Leaving San Marino to embark on one of the really beautiful drives of the journey, through the Dolomites and into Austria, I carried with me many fond moments from the last time I travelled through there and I was hoping to replicate them.
I hope I never lose my memory because travel is all about finding great moments to remember, and for the most part these memories cannot be repeated. I had my grumpy-head on because I had wanted to stay in the same village as last time, after all it was only a night and I had wanted to explore more, but instead I was taken to another place.
You can create new memories.
Riva Del Garda, by the books, by tripadvisor, had no real appeal to me.
I'm not sure if it was better in the grey overcast, or if it shone more in the sunlight, but I really loved the place. Straddling that cosy feel you get from alpine towns and Italian lake-frontage, the place was beautiful.
Maybe it was the beautiful hotel, Hotel Sole, maybe it was the lake, it's coloured boats, and it's swans, but I know that a big part of it was the music…
As I readied for bed that night the lonely serenade of a violinist standing by the water, playing La Vie En Rose drifted from across the damp, quiet square beneath my window.
It couldn't have been more perfect, or beautiful.
Wrapped in the comfortable bed and with my violinist having moved on, the square then began to echo the sounds of jazz and laughter, and I imagined dancing there, and the sounds followed me into my dreams.
It was so, so lovely.
In the morning the kids and I toyed with the idea of taking out a paddle-boat in the rain, but instead decided on a tour of the Reptilarium, which despite the slightly acrid odour of reptiles in humidity, was really good!
Deadly snakes and spiders only a couple of millimetres of glass away from our fingertips kept us entertained for a good hour.
I was sold on the romance of Riva Del Garda and the Hotel Sole. The rain hovered in thick grey mists between falling, and I wonder if would have romanticised the place as much in the sunshine, but for the moment my memory is of a someplace very special to visit.
Makes me smile.
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