Trip to INRIA, Riva del Garda

Finally my trip to the south of France has started. Packed into thick protective clothes like a modern knight I mounted my Q. (Note to non bikers, BMW motorbikes are referred to as a cow made of rubber for various reasons. The German term is "Gummi-Kuh" so the shortcut "Q" (In German "Q" sounds like the word "Kuh") is used frequently).

Anyway I mounted my Q, made a farewell picture and rode off. Even with luggage for half a year, my Q is quite calm. The only complaint is, that the seat is quite hard...
After 6 hours I reached Italy. I really missed all those mountains.

So even if a geared up Q is not the ideal instrument to ride roads with lots of curves I gave it a try. And the Q did not let me down. With a wide smile I arrived in "Riva del Garda". As the name suggests it is right at the Garda lake :D. In the back of the village (actually quite a bit away) are huge, steep rocks. It is a really strange feeling if you walk though the roads and the buildings pass by, but the rocks don't move...

Maybe I am just too tired. I went to a small restaurant called "El Condor" to eat. I was completely unable to communicate with the waitress and felt a little bit helpless. For some reason I always wanted to talk in Japanese to the poor girl... :-}
In the end I resorted to good old communication by hand and feet and managed to order a huge pizza Capriciosa. After that I ate the best Spaghetti Carbonara on the planet in combination with a cheap but very nice red wine.
I think I will go there again tomorrow for the Spaghetti :D. Now I am stuffed and need to sleep as I want to explore more tomorrow...