Mercoledì, 14 Febbraio, 2018
St. Valentine's Day, Ash Wednesday and my 30th day living in northern Italy . . .
But first things first, I needed to find a replacement for my now moribund computer battery charger.
This was the place!
Once in Milano, it only took a few minutes to find this Apple Store, have them diagnose my problem and then relieve me of 89 Euros for a new charger.
Life was good again.
Free to go back on the streets to explore Milano some more, it became obvious that . . .
. . . You must ALWAYS be stylish,
even on your Vespa
Chocolates and St. Valentine's Day
go hand-in-hand
Chiesa Santa Maria del Carmine
My random Church-of-the-Day near the Apple Store.
Disturbing art
Inside the Chiesa
I like Cupola photos
Side altar
Another side altar
Ode to perceived miracles?
Relics?
Out of the church and meandering the streets, I stumbled upon the artsy Brera district of the old city.
People were working and . . .
. . . carrying meat to market
Here started the artsy part
St. Valentine's Day
heart shaped pizza is artsy to me
Minnie and Mickey
enjoying the day
Tempting but no
Tempting and SÌ
I needed a coffee and a rest room, I found both here.
no . . .
. . . No . . .
. . . NO!
Maybe . . .
Da Vinci's minions on the
Piazza della Scala
Museum-of-the-Day
Il Gallerie d'Italia
Also on the Piazza della Scala, this museum fills three adjacent buildings of a former bank, the Banca Commerciale Italiana, with some impressive art.
This is what caught my eye . . .
"The Martyrdom of St. Ursula"
by Giulio Cesare Procaccini
painted between 1620 and 1625
"The Holy Family"
by Giulio Cesare Porcini
painted between 1620 and 1625
"David with the Head of Goliath"
by Simon Vouet
painted in 1621
"Equestrian Portrait of
Giovan Carlo Doria"
by Peter Paul Rubens
painted in 1606
The Cross of Santiago over his heart was a plus for me.
The Art Deco ceiling of the
old bank building
One of many artsy back teller's
windows still on display
"The Last Supper"
by Giulio Cesare Procaccini
painted in 1618
It was huge as you can see by the people admiring it in this photo.
Procaccini was a busy artist back in the day!
Same Procaccini painting, closer view
"Self-Portrait"
by Giulio Cesare Procaccini
painted in 1602
Handsome fellow.
"Roman Charity"
by Luciano Borzone
painted in 1638
Looks like old guys like me need to make at least one more trip to Rome soon.
More of the bank building
"Dream and Reality"
by Angelo Morelli
painted in 1905
Kind of like Laurie and I at this stage of our lives.
"The Jealous Woman"
Alessandro Milesi
painted in 1930
She has an edge to her that I found interesting.
The Alessandro Manzoni Garden
Looked Imperial to me
We had TWENTY-THREE
missed tackles on Sunday
Hopefully we will do better tonight in Lugano, Switzerland when we scrimmage the Rebels.
"Pope Urban II preaching the First
Crusade in the Square of Clermont"
by Francesco Hayez
painted in 1835
Taking a closer look at Hayez's
mad monk and a bearded Pope
"The Farewell of Jacopo
Foscari from His Family"
by Francesco Hayez
painted in 1839
This is only the far left quarter of the actual painting but I found it to be the most interesting part of this opus by Hayez.
As much art as was hanging from the walls of this fine museum, I found that just looking up at the ceilings was noteworthy too.
Just like in our living
room in Camarillo
Crossroads
I like blue
Cupola-like
Chandelier provide shining light too
"Milan Cathedral Seen
from Corsia dei Servi"
by Pierre Henry Theodor Tetar Van Elven
painted in 1901
His friends just called him Hank.
Changing art styles and centuries . . .
"Bust of a Woman with a Hat"
by Enrico Baj
painted in 1969
Influenced by Pablo Picasso I would say.
One last look at one of the museum's
Art Deco ceilings
Next up, a trip to Milan's finest department store . . .
It is one of Europe's best and
ritziest department stores
to be sure
Man in red STYLING!
I think that he is a Luca Pinto wannabe!
More about Luca later in this post.
La Rinascente's seventh floor
dining area
More temptations . . .
. . . required more strength!
And I had it in spades today!
Why?
Chocolate shoes, only 45 Euros
Another good Milano day in the books, computer and blog back on-line, there was only one thing left to do . . .
Play some American football!
Skorpions football that is!
We met at Scorpion Field at 7:00 p.m. to carpool the one hour drive to Lugano for our scrimmage against the Rebels, a DIII club in Switzerland.
We would scrimmage here on
Lugano's Rugby Pitch
It was a BEAUTIFUL night for American football!
With Skorpion/Rebel Luca Pinto
Let's review the life and passion for the game that Luca Pinto carries in his heart.
A long time player on various Italian teams including most recently the Skorpions, Luca this year faced an American football career problem.
You see in Italy he faced the mandatory American football retirement age imposed by the Italian Federation. Luca turned 48 in the off-season and Federation rules state that you can only play up to and including the age of 47.
Luca still had that burning passion for our great game, what to do?
Well for one thing, he still coaches our Skorpion defensive linemen on Tuesday nights.
But it was not enough.
So he joined the Lugano Rebels club near his home as the Swiss Federation has no maximum age limit for American football players.
And there is no end in sight for this Warrior!
Luca Pinto . . . LIVING THE DREAM!
As for the scrimmage played in crystal clear SKORPION WEATHER . . .
Our Defense showed great resolve
We swarmed to the ball
Off the top of my head, we only had about four or five missed tackles tonight!
Our goal was to have 12 or less missed tackles against the Rebels tonight Not a good number to be sure but a great improvement over the 23 missed tackles last Sunday.
We'll have an exact number after breaking down the scrimmage video on our HUDL app on Thursday.
Our Offense showed
great improvement too
Still inconsistent at times but we looked better, especially in the Offensive Line.
Overall, a great experience thanks to the Rebels and their staff but we are still an opus in progress . . .
With Lugano Rebels Head Coach
Manrico "Mino" Genoni
Post-Scrimmage Vin Brule
The Rebels faithful provided all of the players, coaches and fans free coffee, hot chocolate and/or vin brule which is an Italian hot mulled wine.
VIN BRULE
The Official Beverage of
SKORPION WEATHER!
The ride to and from the scrimmage with Giorgio Nardi and some of the Skorpion players was fun too.
Giorgio pointed out several highlights along our drive to Lugano and then treated us to a Blues/Rock Concert courtesy of mostly The Blues Brothers soundtrack.
Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven was over the top as always!
Giorgio and his bride Barbara are both wonderful, dedicated, hard working people who make everything Skorpion just flat out better!
Every team needs good people like this Varese couple on their side.
Grazie for all that you
do Giorgio and Barbara!
It's GREAT to be a Skorpion!
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