Long way home

The last two days in Italy were dedicated to big lakes. Ward, Silvia and Thomas had to leave already on Tuesday morning, so Christian and I have been almost alone again. We ate lunch with the remaining Italians and Thomas and drove then with Andrea and Mathias to Largo di Garda in order to take a ferry. Unfortunately we missed our ferry closely, so we took another one going to Sirmione. But that ferry was also half an hour late. That did not really matter for the duration of waiting, because since Ward had left, we had blue sky, sunshine and hot temperatures again. But when we reached after one hour boat tour the island, we had only half an hour for walking around until the last ferry went back to where we came from.

Lake Garda was beautiful, if you ignore the tourists. But the blue water, the amazing weather and the high mountains made it nice. Sirmione is made for tourists, but still cute - for half an hour. If you ever go there, you should maybe still plan a little bit more time in order to go the end of the island where I suppose not too many tourists and a nice view. In the evening it was time to say good bye to Andrea and Mathias, too, so Christian and I were on our own again. We bought some white wine for the celebrating the last evening and drove home to our hostel.
The next day we drove to Largo di Iseo, another big lake near Brescia. But that lake was not very beautiful. The road on its northern end reminded us a little bit of Norway, since the street was not very wide and you could not see who was coming around the next corner. Left it was going down to the water, right steep up the mountains. In the end I killed even a snake, because I did not see that it was a living being when I drove over it.
From Largo di Iseo we drove to Largo di Maggiore which was even more ugly. However, we had to kill some time until the evening, so we tried finding a beach or some place near the water where we could swim, but there we did not find one. In the end, we just read and slept for two hours in the sun. I made some pictures of the lizards that were crawling everywhere enjoying the sun. I think, as cute as lizards are, it must be a sad life. If it is warm, you sit all the time in the sun. And if it is cold, you cannot move properly, because your body cannot generate the necessary body heat.
The way back to Milano airport was relaxed, because we were by now experienced in Italian traffic signs. Although we followed the first sign to the airport we recognized soon that traffic department of Milano has been wrong again and just turned to get back on the furhter street without complaints. That's how it works. You have to ignore the first sign, because it is usually a misleading. Maybe it is a strategy to lead tourists to places they would not go to. But on the other hand, the villages we found due to false traffic signs did not look like they wanted to attract people.
However, we found the airport, gave back the car in time and needed an eternity to get to our plane, because there were too many passangers at the check in. I guess no plane took off in time. But Germanwings must have had experience with the Italian airport, because although we took off too late, we arrived in time in Cologne. At the mainstation in Cologne we took a dinner at Burger King's (remark: until then I made it several years not eating at McDonalds or Burger King!!).
Somewhere at night we arrived back in Aken. At next morning I dropped off Christian at the trainstation and went further to work. Being in back at work was somehow funny. I was in a week in Italy, traveled more than 1200km by car, saw many nice places, met close friends and even spent a night on a bench under trees being eaten by mosquitos. And then after one night I was back in place. All my work has been taken over and almost every task I had has been done by somebody else. One the one hand perfect, because that means I am almost free for writing finally my thesis in the coming 6 to 7 weeks. On the other hand it is not the advertisment for a job.
Last Friday, my second day back from holiday, Atos Worldline in Aken celebrated its 40th birthday. For that reason there was a big party which started at 5 in the afternoon. I do not know exactly when I left the party, but I was on a couch around 2am. Because there we no busses going anymore after 11 I could not sleep at home. So I slept in my suit and took the bus home at the next morning.
By now all my flatmates moved in: Stefan and Nico. They study both mechanical engineering (most students in Aken study that), but one starts his bachelor studies, the other one his master studies. And finally there is a real flatlife. Space in the cupboards need to be arranged, groceries are shared, we cook, tell from our days. I even get guitar lessons! I missed this atmosphere.