What a difference a day makes! (Especially after prescription medication!)

I woke this morning, nearly 24 hours after our doctor’s visit, and was able to breathe reasonably deeply for the first time in over 10 days... YAY!!! How we under value the simple things!

I must have fallen asleep just before 1am after having only 2 hours of sleep in the previous 48.
I seemed to wake only once during this 7 hour sleep (miracle for me), looked out the window and wondered why we had not left the port yet and started sailing...a little delirious maybe from the new vast array of meds prescribed.

We breakfasted again in the downstairs dining room - once again enjoying some Columba Di Pasquala (traditional Italian Easter cake - even better than Panettone) before packing our bags, and awaiting our driver. It was another beautiful day - perfect for travelling along the windy roads along Lake Como (Kath in the front seat, wearing her wrist bands and sipping water to avoid travel sickness).

It is so sad that I have missed so much of our trip so far, but hoping today is the turning point and we both continue to improve from now on. Not sure what I would have done without Kath’s help over the last week or so...I probably would have starved as I couldn’t be bothered to eat, or worse, dehydrated from a lack of vino! 🥂😩.

We arrived a short time ago in Verona 💞. Kath is currently out enjoying a well deserved gelato (she assures me that it is for medicinal purposes only - to ease her sore throat 😉) and sussing out places for us to visit later tonight.

The weather has been so warm...currently 27 degrees. The cooler evening breeze is easier on the asthma, which makes getting around much easier for me (though Kath’s cough gets worse at night). We will have a full day here tomorrow...so many wonderful things to see and so little time!

Our little B&B - Casa Vittoria is just delightful and in the heart of the old city. The owner is charming, and full of information. We told him we couldn’t speak Italian, but that has not stopped him. He continues to talk 100 miles an hour...so Kath & I, not wanting to offend, just keep saying ‘Si’ as he showed us our room - actually more like an apartment - with a room each, and a bathroom!

The breakfast room/shared area is delightful and we are looking forward to hopefully being able to make ourselves a cup of tea (or three) tonight before bed.

Love all the attention to detail. He is so proud of his B&B

Gotta love Italian rooftops...some complete with Swiffers!

P.S. A BIG thank you for all your thoughts & well wishes 😘

Bellagio - on Lake Como

Given how sick we have become, we decided it was worth the money to pay for a driver to get us from Milan station to our accomodation in Bellagio. This saved us a slow train, ferry and taxi and we were very grateful when we realised the path down to our accomodation was a little scary, while hauling luggage on a very hot afternoon.  We can’t believe the temperature here is up to 27 and 28 degrees when a week ago it was 15 degrees cooler!

 

Our driver Massimo was delightful, and called our hotel, and got them to come and meet us to take the second suitcase from me. What a relief! The young girl then took our luggage up to our room, which is lovely with two bedrooms, a balcony and a window in the second room - both with views over Lake Como.

 

  

(Even the view from the bathroom window is beautiful!)

 It is the best suite in the hotel. Lucky, as we have spent a lot of time in the room since we arrived. Jules has spent all her time in the room!!

After we were settled and one of the young owners had organised a doctor to make a house call at 8.30am the next day, we ordered a bottle of Prosecco while we contemplated what we would do for dinner, as the Charming Bellagio Boutique Hotel is more of a B and B, so has no restaurant on site. Prosecco arrived with snacks, which we enjoyed - me on the balcony, Jules sitting on her bed.

I found a cheap pizza and pasta restaurant at the top of the path from the hotel, who did take away and offered me a small glass of wine and some hot chips (!?!) while I waited. It is slightly out of town, so was full of locals, not tourists. Dinner was delicious and we settled down to what we thought would be an early night. Sadly we both coughed ALL night, barely managing two hours sleep in fits and starts, struggling with fever as well as a very hot night.

Next morning a lovely young doctor arrived prescribing us both with a number of antibiotics and extra concoctions to try to get us well. At 80 Euro per patient it certainly was a profitable visit for him!! Mind you, we would have paid just about anything!

(Interesting that doctors’ writing seems to be the same all over the world!)

After a freshly prepared breakfast in the hotel dining room, I strolled down to the town, found the pharmacy, who I’m sure appreciated the scripts, as I also now have no voice! Managing only a brief time to admire the sights of the beautiful town, which was just waking up, ...

I adored the waterfront area, where restaurants allow visitors to take in the views...

and the ferry departs as well as the water limousines!

There’s so much to explore - cobbled steps lined with shops and restaurants selling all sorts of wares and...

gorgeous houses - all with views over Lake Como.

I loved these little outfits for tiny little ones in one of the shop windows. How could you resist dressing your little girl in such beautiful attire? I guess the price tags would help you resist!

Eventually I took the meds back to the room, where I thankfully managed a quick nap.

Gathering strength I again ventured out to discover more of the town, and something to bring back for lunch. I headed toward the sign for Pescallo - where the sailing ships we can see from our bedroom window are found. There were a lot of stairs up and down, which was embarrassingly difficult for me, but worth it as there is a lovely restaurant and hotel with tranquil views...

... and a quite stunning residential area, which was abuzz with people preparing their midday meals. A number of other tourists had also found their way down there too so I had to wait my turn for photo opportunities.

I grabbed a spinach pie, panini and focaccia to tide us over for lunch and dinner, and loved that I could also get little bottles of wine for only 3 euro in the take away, forgetting of course that you shouldn’t have alcohol while on antibiotics...luckily Jules doesn’t worry about things like that, so she could have one for lunch and one for dinner!

Our last night here tonight, and everything looks just as gorgeous as last night.

 

We have another driver booked to get us back to Milan in the morning, as we head to Verona tomorrow. It’s been a shame not to do all we had planned here in Bellagio, especially the ferry trip around Lake Como, that we were so looking forward to, but perhaps one day we will be able to enjoy a return visit. Let’s hope the antibiotics kick in overnight so we can enjoy the rest of the trip. We are both over this sickness.