Trump Promise of NK Annihilation. Hurrricane Maria. Last Market Day in Desenzano

Last day in Desenzano

Tuesday, 19th September

President Trump, speaking at the UN, promising to annihilate North Korea (and presumably it's suppressed people) if it does not change. He also launched a tirade against Iran and the nuclear deal. Trump then verbally blasted Venezuela. Nationalist America first comes to the consensual United Nations. Gasps and some dismay amongst delegates. Democrats not very happy. Der Spiegel notes that he arrived late, missing the UN General Secretary António Guterres' opening welcome speech, talked well beyond his allotted time and then left without listening to any other leader's speeches.

Their reactions included Germany's Angela Merkel arguing against war and advocating negotiation and French President Macron stating the Climate agreement not negotiable.

Hurricane Maria hit Martinique as a category 5 storm, is heading towards the Dominican Republic and the British Virginia Islands. Another earthquake hits Mexico, 7.1 on the Richter scale.

A rough night disrupted by noise. Apparently a number of guests were leaving very early. Went to look at the Tuesday market along the Desenzano promenade. It extended in a double row for almost a full kilometer.

Suddenly it made sense why the were few everyday shops in the town. You could buy food and essentials at the market. Yet even the those stalls were outnumbered by the clothes and fashion accessory ones. We saw one tourist couple eyeing and then buying a large heavy cast iron frying/group pan. That should generate interest when going through airport security and the X-Ray machine. We were tempted by some of the fabrics and pottery, but resisted.

We had a bruschetta lunch with fruit smoothies at the particularly friendly and helpful, and comprehensibly named, Bar, Pasticceria Duomo. Seeing as the local Cathedral was about to close for the three hour midday break, we set off on an exploratory walk to the Parco del Larghetto. The park had a tree shaded walk around a small lake and then expanded uphill. We stumbled across an arc of allotments and discovered how aubergines were grown. Putting our faith in the town map, we pushed on out of the park, under the Milan-Venice railway line and into the arable countryside. Whilst the map and reality diverge at one point, we found our way back to the hotel.

As the small Cathedral, dedicated to Santa Maria Maddalena was now open again, we wandered in, Jane patiently waiting as I took photos. There were numerous altars and enormous oil paintings dimly discernable in the gloom. It was only on the camera screen that I could see the actual detail. Our last evening was round off with a drink followed by a promenade with ice-cream along the beach. We returned to say our farewells to Bruno and pack our bags, ready for tomorrow journey.