Early in our Marriage, there was this one couple, elderly by our standards, who were well-traveled in Europe - he being Yugoslavian by birth and, by easy fluency and enthusiasm, perhaps Italian at heart. And they loved Lago di Garda, regarded it as the most idyllic setting for nearly any time and age, insisted we must go there sometime.

And so we went. It was, alas, only one day and the distances and sights somewhat overwhelming. But we went and thanked our long-departed friends for their distant enthusiasm. My impression of the vertically stretched-out lake is that the west shore is given to resorts and the comforts of campers and hotel types; the eastern shore is more towns and villas - our preferred.

Once more to Siena. People say you can't go home and, certainly that was true for this visit to our favorite of largish Italian cities. The weather was cool-to-cold, especially as we were prepared only for the warm sort of May we'd experienced last time, in clothing layers brought. So in some ways what one would call delight was rather more difficult to realize than you might suppose. Surprising to concentrate on the business of lightheartedness.

One thing that helped the smiles was our discovery of a McDonalds tucked into the ground floor of an oldish building. Menu different from the usual ho-hum USA fare, best price on an ordinary cup of coffee in town. We saw highschoolers pour into the place after classes, to the free toilets. Heh.