Lake Life & Wakeboarding, Italy.

After a big night’s sleep we were up early to pack our bags once again, & after a quick brekky & checking out, we found ourselves back at Levanto station ready for the next leg of our trip, Cristina’s families lake house on the border of Furore & Piedmonte. Hopping on our carriage we sat across from an elderly American couple who were killing it in terms of looks, & they shared stories about their many travels & experiences.
We reached our station destination, Castiliglio & were immediately greeted by that smiling face we had grown accustomed to over the past week, & after she quickly visited the hairdressers in town, we pulled into the massive driveway of her family home! Heading inside we met a man we had already heard lots about, Cris’ father Roberto. He was immediately welcoming & showed us to our room downstairs.

Dropping off our bags, we each had showers before heading back upstairs & reuniting with Jane who had just returned home. We pulled our other bottle of Champagne from Pierre Domi from the fridge & poured a round of glasses as a thanks for having us. Roberto is a massive wine connoisseur so he very much appreciated the gesture, & not surprisingly him & Sean got on like a house on fire! 
After a couple of glasses each & some snackies, we quickly got changed & hopped back into Cris’ car as we were heading to Patricio’s ‘Lake World Park,’ a wake boarding focused theme park built around a man made lake! It featured a restaurant named ‘Ohana,’ & that’s where we were headed for dinner with the Cris’ folks & Patric’s dad, Giovanni, who is also a close family friend.
We arrived at the park meeting Patric & Giovanni, & also Patric’s adorable two little boys, his youngest had long hair & resembled Mowgli! Seating around a big blue table, we each had a cold beer while receiving even more complimentary snackies! We ordered our mains & they came out in no time, but not before we each received a bowl of delicious pasta which was  taken from a massive communal pot the chef had cooked everyone for dinner. Absolutely stuffed before our mains, we managed to fight through a decent amount before surrendering. More cold beers were ordered to wash it all down. After hanging around for awhile socialising & drinking, we were soon headed home for some shut eye, ready to return the next day to give wakeboarding a go ourselves! 
As the sun rose over the gorgeous snow-capped mountains that surround Turin, we were up & back in Piedmont, our first stop was at a bakery which was absolutely rammed with hungry customers. Fortunately, we were there early enough to not miss out on the flaky, & wonderfully scrumptious pastries & petite cakes. We met Cris’ childhood friend Fran, & we were back on the road headed towards Lake World Park.
There was going to be a professional wakeboarder’s event on that afternoon, however we arrived early enough to hopefully not make a fool of ourselves in front of everyone! The way it works is you’re strapped onto the wakeboard with a helmet, & you’re pulled along by a rope that runs off a chain system controlled by Patric. Sean was up first, & he could barely stand up! Eventually he found his feet, but before he could comfortably ride back & forth, he was straight on the jump, & not surprisingly, straight off the jump landing on his back! Boys will be boys, & after he had enough, it was Cris’ turn. She killed it, going back & forth & pulling off perfect turns.

After Cris’ was done tearing it up, it was my turn, & I actually didn’t do too bad! After falling down once, I quickly got the hang of it, & after standing comfortably for a little while, I pulled off my first turn. A round of applause later, & I turned again! It was a absolutely unreal experience, so much fun, but also such a workout!! 

Once we were done with the boarding, we headed back to the house for a lunch Roberto had been working on since the morning. We showered before heading upstairs to be greeted by a set table full of red wine, some decanting & others just opened, the excitement on Sean’s face was impossible to hide! We were dished up a delicious homemade pasta, which was absolutely perfect al dente, & I didn’t hesitate in shaving fresh Parmesan all over it!   Everything was delicious, & each of the four wines were spectacular. We finished up & us girls chatted whilst Roberto took Sean downstairs to show him his massive wine cellar, & also to exchange a few stories over more than a few glasses of Armagnac! Before long we were both in bed for an afternoon siesta, fast asleep & absolutely stuffed!

We woke up around 5pm, & it wasn’t long before we were in Cris’ VW & on our way back to the lake. We had a light dinner after eating a load for lunch, & we were all up on the dance floor by the end of the night! The park closed at midnight, & after we swung by the lake town of Verona, where everyone filled the streets partying at an outdoor concert, we bid everyone goodnight, & after getting home & into bed, we were ready to bid the Lake House & its charms farewell in the morning!