Florence; it is a wonderful city full of beautiful buildings. There are museums and churches filled with timeless, dazzling art. The food is incredible both at the restaurants and what we can buy at the markets. The mosquitoes are ruthless!!!! First off, I must be the tastiest person in Florence (or at least in our apartment) because I am getting bit more than Vic. The local variety of mosquitoes is voracious; they inflict welts that are quite different from what I've been use to in Florida.
Italians don’t seem to like air conditioning; they think it’s bad for your health. They have very elaborate windows with shutters that you can either prop open or fully open but NO SCREENS on the windows. Now, in an area that is known for ravenous mosquitoes (even if it’s only in May and September), wouldn't you have screens you could put up if even for only those times? Our bedroom does have the portable AC unit that we use each night but the living area has two windows that we keep open for some air circulation. After waking up with several new bites each morning, I've started keeping the door to our bedroom closed at all times just so there is a bug-free zone. We also close the shutters (but not the windows) in the afternoon to keep some of the little pests out.
I bought an after-bite liquid and bug repellent wipes but those little buggers are relentless. I must have at least 10 bites on each leg, 6 to 8 on the back of each hand, and 5 or 6 on each arm even after using the repellent. Oh yes, and one on my earlobe. I finally broke down and went into a pharmacy to get something else for the itching; since the after-bite stuff wasn't doing much good. The girl told me that the after-bite is only good if you put it on immediately after the bite. (Well, if you’re sleeping you don’t really know until the morning that you were a late night snack for a troupe of flying blood-sucker.) So, on her recommendation, I bought yet another product to slather on my body. It’s some $8 anti-histamine cream I've never heard of – but it works. Put this stuff on and in about 1 or 2 minutes the itch stops for at least a few hours.
So now I’m armed with my bug repellent wipes before I go out, my after-bite liquid stick for as soon as I feel them bite, and my anti-itch cream for after they do, all this for only $22. Being comfortable isn't cheap!
I bought an after-bite liquid and bug repellent wipes but those little buggers are relentless. I must have at least 10 bites on each leg, 6 to 8 on the back of each hand, and 5 or 6 on each arm even after using the repellent. Oh yes, and one on my earlobe. I finally broke down and went into a pharmacy to get something else for the itching; since the after-bite stuff wasn't doing much good. The girl told me that the after-bite is only good if you put it on immediately after the bite. (Well, if you’re sleeping you don’t really know until the morning that you were a late night snack for a troupe of flying blood-sucker.) So, on her recommendation, I bought yet another product to slather on my body. It’s some $8 anti-histamine cream I've never heard of – but it works. Put this stuff on and in about 1 or 2 minutes the itch stops for at least a few hours.
So now I’m armed with my bug repellent wipes before I go out, my after-bite liquid stick for as soon as I feel them bite, and my anti-itch cream for after they do, all this for only $22. Being comfortable isn't cheap!