We left Tallahassee with the sunrise on I-10.

We had a wonderful short visit with our sister and BIL in Deerfield before heading to return our rental car at Miami International.

Air France was having some computer problems and the lines to check in, even for “Sky Priority,” were long and slow moving. We made it to the lounge for a nice hour of snacks and deep breathing before boarding. We both got some sleep on the flight, but there was a lot of turbulence which kept waking us up. Changing planes at CDG was easy (we went through EU immigration there) and we had time to check out the, decidedly quieter than Miami, lounge there too. Arrival at Milan Linate was easy and off we went in our big, black rental car.

We drove less than 2 hours to Lago D’Orta and met our Orta San Giulio AirBNB host at a garage to park and walk to the apartment.

The view of the lake and its little jewel of an island was why I chose this apartment, and it is indeed gorgeous, but it was hazy and I couldn’t get a good photo. One will come I am certain.

We got organized a little bit and tried to take some deep breaths. We were both still feeling spaced out from the flight and the time change. It’s 5 hours later here because they don’t change to Daylight Saving Time until March 26.

There are a bunch of restaurants in the little square and we chose Pan & Vino. Their kitchen didn’t open until 7 and it was just 6:30, but we were able to get a wonderful platter of salumi, bread and my first glass of Franciacorta of the trip.

After dinner we took a little walk around and stared at the lovely lake, trying to absorb this beginning of our adventure.

My goal was for us to stay awake until 8:00 and we made it to 8:30. So very glad to be here!