Laurie's First 2019 Foray Into Downtown Varese

Friday, 3 May, 2019

The skies were still threatening but we opted to head into downtown Varese to run a few errands to start the day.

We walked to the Pasticceria Marabelli for the mandatory cappuccino and brioche before boarding a C line bus into the heart of the city.

Cut the red cord!

NOW!

There was an apparent bomb scare across the road from the Pasticceria Marabelli but these trained professionals kept us all safe from this potentially deadly terrorist assault.

Safe and sated, we made our next stop at the Varese City Hall that also houses the public library to trade in old DVDs for new ones.

Laurie by the City Hall's

beautiful gardens

 Laurie likes gardening . . .

. . . thus her enjoyment at

seeing City Hall's tulips

 A beautiful tree in full Spring bloom

New DVDs in hand, we strolled into Varese's pedestrian only streets.

33 or 3, which one is it?

What a good looking building

A priest taking a break from his

confessional duties to admire the art

in the Basilica di San Vittorio

Yet another photo of one

of my favorite Varese statues

 Near the old Teatro that

no longer exists

Laurie liked this bit

of outdoor wall art

Varese's picturesque

Basilica di San Vittorio Bell Tower

We were on our way to a store

that sells medieval toy soldiers

when the bells started to peal

Just one of the medieval toy soldiers

that we bought for the two grandsons

Now to find some things for little miss Mary.

Laurie was hungry from all of the walking and shopping so I took her to one of Varese's best pannini shops.

 The Golden Egg Bar has

yet to disappoint

In a wild dietary move, we split a pannino.

What is happening to our marriage?

 The view from our seat at the

Golden Egg Bar

The good, fun people that work here make the dining experience just that much more enjoyable.

An after lunch macchiato at

the Café Ghezzi

We headed back home via the C line bus again just ahead of the afternoon deluge.

Laurie wanted to see what our

balcony on the upper level

looked like from the courtyard

It looked nice I thought with the flowers to highlight our potential breakfast sight on warmer days.

Later in the day we ventured by car to the Gelateria Argentina and to our butcher shop, the Marcelleria Tonino. It was Laurie's first trip to both and, I believe, that she enjoyed each experience.

We opted to stay at the Villa Scorpion II for the evening to read and watch a little TV as the weather was still a bit sketchy.

It was another good day in Lombardia if you ask me!

A Long, Rewarding Day of American Football

Thursday, 2 May, 2019

It was time to get back to work for our Varese Skorpions by spending most of the day breaking down the video of our last game, the heart stopping 58-43 victory over the Brescia Bengals.

Thus, I employed the great . . .

. . . app to analyze our shoot out win

We did a lot of good things in the game but, obviously, have lots of work to do over the next two and a half weeks to improve both our kicking game and defense before playing the Varese Derby on May 18th against the 1-3 Gorillas.

Analyzing, statistics and decal awards all taken care of, it was finally time too . . .

. . . call an end to the

Brescia Bengals contest

In the evening, it was time to get back on the practice field on a wet evening.

U15 Flag team agility drill

U13 Flag team going over the basics

The U13, U15 and U17 Flag teams will all play two games apiece on Sunday in Bergamo.

We had a driving rain storm during

most of our Prima Squadra practice

We had a decent turnout and good effort tonight. Four more practices before we play the Derby.

May Day is Labor Day in Italy

Wednesday, 1 May, 2019

Laurie's first full day in Italia was declared a National Holiday by the government!

The fact that May 1st is also Labor Day in most of Europe may have had something to do with the festivities on this gorgeous Spring day in Lombardia.

But I'm still pretty darn sure that it was more about Laurie's arrival.

We were fortunate that the small

church just up the street from us

had an all day festival planned

for Laurie

Mercantino "Arti e Mestieri"

means

"Arts and Crafts" Market

That phrase can also be translated as "Getting rid of all of your disposable income."

We were sure to be there when the Mercantile opened at 9:30 a.m.

And we shopped

Laurie with her morning haul

Back at the Villa Scorpion II

to secure Laurie's newest treasures

After doing a little computer work, we headed back up the street to the same church to try their Tradizionale Banco Gastronomico.

It was indeed time for lunch.

Chiesa San Giuseppe at lunchtime

The line to buy food and drinks

for lunch moved quickly

For a mere 17 Euros we got two grilled salamella sandwiches, a bowl of polenta with gorgonzola cheese, an order of French fries, a coke, a bottle of beer and a glass of red wine.

Not bad for festival food . . .

Lots of locals enjoy the day

at the church festival

The local priest was in full

festival regalia

Salamella on the grill

It was so good!

Laurie was enjoying EVERYTHING

about today's festival

Including the necklace she bought earlier in the day.

Late in the afternoon, we heard live music coming from the festival and just had to investigate.

The band was between songs

when we got back to the church yard

What do you think?

Laurie was still having

way too good of a time!

 And I can barely read English

 Cymbals are cool instruments

The holder of the band's banner

Another song from the band

Silver and Brass were good

contrasting colors

He's the Leader of the Band!

This church festival was really a good one with a good but not overpowering number of people in attendance, good food and fun arts and crafts for sale.

Meanwhile, back on the Skorpion American football front . . .

We are still waiting for the Skorpions'

cracker jack photographers to post

their pictures of last Saturday's game

I did find these good photos on the Brescia Bengals website.

It took three Bengals to down

RB Dylan Auriema on this play

Pursuing the ball

We had to do this a lot as the Bengals racked up 353 yards of Total Offense on the night.

Open field tackle by FS Simone Tettamanti

with help from

SS Manuel "Biondo" Bulgheroni

The Bengals Kickoff Return team

was OUTSTANDING Saturday night

CB Andrea Mora had a

good game for us

Great Stalk Blocking by

WR Martino Piazzi gets

RB Dylan Auriema extra yards

Our Kickoff Return in action

RB Ema Della Bosca is a powerful

RB who also blocks extremely well

LB/K/P Stefano Granelli

is the Heart and Soul of our team

Stefano Granelli using an unusual

tackling technique

Emanuele Mascelli

returning a Kickoff

RUN TO THE BALL!

CONTACT!

RB Dylan Auriema had a GREAT night

He rushed the rock 22 times good for 208 yards, a 9.5 yards per carry average and a TD.

DT Luca "Ceo" Bozzo on the tackle

with DE Tomas Pedotti using a

good Dip & Rip move

Stefano Granelli

Jack of All Trades

A team high ten tackles, seven for eight on PATs, one for two on Field Goals and lots of good Kickoffs that we did not cover too well.

Is that an old school

Cross Body Block?

#88 Matteo Mozzanica had two TD

grabs on the night

The Bengals QB had an

up and down game

He was 14 for 31 passing for 224 yards, 4 TDs and 3 Interceptions.

On the other hand, our QB Giacomo "Jack" Micheli was 13 for 20 passing for 326 yards, 7 TDs and 1 Interception.

Stefano and Simone on the tackle

Swarming to the ball

There was too much of this by

the Bengals offense but . . .

. . . the bottom line was that in

the standings it was a . . .

4-2 is a good thing!

So is having Laurie back in Italia.