Smug bastards on tour

This post is going to be about 90% photos and bragging, so if you don't like either of those things, you had probably better skip this one.

On Thursday, we got up bright and early to take a cable car from Malcesine to the top of Monte Baldo, almost 1800 metres up. We were already equipped with tickets purchased the previous day and armed with the fruits of my internet research that was full of disgruntled people complaining about waiting in queues for hours to get up and down the mountain.

No such trouble for us (here is part one of the bragging) - we arrived fifteen minutes before the first departure, were about third in line, and had plenty of prime window space on both of the cars. The first one up the mountain is fixed in position, so you need to get a good spot, but the second revolves around, so everyone can get a good view, but you inevitably end up staring at the mountain side for half the trip.

It was a glorious sunny day and the views over the lakes and mountains are just stunning. Luckily enough, the sun in the morning is on the perfect side to shine down on to the lake and since we were on the first car, it was nice and peaceful up there as we strolled along the flat ridge line enjoying our surroundings.

Looking towards the south

I need my dad's bird identification skills here

Channelling the Sound of Music on the mountain top

Cute alpaca friend

Looking at the north end of the lake

Fabulous, right? Here's the bragging part two, louder, braggier and uncut. By the time we were heading back down to the cable car, the trickle of people walking the other way had turned into a steady stream. The cars coming up the mountain were full, whereas we were the only two on both of our trips - which meant that we circumvented that staring at the mountain half the time thing.

View of Malcesine from the funicular. I made a cool timelapse of the trip down but I can't work out how to upload it here :(

When we arrived back at base, we found the fabled queues had indeed built up, going all the way along the corridor, down the stairs and into the lobby, with more people arriving all the time. Boy, was I smug! The best thing I've found about being married (so far) is the opportunity to say "aren't you glad you married such a smart wife?" I'm sure there are other good bits too, but thus far that and the ring are the only bits that have really changed. So if you're planning to visit Monte Baldo, #1 get a smart wife and #2 go first thing in the morning.

We were back down by 10:30 and after that, we stocked up on Italian bread, salami and cheese and spent the afternoon chilling out by the pool at our apartment. Just what the doctor ordered.