Our home for the week (not my image obviously, it's not blossom time).
There is a rather nice courtyard.
And luckily we are in the first floor apartment which does have a nice view of the lake.
But, as I mentioned in an earlier post, sadly it is not a patch on the beautifully decorated, well equipped, bright apartment we rented in Tuscany last year.
I appreciate that we are in an old building, probably late 19th century, but it's dark and dingy and quite cold (although there are huge cast iron radiators and we did check with Clelia how to turn the heating on). And the decor leaves a lot to be desired; tired and old fashioned with a multitude of artificial flowers arrangements lurking just about everywhere, including the kitchenette and the loo.
And where there aren't flowers, there are pictures of flowers!
And frustratingly a lot of things don't seem to work; the fire in the sitting room has a "do not open" sign on it, the dishwasher a "broken - do not use" sign, the batteries in TV remote are completely corroded, bedside lights/vanity light in bathroom don't work etc etc.
First night we went to cook our enormous chicken and the oven door handle practically came away in my hand; it's literally hanging by one screw.
I contacted Clelia who sent her husband to fix it the following day but he reported back that a professional repair would be needed. Out of necessity we continued to use the oven but risked serious burns each time we had to open it!
Other things were just strange; the shower bracket was fixed just a few feet up on the wall so you had to hold it over yourself (either that or it was designed for midgets).
Whereas in the second bedroom you needed to be a giant to hang anything from this wardrobe rail.
And accessing these cupboards was impossible (as was climbing into this bed as it was right up close to the other one - maybe just dive in off the end?)
Oh and the fridge hadn't been cleaned adequately (although Clelia came back immediately on Day 1 whilst we were food shopping and cleaned it).
Using a dustpan and brush of such vastly differing sizes is challenging to say the least. Ian helped out by holding the dustpan but was nearly poked in the eye on numerous occasions - it's the little things that irk!
The internet falls over numerous times a day. We were warned by Clelia it didn't like bad weather and could cut out, the remedy being to pull the plug out of the wall and wait a while. The trouble is the plug is a very tight fit and I'm sure before too long the whole socket will come away in my hands.
But on the plus side, there is lots of lovely hot water and a Persimmon (Sharon) tree in the garden.
