Lake Garda Italy Tuesday 21 May 2013

Up at 07:00, the sun is out, and the view from my room is worth getting up for alone. I am up on the fifth floor and look out from the rear of the hotel across to green fields and mountains. Stunning. I love it here.

On longer tours we always have two days off but on these eight day tours we have three excursions and one free day and my plan this week (depending on weather) is to do the lake tour today, an easy half day to Trento tomorrow and then the longest day to the Dolomites on Thursday. That will leave Friday clear for a day at leisure.

The breakfast here is excellent with a great choice of both hot and cold food to enjoy. There is also an old Fiat 500 by reception!

At 09:00 we depart the hotel for a drive alongside the eastern side of the lake to Sirmione at the southern end.

This is always a lovely drive and I like to do it on the first morning because it gives everyone a sense of what Lake Garda is all about. And it is an easy day on the coach which is relaxing after two long days.

The journey is stunning with the day warming up with each mile we drive. The roads are quiet at this time of year making it an absolute pleasure to drive. This has to be one of my favourite journeys with the pretty towns clinging to the lakeside all with their little harbours and beaches and gardens all the way along. Everything is brightly painted and the holiday atmosphere is all around.

We reach Bardolino and our quiet roads cease with a long traffic jam due to resurfacing the road. Once through this we arrive at the small resort of Lazise, one of my favourite spots on the lake. This town is surrounded by castle walls on three sides and the lake on the other. The centre is a wide traffic free area while the lakeside promenade is delightful. I sadly can’t walk around as I have to stay with the bus – a sort of unwritten rule that we can park at the towns entrance on the main road but must stay with the vehicle. No problem as it is just nice sitting in the sun watching the world go by.

We arrive here at 10:30 and are departing for Sirmione at 11:50.

When we arrive in Sirmione at 12:30 the group are going on a half hour boat ride around the peninsula before being dropped in the town. I call the boat people to book our boats for 12:30.

At 11:50 we are all back except one lady. I will save her any possible embarrassment by changing her name to Susan.

After waiting a further fifteen minutes I am becoming concerned. I have her mobile number so call it without much hope of it working but amazingly it rings! No answer though as I leave a message.

I then have a walk around the town looking for her but no sign. I have another walk, this time with one of the passengers and neither of us find her.

After 45 minutes am becoming concerned. I have been into the small police station by the harbour but no English is spoken and the policemen don’t seem at all interested in me!

Back at the coach we are all a little worried as Susan has a good command of Italian and German so would be able to ask for assistance if needed or gain access to a phone to either call me, the office at home or our hotel.

After an hour I decide to go back to the police station but first call into the tourist office to explain my plight. The lady there is very helpful and tries to call the police for me but there is no answer so she gives me a map showing the hospital in Peschiara, where anybody having an accident would be taken. It is on our way to Sirmione.

Back at the coach we wait until 13:10, an hour and twenty minutes after the time we should have left, before abandoning Lazise and going on to Sirmione. We shall try the hospital on the way.

You are always put in a bit of a dilemma with this kind of situation. On the one hand you don’t want to leave anybody behind, especially an old lady on her own, but I have 27 other passengers to consider. I feel we have waited long enough and once in Sirmione I will drive back to Lazise for one final look.

We find the Ospedale on the main road into Peschiara and I have to park in the road with the fourways going.

I go up to the reception where I am directed to the A & R desk. I have to write Susan’s name down while they check their records but nobody of that name has been admitted.

I return to the coach and we continue on to Sirmione arriving at 13:55 an hour and twenty five minutes late! All but one of the group go on the boats. The boat trip will show them Sirmione from the lake and will also drop them in the centre of this beautiful town. Sirmione is another fortified town that is gorgeous but does get a touch busy.

The lady who has not gone on the boats has decided to stay on the coach instead of walking into town. I would rather she got off but there you go.

I pay my €10 for the sixteen minutes I’m in the coach park as we retrace our steps back to Lazise.

About fifteen minutes into our journey we join another traffic jam where a caravan has gone over on its side and the police have blocked the road! I have to turn around in a supermarket car park and try to drive through Peschiara town. The reason I drove around the outside is that there is a low archway in Peschiara that I know we can drive through going towards Sirmione but am not sure about the way back.

As I reach the archway the height restriction is 3.00m and the coach is 3.85m! I may just do it and would try in my own coach, which is lower than this one, but am not risking it in Richard’s coach.

The only thing is to turn around, drive back to Sirmione and try to call the police myself.

This I do once back in the coach park but again there is no English spoken. I then call the hotel to see if she has returned but her room key is still on the rack. The receptionist, Vanessa, kindly offers to call the police for me which I’m grateful for.

She soon calls me back saying the police want a description of Susan and what she is wearing! She has now become a missing person! All very bizarre.

The police will search Lazise for her.

I walk into Sirmione for a very late lunch of a toasted sandwich and a quick look around but it is very busy so I don’t stay long.

We depart at 16:15 and luckily the accident has been cleared. Once again I stop at the hospital and go straight to the emergency desk. Again I have to write Susan’s name down and this time a paramedic who speaks excellent English helps me look for her. I am told she hasn’t been admitted as an emergency but she will just check with the gynaecology unit to see if she is there! I doubt that very much!

This raises a bit of a giggle as we drive back to the hotel.

On our way my phone goes so I pull over and answer as I know it is the hotel. Vanessa has called to say that Susan is now back at the hotel! I speak to her and she is adamant she was waiting by the coach!!?

I am a little annoyed and frustrated but my overriding emotion is relief with her being well.

We arrive back at the hotel and Susan is waiting for us and climbs aboard before anyone has alighted to apologise. That’s quite brave and good enough for me. I know a lot of people who wouldn’t have done that.

She is nearly in tears as she hugs me.

At the end of the day we have lost an hour and half of our day but it is not that important is it when you think what might have happened.

After dinner I sat outside the hotel enjoying a beer and peace and quiet when a lady comes out, sits close to me and lights up with the smoke blowing into my face! Time for bed!