Wanderlust Wednesday, an Abbreviated Version

Wednesday, 10 April, 2019

Because the forecast called for possible rain and because I figured to be doing a lot of exploring next week during a bye in our Skorpions schedule due to the upcoming Easter weekend, I opted to stay somewhat local today in my usual Wanderlust Wednesday travels.

But before discussing today's events, we only have . . .

 . . . more days until Laurie

returns to the Continent!

As usual, my morning started with a cappuccino and a brioche, this time at the posh Pasticceria Marabelli where I saw . . .

La Gazetta dello Sport's cover

featuring Juventus' ever lovable

Ronaldo in a Vincent van Gogh painting

I got it, Juventus was traveling to Amsterdam to play Ajax in a Champions League quarter-final match tonight.

The game ended in a 1-1 tie.

Their quarter-final match-up's second leg will take place in Torino next Tuesday.

My goal today sounded simple enough, a short drive to the village of Uboldo to see the cookie museum at the Collezione Lazzaroni.

Supposedly, this museum is located in the factory where amaretti di Saronno and many other famous Italian cookies are baked.

On the way to Uboldo, my GPS app had me exit the Autostrada at the Legnano exit where I saw . . .

. . . an Italian branch of this good tapas bar

that Laurie and I visited many times

while living in Murcia and Madrid

It was noon and I love tapas, the cookie museum could wait a little longer.

Once in Uboldo, I found . . .

. . . a mini tower in a parking lot . . .

. . . and Uboldo's WWI monument worth . . .

. . . a closer look

But I could not find the cookie museum, not even the street came up on my GPS app.

I'll have to settle for buying a tin of their cookies at some point.

Oh well, on to the neighboring city of . . .

 Nice town that is also a railway

hub between Milan and Varese

I wonder if they have a large Catholic church in Saronno?

 Santuario Beata Vergine del Miracoli

Amazingly, they did.

 The Santuario's front doors

 Hmmm . . .

Nice neck

Saronno's rather large

WWI and WWII War Memorial

 Lots of names of local fallen

on one side of the Memorial

Interesting backside

More names on another side

A close-up of the statue atop

Saronno's Memorial to their Fallen

I opted to start heading back home but stopped for a look at the city of Cislago, another train stop on the Varese to Milan line.

Wouldn't you know it, there had a Catholic church too!

Cislago's Chiesa Santa Maria Assunta

It was open, so I entered.

The Main Altar

Cupola Mania

Angelic

Ornate lamps

 Interesting

 Good artwork surrounding

the Baptistry

 Baptistry Close-up

 I'm loving the whole hair look!

Back out on the street, I noticed another, smaller church in front of the Chiesa Santa Maria Assunta.

It was the Chiesa Vergine

Maria Annunciata

consecrated in the 14th-century

As I move around to the front of this little gem, I was surprised to see . . .

Castle Battlements

 Looking back art the front of

Cislago's two churches

Fine Art near the two churches

But about those castle battlements . . .

Fine looking mini-castle

With Cislago's own

WWI and WWII Monument in front

Lots of names on this one too

 Outer wall of the mini-castle that is called

Il Castello Visconti Castelbarco

A good look at the Castelbarco

Owned by the Visconti family, it was razed completely by Swiss troops in 1510 only to be rebuilt again in 1620 by the Marquis Cesare Viscionti.

The Swiss weren't always neutral.

In 1716, a Trentino noble from the

Castelbarco family married the last

descendant of the Visconti family

The Castelbarco family's heirs still inhabit this beautiful castle, so visiting its interior is quite out of the question.

One can visit the Castelbarco's

Garden across the street

It was starting to rain and was getting late into the afternoon so I decided to call it a day.

Once home, two Hercule Poirot DVDs kept me entertained after dinner.

Game Day nears and we have only one more practice tomorrow night to get ready for the 2-1 Desio Hammers.

Go Skorpions GO!