Lake Ella and Publix

An exhausting day of travel combined with a full stomach, a sleeping tablet and a tasty little nightcap of cough medicine ensured that we both slept until well into the afternoon. We eventually awoke to the realisation that Vince (Audrey's brother) had jumped onto the bed between us. He'd travelled down on his Spring Break from North Carolina to visit, and when it looked like we could possibly have slept all day, he decided to intervene. How the hell neither of us felt him plonking onto the bed, I have no idea.

We eventually made our sheepish salutations to the rest of the smiling Schuerens and promptly continued right where we left off - eating! Breakfast (or late-lunch as the mid-afternoon meal is more traditionally known) was followed by a quick day-planning session where we decided there wasn't a whole lot we could do with what was left of the day. Recovery and regaling were the order of the day.

It was a beautiful day though, and we did venture out an hour or so later to check out Lake Ella. A cute little neighbourhood in another part of Tallahassee, Audrey spent the first five years of her life there, terrorising the local wildlife. We went for a walk around the lake, checked out their old house and had a much needed hydration stop at the local cafe.

Ever studious, Vince was carting his maths problems around with him, and found a comfortable tree in which to calculate.

On the way home we made a stop at Publix, Auds favourite store in the whole world. You know it's a small city when visiting the grocery slotted quite highly on the must-see list. To be fair, Publix is pretty awesome, although I was a little offended to find that the vegemite is located in the 'Ethnic' aisle.

Auds, Susan and Lake Ella

Huckleberry Vince

Highlight of the trip so far ..

 

Melbourne - Brisbane - Atlanta - Tallahassee

It was a 3:30am start like every other - cold, dark and yawny. No snoozes, no five more minutes. We fell out of bed with a unique blend of excitement and somniference. Matt's sister Elizabeth had kindly offered to courier us to the airport in exchange for a four week stay at our beachside mansion. She was already awake and yoga posing in the general direction of the sun which wouldn't appear for another 3 hours.

We carted our suitcases down via the elevator of eternity, and loaded up the mighty Mitsy. She groaned and creaked at the rude awakening as we set off for Tullamarine. After an uneventful journey of missed turnoffs and low-fuel indicators, we pulled up at the departures terminal with 2 hours til take-off. With some excited and not too tearful hugs and well-wishes, we thanked Elizabeth - "No parties, and don't forget to feed the cactus" - our hard and fast rule for guests ringing in her ears.

We breezed through the International line at the Virgin Australia desk, only to be told that Matt didn't have his ESTA visa for the USA. No panic, we have plenty of time - and these fiddly forms are really easy to fill out on a tiny phone screen with a dinky keypad. Matt flounders through the ESTA application, while Audrey keeps the Virgin attendant entertained, even managing to charm our way into some bulkhead seats for the long-haul from Brisbane to LA. ESTA finally submitted and approved, the boarding passes printed for ALL FOUR FLIGHTS of this 31.5 hour journey.

First stop is Brisbane ('BRISbn' to the Americans ... not 'brisBANE'), and we shoot through security clearance without so much as a 'please empty your water bottle'. We head to our gate, and while away the time allocating our fellow passengers to each others 'team'. NB: The rules of this game are not particularly clear, but if you see someone in leopard print tights, with a healthy amount of buttcrack and a hairstyle not updated since the mid-70's .... you don't want them on your team (particularly if the buttcrack and the hairstyle are co-located!).

The flight was smooth and landed on-time with some assistance from generous tail-winds according to the First Officer. Sorry to fellow passengers but Matt was doing his best to help in that department too. We disembarked for our first pitstop of the trip. Hyper-hydrated Audrey had already made several, and it was time for another. With perfect timing we found the inter-terminal bus and were entertained by the driver whose parting words advised everyone to leave our purses and wallets but don't forget the children.

We skipped checkin as we already had boarding passes and our bags were checked through to LAX from Melbourne. Straight to security, not quite so simple this time; but everyone genuinely enjoying their job here. Two guys giving me chivalry tips on carrying bags and 'ladies first', and then the most animated and excited tell-you-which-security-line-to-go-through dude we have ever encountered. The laptop and our mountains of food all made it through safely, we had learned not to try sneaking dangerous quantities of hummous through in the great JetStar debacle of 2014.

We had about half an hour before boarding so we reverted to our favourite pastimes. Matt started eating, and Audrey called her mum. Only 28 hours to go now. Huge queue of people so we stayed seated in our comfy chairs until the last minute before trundling onto the plane. Woohoo - LOVE BULKHEAD SEATS! The good kind where you can stretch right out rather than having a wall in front of you.

Matt actually managed a few hours of sleep while Auds ran an 'Orange is the new Black' marathon. We both ploughed through our remaining food stocks (sandwiches, cheese and crackers, grapes, strawberries, yoghurt-covered sultanas). Thank you to Mark and Amanda for introducing us to this style of  mile-haute-cuisine.

The flight went largely without incident except for when Auds somehow managed to get her headphones caught in the crotch of the guy sitting next to her (hint: it wasn't Matt). The plane was dark, and they'd both gotten up for water and a stretch. Somehow upon his return, the shuffling of blankets and cushions and various other seating accoutrement landed them right in his no-fly-zone. When Auds returned and was settling back in, it took a couple of exploratorial tugs on the cord before they both realised what was happening, blushed and ran to opposite ends of the plane.

The experience after we landed was not quite so pleasurable. LAX has apparently  adopted the automated passport/gate technology that seems to work so well elsewhere. However, we aren't convinced that they were making full advantage of the technology. Here's the process we followed:

1. Fill out the standard 'passenger entering USA' form - name, age, occupation, are you a drug mule, etc?
2. Queue up for approximately 1 lifetime.
3. Get excited because we've spotted the speedy new automated machines.
4. Use the speedy new automated machines. Answer all the same questions as form in step 1.
5. Scan Matt's passport 7 times because it kept insisting the name was either 'Edvards' or 'Edwapds'. Quickly becoming less enthused about the speedy automated machine.
6. Collect receipt from sloppy automated machine, and then get instructed by stupid automated machine we need to see Customs Officer anyway.
7. Observe that EVERYONE is seeing Customs Officer anyway!
8. Join a constantly evolving queue, with people cutting in and being redirected every which way.
9. Eventually reach the Customs Officer, have a lovely chat and get admitted to the Grand Ole USA. Auds a little disappointed she wasn't wished with a "Welcome Home, Ma'am". Matt queries the purpose of the automated machines, Customs Officer advises that everyone needs to chat to an officer anyway.
10. Wait in queue to hand in receipt from seedy automated machine. Still completely befuddled as to why that was a part of the process at all.
11. Collect baggage from carousel and join a large queue for another check before finally released unto the world.

Our seven hour layover has now become a five hour layover. While in the queue (we had a little time for idle chatter) we heard that there were a couple of earlier flights to Atlanta, which might enable us to get to Tallahassee a little earlier. We decided to chance our hand, bypassing the baggage re-check and sought the Delta desk to see if we could get that flight instead.

BIG MISTAKE. We head from one service desk to the next, hunting for a smaller wait. We've settled on one and making steady progress when we hear we are in the wrong section for rebooking. Head to special services. Five attendants, 25 people .. shouldn't take too long. The attendants gradually dwindle to two. Another hour of queueing later, we find out all flights to Atlanta are oversold by 15-30 people. No chance of changing our flight, but at least we actually have a seat on our flight ... not that they're together. Somehow, the flights we booked nine months ago, on the same ticket, are not seated together. Thanks Delta. Resignedly, we dump our bags, clear security and look for food and a quiet relaxing area. We found food.

Remember the oversold flights to Atlanta? We had been wondering how Delta would resolve that situation - we soon had our answer.. A customer service came over the PA announcing that anyone who was willing to give up their flight for a later one would receive $600 in vouchers. When no-one took up the offer, they raised it to $800 and then ultimately $1000 per seat. That got some volunteers! Anyone who volunteered at $600 would have been pretty pissed.

Eventually our time came for our penultimate flight. We were both pretty zombified by this stage, lack of sleep was definitely catching up with us. Not much was going to keep us from sleeping on this leg of the journey. And that's pretty much how it went, we both got an hour or two of sleep, read a bit and bumped through some turbulence. We landed in Atlanta to a spontaneous round of applause from most of the passengers. About as unexpected as the time we went to a magic festival performance and Matt ended up stripping on stage.

Our connection in Atlanta was always going to be tight, but the flight arrived about 15 minutes late, so we were racing through the airport. We had to catch the inter-terminal shuttle, and then hustle all the way down to gate E07. The departure lounge was empty when we got there, quickly scanning our tickets as they closed the doors behind us. The hop to Tallahassee was very short, all I remember of that flight is that it actually took longer for everyone to get off the plane than it did to fly there. Seriously, the slowest deplaning EVER.

We finally get through the doors, and Auds is basically running through the terminal for the arrivals gate to meet her parents, Larry and Susan. They've been wondering if they somehow missed us because it took so long after the landing. Tearful hugs and reunions ensue, followed by excited and emotional chattering. We collect our suitcases (they all arrived!) and head for home. We got a quick tour of the upgrades Tallahassee has seen in the past couple of years, reinventing it's image.

Home for a bountiful feast of snacking and a quick recap of the days misadventures before we retreat for some much needed sleep. The guest bed looks like it's 10 metres wide, and we're both asleep before we even lie down. 36 hours from pillow to pillow.

(Some of the) healthy plane snacks

5am and full of beans ..

Day 25: Natterersee Camping

Today was a basically a rest and recovery day. We've been pretty much on the go every day without too much thought of a break, so when Auds woke up with a headache (eventually becoming a migraine) and it was rainy and cold outside, we both were quite happy to just pull the covers back up and hibernate in our barrel for a while. We hadn't really planned anything particular to see in Innsbruck apart from the standard walking tour, and maybe some hiking about if the weather was right.

Auds took one of her 'miracle pills' and went back to sleep. From experience those things took a couple of hours to work, and there was no point trying to rush anything. I had the final few chapters of Lincoln Rhymes' latest adventures to catch up on, and then snuck out to go exploring when the rain eased a little. We'd seen very little of the camp last night as we had desperately tramped about in the rain trying to find someone who could give us a key.

This is the biggest caravan park I’ve ever seen. There is a big lake with canoes, kayaks, dodgem-boats, a waterpolo area and a couple of waterslides. There are table-tennis and billiards tables, a shooting range (air-pistol by the looks of it), and somewhere there was supposed to be a go-kart track but I couldn't find it. It was mostly mobile homes dotted about the place, but there were also many caravans, cabins, some keen campers, and of course – barrels.

I wandered about for 30 or 40 minutes and then got back to our barrel just a few minutes before Auds started to stir. Headache gone... miracle tablets for the win!  The rain had completely stopped now, but the cloud cover wasn't going anywhere. As soon as Auds was dressed we went for another tour of the park, and I excitedly pointed out all the things I'd found. As a side bonus we came across what we assumed was an area set up for school camps. There was several American-Indian tepees and a totem pole, a recently extinguised campfire and some catering marquees. What a fun school camp this would have been (especially if we came all the way from Aus). 

The fog, then drizzle, then rain, returned. Even a bit of donder and blitzen; we've both definitely felt more secure before than being tucked up in a little barrel. But it passed soon enough and the reassuring tap of rain on the roof was our soundtrack as we blogged/read/snoozed our way through the afternoon. A much needed recuperative day. 

We headed to the onsite restaurant for some excellent Austrian cuisine at very reasonable prices. Not cheap, but given the location, they had most of us over a barrel (some of us in them) and could have charged what they liked. I had a classic viener schnitzel with a delicious potato salad and Auds went with a goulash soup you could eat with a fork. Two excellent choices.  Having polished those off, our minds soon drifted to dessert. The old bloke at the next table must have said at least 6 times 'That is the best apple strudel I've ever eaten'. Not sure if he was doing it for our benefit but it sure seemed like it. I think more likely no one was listening to him, perhaps he was used to it.

In any case it was enough to convince us to try some … perhaps he'd never eaten apple strudel before, or perhaps they do a particularly crappy one in York (he was from 'oop nooorf' somewhere). It was nice, but I reckon my Grandma does a better job. Hi Grandma! … hint hint :) Slightly disappointed we paid up and headed back to our barrel in the rain. We still had no internet access so we fished out the maps and guidebooks to see what we might be able to get up to tomorrow if the weather improves.

Day 24: Chur to Natterersee

We woke early, and really appreciated the view from Matthias and Andrina's apartment for the first time- our window looked out over the whole city, and it had snowed in the mountains overnight. 

Realising we should probably work out where we were going to sleep in Austria that night (our next couchsurfing family in Innsbruck had to back out last minute- lame) we searched until I came across a site that offered not a room, but a "sleeping barrel" in a tiny rural lakeside village called Natterer See. Now that's just not something you pass on lightly. Booked. 

Matt with Matthias and Andrina 

A well from Roman? times - still existing in a beautiful old church

We then had a yummy breakfast with our new buddies Matthias and Andrina (delicious smoothies - thanks Andrina!) before they took us out to explore the town and church. The old town is ancient- really quiet and beautiful, and the people are so helpful and nice, even when we appalled them by trying to speak German. Which Matt has a bit of an affinity for. Who knew? I mainly stuck to giggling at the semi-dirty sounding street names and snapping pics. 

The Bishops Vineyard

lol ... Wangs Pizol

We then went to a restaurant that has been open since 1522 (older than your country, the waitress reminded me). You can see the original features of the place, including the wooden beam with the year of construction carved in. 

Overlooking Chur and the valley beyond

Matt and I had capuns, a traditional local dish, and I'm hooked. You get about ten of them. It's the most delicious sausage-type minced meat, mixed with herbs and veggies, then wrapped in seasoned dough, which is wrapped in Swiss chard, and swimming in a delicious sauce. I don't know what kind. But I will find out and make it-- got the inspiration here to collect recipes of favourite local dishes of each country we visit on our trip.

Capuns - they may not look like much, but YUM!

We sipped a local soft drink called Rivella and chatted about everything from family to politics to cooking -- the Swiss (or at least these two) are so well informed about global happenings and political systems, it was really interesting to hear what was happening in their country and what they thought of it. I guess this is the point of couchsurfing, and have to say I'm hooked. 

They then walked back to the station with us and we said our goodbyes-- (guys, if you read this, please come see us in Aus!! )

Our train arrived in rainy Innsbruck, and it became abundantly clear that my summery gear was not going to cut it in freezing cold, gusty Austria. Through a stroke of immense luck (as we of course hadn't bothered to plan this) we somehow caught the only and last bus to a place called Natters, which we we reasonably sure / guessed must be near Natterer see. Natters was a tiny village, mainly farmers and corn and cows and edelweiss (well not sure it was actually edelweiss, but it was definitely small and white, clean and bright-- yes my botanical knowledge comes from musicals, what of it).

We decided to walk from there to the lake- about 45 minutes. It was absolutely deserted except for the cornfields, the cows and their tinkling cowbells on our valley walk, which obviously presented fine opportunity for yodelling. Which we did. A lot.

During a particularly good one, a shiny white Audi (completely out of place here among the hay carts) glided up and the owner offered us a ride to the campsite. I'd had enough hitch hiking for one trip, and there would be no cows or charming sound of music type edelweiss in his car, so we politely declined. We began to regret that choice when we still hadn't found the place a while later and dark was setting in.

No ride in a plush Audi, but we found Edelweiss (maybe)

We reached the campsite and checked in, getting our keys to our barrel, which proved to be just that. A charming barrel, (yes charming barrel) with plenty of room to sleep two with a tiny bench area as well. So cosy and cute with red and white gingham curtains even--Hansel and Gretel may have been the previous occupants...

Home Sweet Barrel

We then found a traditional and cosy warm Austrian restaurant on site serving delicious local meals, and we had shandies, goulash, schnitzel, and strudel while watching the rain come down on the lake outside. Aaahhh. 

The Austrians know how to do potato salad awesomely.

Even the shower rooms were amazing, with lighted mirrors, hair dryers (massive luxury at this point, but I still didn't bother) and amazingly hot showers. Quick run in the light rain back to our barrel, and verdict is in: best campsite ever. We stole the shower head.

Day 23: Lugano to Chur

Extremely pleased with our own brilliant planning, we woke up in Lugano with only a short bus trip to the station and our tickets already printed. Today we were taking a scenic route through the swiss alps from Lugano to Chur where we would meet our first actual couchsurfing hosts. Exciting times.

We slept in as late as possible, shoved everything into our bags, dashed for the bus and just got it. Having learned to build in some contingency, when everything went to plan we actually got to the station 40 minutes early.

We got ourselves some breakfast – one sandwich, one strudel, one coffee. We joined what I thought was the end of the line, and got gradually more annoyed as more people attached themselves to the other end of the queue. The bus pulled past all of them, we threw our bags in and were first on board. Yes! Take that, old high-panted man!! ...Then we learned our seats were assigned anyway. Buh. 

The bus ride took three hours, through really scenic roads, alongside the very blue Lake Como and green/blue Lake Lugano (better) and tiny sleepy Italian and Swiss villages. We stopped in Tirano and got some lunch. I also got yelled at for no reason by some crotchety old bag with a crocheted jacket, as Matt called her. Anyway.

We then boarded the Bernina Express, which was quite the splurge on our major budget holiday. It's billed to have these giant high roof wrapping windows, so you can see everything, which it does. What it's not billed as having is an entire German tour group aged 75+, eagerly jabbering away and leaning over/under/across us to take pictures and then excitedly show each other. End result: Matt attempting to enjoy a burger with a German fogey practically in his lap. We found a little compartment between the carriages with a window that opened and hid there for the first few hours taking pics.

The next four hours are best explained with said pics. Glaciers, waterfalls, aqueducts, more Gemans... eventually they all got off and we had the train to ourselves. 

Matt gives the thumbs up as we pass frozen lake

Add caption

Glacier! And lake

Snack cart decorated as ram... why not

glacier and waterfall

When we arrived in Chur (which we had been pronouncing Chur, but its like 'Core' – oops) we got a text from Matthias, our CS host, with directions to his house. We somehow worked out the local bus system in German, and journeyed about 5 minutes through town. Matthias came to meet us at the bus stop, and took us back to his apartment where he introduced us to his girlfriend Andrina.

I had been really nervous about this part of the trip... I mean, staying with local people (strangers) who want to host us for free just to be nice??!! Yeah right.

They showed us through their lovely apartment and to our room for the night. It was just about the nicest place we had stayed so far on the trip (plus one awesome obese ginger cat). The apartment was high over the city of Chur, with an amazing view into the mountains and around the valley. Our first home-cooked meal in a while was very nice and we talked long into the night about our travels and theirs. Matthias and Andrina had spent a year travelling basically across the world. They had been all over the USA, across South America, Asia and down to Australia.  Doozy of a trip. Our 7-week journey gave us an inferiority complex, but we shared plenty of stories.

At some point we brought out a bottle of limoncello for them that we had picked up in Como. They had never had it before, and they then uncorked some home-made 'Iva'. A very unique flavour and apparently based on some local flower, specific to the canton of Grabunden (where we were). Really cool.

We said our goodnights as we only had a few hours the next day to explore Chur before we had to get the train to Austria. Our hosts had graciously volunteered to give us a bit of a tour around the area, maybe sample some of the local delicacies, and we were exhausted from battling German tourists in high altitudes.

Day 22: Blevio to Lugano

We woke up somewhat on time and got to packing up all our stuff. We had it down to a reasonably fine art by this stage. Well, I did. Matt helped by trying to put all my clothes on my head as I folded, then photographing the result (thanks Matt). Matt retrieved the remainder of our milk from the little fridge and drained it. I managed to capture an action shot of my classy man complete with milk drips falling onto his shirt.

We then headed downstairs for a quick breakfast on Alessandro's balcony (table still slightly prosecco stained), and Matt was feeling smug because he'd brought his own granola. Bit awkward when Alessandro's mum popped out and he thrust it in front of me while I was distracted by the cat. I coerced Alessandro into posing for this winner of a photo, before hastening down the road for the bus to Como. Which didn't come. And then still didn't.

The other guy waiting at the stop told us in broken English that we had all missed the bus because it had been too full to stop anyway. Cheers. He suggested we hitch and make 'some good friends.' Hmm. It was only a 5-10 minute drive, but about an hour and a half to walk, down really narrow high speed windy roads with no pavement. And the next bus? Two hours later. And likely also full. While we hesitated, he smiled boadly with his thumb out to the road. One car actually pulled over, and he seemed to know the guy because they were talking and joking in Italian. The bus stop guy waved us over and said, 'This is my friend- he take you to Como stazione. I get next friend car.'

I was unsure about the idea, having watched too many episodes of Law & Order, but seeing he had a baby seat and we had no real alternative, Matt nodded and we hopped in. He didn't speak any English really, but I sort of got by in Italian, and we chatted all the way down. He was actually a really nice guy called Paolo, with a two year old baby Judita, and just wanted to help out some tourists and do a bit of promotion for his own B&B down the road. He dropped us right at the station we needed and unloaded our bags. Champ.  We then got on the 11:45 to Lugano. Except that the famed and reliable Swiss rail service we've always heard about was late for the only time ever and the :45 was actually the :39, and we were on the wrong train. We switched at the next stop, bolted through the station and straight past customs (no one seemed to care) and just made our actual connection.

Along the way we saw from the window an awesome-looking pool and tennis courts, etc, right on the beach of the lake. Excellent concept. We resolved to find it after we'd checked in and dropped our bags at the hotel.  Arriving in Lugano, the first thing we saw was the green/blue lake and the church dome of the town. We paid for our Bernina Express tickets for the next day (ouch) and found a bus that said Paradiso, which we thought was where our hotel was. Why not? We jumped on. Luckily at the end of the route, I spotted our hotel sign, we hopped off, checked in, and were changed and on our way to this pool/beach/Lido di Lugano/heaven.

It was awesome. 10 francs entry to paradise. Clear, hot, sunny day. Cold, clear lake with mountains on every side. Big sandy beach. Outdoor bar. Pools. Table tennis. Real tennis. Another bar. And a huge grill area. Does something like this exist in melbourne??!! Someone point me in October, if so. Matt talked me into the freezing lake water one meter at a time ('No goosebumps? Another meter') and we swam around with some wild swans for a bit (why not), before drying off and laying out in the hot sun to read with some mojitos and snacks.

As the evening wore on, it really filled up. There was a big group of Italian friends and their kids in front of us, with one baby, no more than two or three years old. He wandered up to the bar behind us and asked in Italian for 'un acqua' about four times, but the bartender couldn't see him below the level. Enterprising little guy then started throwing his cup in the air to get their attention all the while chanting 'acqua acqua', until we took pity and went over to help.

Matt lined up for 10 minutes with kids under age 8 to make the jump below

Five hours later, we packed up and decided to walk home along the lake front, grabbing burgers on the way, which we ate on park benches overlooking the water.

Early morning tomorrow and travel day through the Alps on the Bernina Express!

Day 21: Blevio and Lake Como

We had breakfast out on Alessandro's porch, overlooking beautiful lake Como. Alessandro's lovely mom Adriana had laid it out for us.

Alessandro was presumably inside-- we could hear the ping ping ping sounds of computerised machine gun fire and point earning from his 'study.' It was just him and his mom living there, and though he had said it was his house, we were beginning to think that he may have been taking advantage of her lack of English skills -- this was looking like more of a mummy's boy scenario than he had let on. When she brought him a lunch tray, we had our clincher.

Breakfast finished (Matt awarded it bonus points for cocoa puffs, but detracted for lack of granola) we headed off on foot to find the stairs to the lake that Alessandro had promised were five minutes away. An hour and four failed attempts later, we decided to just get the bus into Como and wander around. We were also really close to the famous lake front town Belaggio (which the Vegas casino is named after), but wanted to check out Como first. 

We packed sandwiches and walked for hours around the lake, enjoying the hot sun and searching for kayak rentals that were not closed, abandoned, or ludicrously expensive. No joy. What we did find though was a friendly guy renting out hourly kiddie pedal boats. Sold. 

Our lakeworthy craft was likely stapled together in 1958 and left to sit in the sun since then. We could admire the blue water through rust holes in the boats bottom, and quickly learned that the pedals and steering wheel were really more decorative than functional, as we pedaled furiously and drifted randomly on other boats wakes. 

Despite this, we had an awesome time, hailing other small crafts (including some unamused local fishermen), sunbathing, and randomly blowing around the water at half a mile per hour. Finally the wind changed direction and we were able to hobble  back, with the aid of a passing super ferry that flew past us.

We then took a steep funicular (cable car) up to a tiny town above Como, called Brunate, which was meant to have some great restaurants. We were a bit pressed for time, as the last bus to Blevio was helpfully at 8pm. We can't tell you if the restaurants in Brunate were as good as promised, but they must be doing either really really well or really really badly, because every single one was closed when we arrived around 6:45. Typical. We enjoyed the views and caught the next car down. 

Como, as seen from Brunate

Once back in Como, we had only a few minutes so divided up three crucial elements: Matt - pizza and pasta. Audrey- prosecco. We met back at the bus stop ten minutes later, each successful, and had another delicious porch picnic at 'home' while watching the sun set over the lake.