Our accommodation is right next to the Melzi Villa Gardens. Melzi was a super rich dude (there’s a lot of those around) who was into trees and stuff. The villa is right on the waterfront and is now surrounded by a wonderful garden with trees from all over the word, ponds, statues and very sloping lawns zig zagged with stone paths. There is even a cave. In short, a paradise for small children with wild imaginations. It took Bitti and I an hour to walk it the first time we went through. Happily, our room key gave us free entry as this was a good short cut into town.
Bellagio is a whole other level of tourism. The lakeside town is absolutely pristine, chock with flowers and lawns, and clearly set up to extract as much money as possible from wealthy visitors. There were many shops selling expensive jewellery, leather goods, shoes and art. The cobblestone streets had a lot less rubbish than we’ve become accustomed to, although Bitti still noticed the occasional ‘smoke pipe’. One thing that stood out was the number of dogs! Everyone seemed to have one on a leash. Bitti wanted to pat all of them, but when I did ask if she could she was rarely brave enough to actually touch the dog,
R and A went their own way here, staying in a place up high on the hill. We ran into them the next day as we ate lunch at an extremely overpriced lakeside restaurant. We agreed to meet up for coffee the next day before their ferry took them away for good. Bitti and I went up the hill into Bellagio check out some shops. She found a toy she wanted, I agreed she could have it if she walked ‘nicely’ for that day and the next. There has been quite a bit of bribery this holiday, hopefully she will forget all about it when we return to normal life!
We went into a jewellery and leather goods shop for a closer look at some butterfly rings Bitti liked. In there with us was a group of very well dressed American women with thick southern accents. They were talking to the shop keeper near the entrance when suddenly a physical fight broke out amongst a few of them with pushing and shoving and a bit of shouting in Italian. I wasn’t really paying attention so it was quite confusing, but in a moment a couple of younger women had been thrown out into the street and the door slammed shut behind them. The shop keeper said, ‘she was steal from you!’, pointing at one of the women’s bags.
Bitti had been over in the middle of it, she came running over to me asking what was going on. The American group went bananas, they loved it so much. It was a bit like being in the hair salon with Dolly and Sally. The shopkeeper was on a high, reliving the whole thing, while the women were speculating whether the thieves were gypsies (lol, and we’re the Famous Five?). It was all very exciting and gave Bitti something to think about. She decided she didn’t want the girls to be caught or go to jail because they seemed nice.
It was a bit of a shock because although everyone says to be so careful in Europe, we really hadn’t seen any evidence of pick pockets in operation anywhere. So this was a good reminder to keep the bags zipped up and close by. Although, I suspect any discerning thief will target obviously fancy women like those in the shop before they come looking in my decrepit bag.
It was tempting to go out on the ferry to another town, but everyone says Bellagio is the best and all Bitti wanted was to find a playground anyway. So that’s what we did. The second day we had a quick and regretful final breakfast with A and R before they left FOREVER. Then we hopped on a little tourist ‘train’ that drives all over the little peninsula Bellagio sits on. We got off at San Giovanni, a little fishing hamlet, because we saw a large playground. Bitti played there for about two hours with some other travellers’ kids, one from South Africa, one from the USA.
Bitti has been a little frustrated travelling with me because I’m not so great at playing all the imaginary games she loves. She misses her friends 😦
We caught the train back to Bellagio and got Bitti her special toy, a set of animals you can draw on. Then it for one final dinner, a huge pizza that neither of us could finish and a salad for me because I am really desperate for some veggies after a couple of weeks of pasta and pastries and breads. Italian food is delicious, but it’s a big change for me when I’m used to eating mostly veggies and beans. My gut is struggling a little. Bitti went wild and ordered a spaghetti alla carbonara instead of al pomodoro. Didn’t like it as much!
That night we had a fight about the blankets she had used to set up a zoo by suspending them between the couches and the bed. I wanted to use them to block the street light coming through the pathetic curtains. She wanted her zoo to remain untouched. In the end i said I wouldn’t touch them, then as soon as she went to bed I put the blankets up on the windows, hahaahahaaa.
Next, we go by ferry to Lecco, then train direct to Bergamo.
Two Little Travellers 