A Sunday Morning Walk and an Afternoon with Amici

Sunday, 21 January, 2018

Sunday promised to be another good day in Italy's Lombardy region and it was.

It all started with a good breakfast watching . . .

Peppa Pig in Italian

Unfortunately, little Mary was not there to watch with me.

The first order of business was the walk to our closest supermarket to buy more supplies for the Villa Skorpion.

This trek would take me through, for me, some new neighborhoods.

 Lion on Guard

LOTS of cyclists out on a crisp Sunday

This area of Italy is known for producing several world class cyclists.

 My Supermarket

It has everything!

You see obituaries like these blue

ones posted all over our cities

In the afternoon, Enzo Petrillo picked me up to give me a Grand Tour of Varese and then share lunch with his wife Nency and two daughters Sophia and Emma.

Cheeses on sale at a

Varese street market

Blood oranges too

Enzo LOVES this chess set

for some reason

After our Grand Tour of Varese was done, we headed to Casa Petrillo for an amazing lunch that was highlighted by Nency's incredible lasagna and a lot of fun conversation with this delightful family.

They did a wonderful job of both welcoming into their delightful home and making me practice my limited Italian which continues to be a work in progress.

After lunch, we headed to the lakeside village of Porto Ceresio located on Lake Ceresio.

Lake Ceresio is half in Italy and half in Switzerland. One of the quirks of Lake Ceresio is that swimming is not allowed on the Italian shore but it is perfectly fine to swim in the lake if you are on the Swiss shoreline.

 Nancy and Enzo

with daughter Emma

With Nancy and Emma

Yes, those are the Alps and Switzerland in the distance.

Historical House in

Porto Cesesio

According to Enzo, near the end of World War II, Italy's Benito Mussolini met in secret with Germany's Adolf Hitler and representatives of the British government to try to bring about a mutually beneficial end for all parties to the hostilities.

The meeting didn't work to well for Benito and Adolf. 

 Lions guarding the historical

Porto Ceresio home

Via Roma is Porto Ceresio's

main street

 Honoring Porto Ceresio's

War Dead

World War I

The African Campaign

World War II

 The Promenade along the lake

was a gorgeous setting

But the icy winds whipping off of the Alps and across the lake shortened our visiting time greatly.

What a great day with a wonderful family!

Grazie Petrillo family!

And a good day of physical

fitness walking to boot!