First hospital visit

We've had a wonderful weekend with Annette visiting. We managed to get out every day, despite the 40 degree heat! On Saturday, we visited Lake Bilancino, about 15 minutes from us. We paid EUR13 for 3 deck chairs and an umbrella and use of the facilities. At least this is more affordable than the local swimming pools.


Other than that, we had dinner out one night in a local restaurant in Scarperia, visited a couple of markets and went on a walk through the forest near us. Today, we drove the 2 hours to Fiorli and dropped Annette at the airport before continuing to Ravenna where we spent a couple of hours on the beach. As you can see from the photos, the beach is incredible - probably the most perfect I have ever seen for children.







As it was out of season, we didn't have to pay for use of the deckchairs and umbrellas and we had an incredible time.






Unfortunately the day was cut short as we discovered a tick, deeply embedded behind Ana's ear. So, we packed everything up, drove the 2 hours back home and for the first time (but most probably not the last!), we visited the local hospital. Tick removed and hopefully no lasting consequences.

An observation about Italians and the sun - they sure do love it! No one wears a one piece or board shorts - it's skimpy bikinis and speedos no matter what your size. They seem to lie in the glaring sun for hours on end, spraying coconut oil all over themselves and look rather strangely at us with the kids fully covered up after having had SPF40 slathered all over them! I wonder what the skin cancer rate is here?