drive lead us to the highway (or Autostrada.) As we exited the national park I noticed the battery light had already gone to yellow. Not a good sign. I kept it on till we got to the highway we would be on for about 60 miles. Then I shut it off. I wrote down what the odometer of the car read (in kilometers) and then how many miles till the next exit. I had to convert the miles to KG then add that to the odometer reading so that I would know when to start looking for the exit. Luckily this system worked for us for about 2.5 hours. We listened to the book Inferno and enjoyed our ride through the beautiful green mountains and hills of Italy. It was very picturesque. (As a side note we payed a €24.50 toll to drive on the freeways. We will now stop complaining about our NY tolls.) Once we got close to the city of Verona I turned the GPS back on to help us navigate the streets. The city was much bigger than I had anticipated. The battery read low and I was praying it would stay on long enough to get us to the B&B. I had the directions from the iPad pictures up and was ready to become Mikes GPS at any minute, but praying I wouldn't have to. The pictures were not nearly as helpful as they would have been in the states. To many rotaries and unmarked streets to really be much good. Thankfully, our prayers were answered again as the GPS got us the the right area. The only problem was where it said to turn didn't look like a street and as I mentioned the streets were not well marked. We pulled off to the side and called the B&B. They were very kind and tried desperately to help but the language barrier was a bit tricky. So we forgot that idea and got out Mikes phone to use it as a GPS. When we reached the street the place was on it turned out that we were literally 10 feet in front of it before. Go figure. Our room was huge, and well kept and the owner and her daughter were very nice. The B&B was tucked in behind some other houses and the backyard was beautiful, like a miniature wine vineyard. Exactly what I thought it would be. After we got settled we went to find food. The owner said there was a pizza place close by with good pizza. As we were about to leave another couple staying there came in to report the pizza place was closed and asked if there was somewhere else. Next we were pointed in the opposite direction to a traditional style restaurant. We found the place easily and got a table. It seemed like a nice restaurant, the tables were neatly set on an outside patio and a few locals were enjoying their dinner. When we were given the menu it was small and all in Italian. That's when we knew it was going to be good. The waitress was kind enough to explain the menu to us and we ordered lasagna, pork chops and veggies. We also got water, which at home would be free with the meal, but in Europe we have to pay for it. Boo! While we waited on our meal the server brought us some prosciutto meat, bread, oil/vinegar and pickles. It was all very good but filled us up before the meal even came. When the meal did come we dug right it. The food was incredible! The lasagna was more like a thin fettuccine noodle than a big long lasagna noodle which I liked. The veggies were seasoned well and cooled to perfection. I can't say enough good things about it. Delicious. After our meal we decided to walk fast/jog home to help get the food digested or something. We ate a lot more than we had planned and later at night that we would have liked. When we got back to the room we relaxed and feel asleep listening to the book Inferno. Poor Mike made it a lot farther than I did and was forced to re listen to almost all of it the next day.
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