It was a decision between going to Venice or going to Sirmione today. Kate and Calvin have both been to Venice before (years before they were acquainted) and loved it however, Sirmione on Lake Garda was suggested and recommended by the Airbnb host - something new to see is always better than something seen before!

So it was off to Sirmione, a town about 45 minutes drive from Verona. The weather was quite foggy today. Visibility wasn't all that great and we were hoping the fog would dissipate by the time we reached Lake Garda.

It didn't.

But it didn't put quite a dampener on things - there were still several gelaterias open in town (even though it was low season) which Kate and Calvin took advantage of. Today's flavours involved caramelised fig and black vanilla (who would've thought it'd be yummier than normal vanilla?)! Bigger servings in a bigger cup - for double the price but certainly worth the €4!

We had options to see the proper sights of Sirmione, not just the gelato shops, however spending the cash to go into the Castello Scaligero (which looks amazing in Google images) didn't seem that necessary particularly when the views that might be afforded from the top of the turrets would be obscured by the dense fog over the lake.

We strolled through the middle of the town which would be quite quaint during the sunnier summer months (but probably quite crowded) up to the Chiesa di San Pietro in Mavino - an old church built upon old ruins. Some of the ruins were excavated and featured at the front of the church.

It wasn't much further to get to the Grotte di Catullo - the ruins of an extensive Roman villa which we also decided that it wasn't worth it to enter. The views of the lake were unfortunately not quite as impressive as they could be and this would have been the place to see it at the point of the peninsula.

So it was back into town along the lakeside stopping for some pictures on the pier. We spotted a man bathing in a little thermal pool within the lake - looked enticing! The thermal pool, not the man.

We found lunch in Bar Scaligeri which offered a vegetarian pizza ample for sharing between two. Calvin also had a hot chocolate (the proper kind - thick and deliciously chocolatey) and Kate enjoyed the free bread sticks on offer.

It was time to head back home to Verona as we were a bit tired of city visiting and town walking. We started looking into planning for Scandinavia and USA instead!

Our Airbnb host suggested we should have dinner at a local joint about 10 minutes walk from the house. Grotta Azzurra is the place Italians go for pizza. Because we were Australians, we went there for pasta instead (tortellini bolognese and tagliatelle boscaiola)! But we did get a take away pizza for lunch tomorrow. Kate asked for Caprese pizza (/kǝpris/) which the waitress didn't understand so Kate tried adding an Italian inflection - /kǝprisa/ - and instantly the waitress got it! Also, Calvin had a panda cotta with caramel for dessert to round it all out.