A New, INCREDIBLE Pasticceria, a Trip to the IPER and a Mexican Dinner

Friday, 16 March, 2018

Today marked . . .

. . . days living in Italy

Good friend Julien Urgenti

sent me this study

No wonder we've loved living in France, Italy and Spain.

As for my friends in Sweden and Switzerland, we have some catching up to do.

After all of the rain on Thursday, today was remarkably beautiful!

Lots of snow on the

mountains in the distance

I saw this in La Gazetta dello Sport

I was told that it was too late for me to enter this road race.

Chapel in Venegono Superiore

The doors to this chapel have never been open when I have gone by the last two months.

Today they were open so I pulled the car over to go take a look.

While the large wooden doors were obviously open, the inner glass doors were locked. Through them I had a clear view of the simple chapel.

Curiosity appeased, I headed back to my auto which forced me to walk along a side street that I had not previously taken due to construction issues.

Because of this walking detour I discovered something new and exciting!

An AMAZING Pasticceria!

And they serve gelato too.

LORD HAVE MERCY!

BE STRONG!

Fruits are healthy, right?

And it went . . .

. . . on and . . .

. . . on and . . .

. . . on!

I broke down and purchased one of the small chocolate treats seen in the first picture . . . AMAZING!

I continued on my way to the IPER supermarket in Varese to do a little shopping and take some photos of the always interesting food displays.

Lots of large chocolate Easter eggs

And there is a prize inside.

Pork is good

Chickens . . . Heads and all

Italian Salame

Multo Bello!

Citrus Fruits

No idea what these are

Do you know?

Cauliflower Romano

I liked the purple cart

Shopping done, it was time for a leisurely drive back home along a different path.

Chiesa Santi Evasio e Stefano

opened in 1679

It sits on a bluff overlooking a beautiful valley but the doors were closed.

Crane icon for the chiesa

Cranes again

In the evening I joined several of the Skorpion coaches and their families for a dinner in Milano's Piedra del Sol Mexican restaurant.

While the food was good,

the company was GREAT!

Besides the Skorpions, we were

also part of a reunion of sorts

We filled up two long, long tables as there were about 40 of us in attendance.

The reunion table

If you recall from Tuesday's post, at practice two former 1980s era American import players, both from California, Dave Stineman and Bobby Frasco, were in the area on vacation.

Tonight they were greeted at our dinner by a bunch of the Italian players that were their teammates back in the day.

Nothing like a four hour dinner

Good times indeed!

Some of the reunion clan

Lots of rehashed war stories from the good old days were told to be sure.

Raffaele Nardi

Skorpions Defensive Tackle

And a great young man.

It was a fun day of sunshine, food, adult beverages and great camaraderie.

Saturday looms and it will be . . .

. . . GAME DAY!

BEAT THE BLUE STORMS!