A torn calf, broken toe and lump on the leg
The first long stop of the holiday brought us to a campsite in the village of Feriolo on Lake Maggiore. The drive from Switzerland into Italy over the Simplon pass was stunning, sweeping bends and tunnels through mountains.
Our campsite is heaving but very well maintained and could not be better situated for five days of water sports fun.
Being by a lake does take a bit of getting used to after years of holidays by the sea. The first thing to strike me is the different smell. Rather than the familiar waft of salty sea air, there is distinctly muddy feel to the place and rather than the feel of sand under foot you get a definite squelch when walking in the water. Then there are the weeds. I don’t want to talk about those…..
The presence of weeds that grab at you with spikes that want to drag you down to the murky depths has meant that we are using our boat more that I thought we ever would, taking short day trips to other beaches or just using it to get out to deep water so that we can all swim without the fear of suddenly being attacked by the vegetation.
We are all enjoying the ritual of having dinner then walking along the lake side with an ice cream in the evening, I had a magnificent pistachio ice cream on the first night that has yet to be bettered.
Other than swimming and kayaking we made a trip to the top of a mountain from the town of Stresa. The vista at the top was sold as one of the finest in all of Italy as it granted a view of no less than seven lakes. Thanks to the wonderful weather there was a bit of heat haze that meant all you could really see was lake Maggiore but it was fun none the less. The only downside to this trip was that Siobhan hurt her calf on the walk up to the top of the mountain and had to hobble back down. On the walk back Joe and I went to the shops and bought an alligator, a banana, a crocodile, a dirigible airship, an elephant, a fire engine, a giraffe, a harrier jump jet, an igloo, a jaberwokie, a key, a lemur, a muffin, some Nutella, an orange octopus, purple parrot, a quil, rickshaw, snake with sausages,turtle,an ugly umbrella, a viennese biscuit, a wicked witch with water, an x-ray xylophone machine, a yacht and a zero point gravity gun!
Not to be out done on the injury front I have stubbed my toe on a rock but it’s not broken and izaak has a life threatening bump on his leg from an insect bite…
Next on to Florence for a bit of culture, but not before having bags of fun on a pedalo with one of those slides on
We will fight them on the beaches
Joe has a wobbly tooth
3.30am start to get the train to France. So begins our summer holiday in Italy. A night in Switzerland, a few days by lake Maggiore followed by a few nights near Florence then who knows.
Less than an hour into the first day and Joe announces he has a wobbly tooth, about five times, there is a sinking feeling that this may be a long journey.
As it goes the journey to our first campsite is pretty effortless punctuated by a proper briffa macaroni pie lunch that Siobhan appears to have truly nailed, nonna would have been silently proud.
The first campsite was not like it’s website, they seem to have missed the motorway running through it but it’s just one night and it sits on a lovely lake where a swim was truly enjoyed.
HUMPBACK!!!
Brrrr! the drone of the boat was ringing with Mae and Joe were asleep on dad when somebody shouted WHALE AT AT ONE O’ CLOCK!!! the whole of the boat moved over to one side of the boat puff! A rush of air and water came out of the water, a spout!, as this happened the man on the microphone said in a very strong american accent ’’ well folks I believe we’ve spotted a humpback whale” then the whale dived and showed of his huge tail. Then came the ravenous killers of the sea know throughout the world, are culprits for many lives and injuries, know especially for their strategy and whits, DOLPHINS! They came in a pod of about fifty jumping and leaping showing off being little goodie two shoes. The rest of the day was filled with whales and there tails and then we docked and walked of the boat stunned.
A birthday treat
Whilst the mountains are humbling, the sea is my real panacea (like mother like daughter), so what a birthday treat. A lovely cooked breakfast, courtesy of Bill and the kids and then a day lazing by the ocean in the blistering sunshine, frolicking in the waves and watching whales far out to sea. Concluded as all good days should be with a glass of wine under the starry skies. Need I say more…
A birthday to remember (as typed by my secretary mummy)
I woke up and I had some breakfast and we thought it would be special for mummy if we had a special breakfast. I wanted to help Daddy, so I did by making the toast and frying it. Mummy seemed very happy because it was her birthday. We then went to the beach, there were really big waves, so we all decided to go in, it was really cold so your hands and legs went really numb. After mummy had some time sun-bathing while we all played in the sand. Me and mummy decided to go into the sea again because the waves got bigger, there was one that literally took me to the ground. It was really fun. By the looks of it mummy was having fun aswell (she was! – as included by my secretary mummy).
When we got out it was nearly time to go, so Dad came in with me, he was a bit grumpy at first, but then he really enjoyed it. We saw a seal it was about 15 feet away and he taught me how to belly slap.
A dream (as typed by my secretary Mummy)
We were heading out to town in San Francisco, to get some bikes. We went to loads of different bike rental places, but we finally found the right one, it was called Bike the Bridge. Then it was very busy in town so I found it hard to concentrate and get to the bridge. I got there in the end, I was so excited, there were a couple of struggles up some hills but that was it. It was very windy on the Golden Gate Bridge. We were all talking about if an alien came along and attacked the bridge because Izaak could mention lots of films were it happened. When you see the Golden Gate Bridge you think “wow those pillars are big” but when you see them up close they are even bigger. When we got to the second pillar we took some alien photos.
A tail of a whale
From San Fran we were off to find a whale. After dosing the kids up with sea sickness tablets for our three hour trip we set sail, seeing humpbacks in the distance within the first five minutes (if they count that as a sighting I will be most upset). With a whole extended family throwing up off the back of the boat (I hope they cross sea trips of their excursion list for the future) we were treated to dolphin extravaganza. From there on it was whale spout and fluke galore. Joe was in his element
Nothing keeps the Briffa’s off their bikes
What we quickly realised arriving in San Francisco was that we were going to haemorrhage cash, the closest RV park was in a lovely little suburb called Larkspur a mere 50 minute ferry ride to town, lovely as it was, it was also costly. Still throwing cash to the wind, literally, we headed into town in a last ditch hope of Alcatraz tickets. Silly Mummy did not read the small print about booking months in advance, so we were to be disappointed, not to worry the ferry at least went past the Island and they had a model of it at the landing bay for others like us, who were to be disappointed. Not to worry we would fill our faces with calamari and shrimps and a glass of wine (or two) to make up for it.
It was only a mile back to the ferry port but the kids had finally mutiny’d they were walking no further. There came the friendly rickshaw lady, yes she could take five, she had taken seven before and so for a good price we happily sat on her rickshaw and transited very slowly to the ferry port.
How to recover day two, what better way than to get on our bikes. There followed a fantastic cycle along the shoreline and up over the Golden Gate Bridge. What an experience, better than Alcatraz any day. We then finished our authentic San Fran experience walking up the very steep hill to Lombard Street, where we managed to avoid the 90 minute cable car queue and hopped on a trolley car to ride the street of San Fran back to the Ferry.
The Travelling Billberries 