Jet Lagged But Functional

Monday, 13 January, 2020

A good night's sleep helped but I still felt tired from yesterday's long flight most of today.

I woke up to find out that the Kansas City Chiefs came back from a 0-24 deficit to beat the Houston Texans 51-31 last night.

How is that even possible?

But I digress . . .

Although I did unpack everything on Sunday that I brought with me on the flight from California, I still had five plastic crates with things I'd left stored in Varese since leaving last July that I needed to work on today.

But first . . .

. . . I needed to check out the old

hangouts to see what,

if anything, had changed

The Bar al Semaforo is located about 50 meters from the Villa Skorpion II.

If it is a Monday and Pasticceria Marabelli is closed or if I'm just too lazy to walk down the hill, this then becomes my go to place for my daily cappuccino and brioche.

It was a Monday, Marabelli is indeed closed, so in I went.

Not much had changed

I entered and exchanged the customary "Buon Giornos" with the usual lady behind the bar. She then simply asked, "Cappuccino?"

She still remembered my daily order.

I'm a local you know.

While enjoying my breakfast of a solid cappuccino and a tasty, large creme brioche I glossed over the daily, pink La Gazzetta dello Sport to see what was going on in the greater Italian sports world.

AC Milan only has 25 team points

and is tied for eight place?

Damn?

They are actually closer to tenth place as Verona and Parma, with whom they are tied, have both played one less game than AC Milan.

I continued on down the hill to buy a few supplies and get over the AC Milan shock.

Great door knockers are a staple

of many an Italian home or business

 There it was, closed but still . . .

. . . the best pasticceria in

Lombardia in my opinion . . .

. . . but they open tomorrow

after returning from a holiday

I'll be there bright and early to be sure!

If my jet lag allows it.

I continued on to my favorite . . .

. . . butcher shop where I

was greeted warmly on my

return to Varese

I'm a local you know.

I bought four good cuts of meat to devour over the next two days.

Uh-oh, a new wine shop has

opened since we've been gone

Laurie will be pleased, it's close to our abode.

 The Ducale is a bakery that sells

wonderful bread

I did not buy enough bread from them last year.

Today, I started to change that poor trend on my part.

Go this way to get started

back to the Villa Skorpion II

Just heads up this road

My morning walk over, I got to work on unloading those five plastic crates.

After getting all of their contents stored properly, I treated myself to one of the cuts of meat I bought earlier, a delicious hamburger patty served open face on some of that good bread that I had purchased at Ducale.

After lunch, I did some light reading, took a much desired nap and then at 3:00 p.m. was whisked away by Santa Barbara and Raffa for a big shopping spree at our local Esselunga Supermarket.

All was now right in the universe

Esselunga's lasagna put Stouffer's to shame.

Esselunga had another give-away for kids based on the Star Wars that are all the rage. You get one for every 25 Euros you spend.

Star Wars chess pieces this year

There will be many more of these before we head home next July I'm sure.

I'm excited about tonight's big

college football game!

It should be a great game with the winner playing Alabama next weekend for the "real" National Championship if I understand the system correctly.

Unfortunately, the Clemson-LSU game doesn't kickoff until 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning, Varese time.

I'll be long gone before then, but the highlights should be fun to see when I awaken on Tuesday.

I will be attending my first Skorpions practice of the season on Tuesday night.

Stay tuned . . .