Varese

February 23, 2014

This week we got 19 new missionaries.  They are a wonderful group.  Very alert, attentive and bold.  None of them fell asleep during my training!  To sit through 45 minutes of training on money after flying overnight here from the states and stay awake is fabulous.  We also had 7 missionaries go home.  This makes the whole week very involved.  We do have the routine down, but with all of the training, meals, transportation and exciting chatter with these major changes in their lives, it does seem to wear out us old folks. I was exhausted Thursday night after it was over.  Friday was a day to catch up.

Saturday we decided to go to Varese, a city north west of Milano that is very near the Switzerland boarder.

 This is the civic center for Varese and it was a marker day there!  I was very impressed with the vendors.  They were very clean, and not the dirty lower quality vendors that we see in most cities.

 After walking through the vendor stalls we walked east toward what we thought was a church bell we heard ringing.  We walked around the corner and there was a bell tower.

 Just past the tower was this piazza with kids riding their bikes and playing ball.

 Turning around you can see the church and the base of the bell tower.

 Here is the bell tower from the other side.

 We could here a street performer singing Bob Dylan songs so we walked  that way.  He had a harmonica and a tired dog.  Here in the next piazza is a little carousel that kids and their parents were riding.

 We next could here a flute playing.  It was playing jazz.  After we walked a block or so we found her.  It was the same Jazz flute gal that we saw about a month ago near the Milano Duomo.  She is great!

Above you can see a sun dial that was etched into the sunny side of this building.  The black line and circle is the shadow from the grey fixture attached to the wall.  I think this a cool wish I had one so I could watch it though the seasons.

 Here is a door - not a great door, but it is open so you an see the way the little door within the big door works.

 We wandered back towards the car, walked past the church and went in.  Nice little church with some great stained glass.

One of the vendors at the market was making fresh mozzarella.  It was fascinating to see him swoop up the curds and shape them into a ball.  Of course they let us sample it and WOW it was fantastic.  We bought some and then bought some great bread from another vendor and drove down to the lake that is near Varese to eat our lunch.

 We found a spot to drive down from the road through a very narrow passage way where we could see the lake.  When it opened up there was a parking lot next to a rowing boat storage barn. Several boats were just getting ready to head out.  We parked, sat down on a bench by the lake, ate our bread and cheese in the sun and watched the boats.

 Peggy fed the ducks

 It was beautiful spot and a spectacular day.  This is FEBRUARY!  It was wonderful.

Same view as previous slide, but zoomed in to see the alps in the back ground

Milano

February 16, 2014

We went two Saturdays in a row with out touring and posting to the blog. Sorry, but sometimes life happens.    The 1st week I was still quite busy with end of the month duties. It has also been rainy and perhaps we were a bit lazy. But work in the office is becoming more routine.  New situations do not surprise us.  We are able to perform our duties quicker.  However this past several weeks we have be quite busy closing 7 apartments. It is quite involved not only getting the missionaries moved out, but to get the apartment cleaned up, and fixing the things that we can fix.  Then meeting with the landlord and negotiating about our security deposit and other items that they claim. We have also been working close with the Burgers on opening 7 new apartments.   We need 5 apartments for next group of missionaries that arrive next week.  We are getting 19 new missionaries on Wednesday - 11 of them sisters.

Saturday we decided to explore a different part of Milano.  We 1st drove to a Chinese buffet that the elders were bragging about.  We parked on the roof of the grocery store next door.  This was not like any Chinese buffet in the States.  It was large, interesting, OK, but we probably wont go there again.  It wasn't really Chinese food like we are used to.

We then hopped on the Metro across the street, changed trains twice and got out near Sant' Ambrogio.

St. Ambose is Milano's patron Saint. They say he was so eloquent that bees would fly into his mouth. attracted to his honey tongue   The church was 1st built in 379 AD but today is mostly 10th century, over 1000 years old.

The front door was marvelous but it was protected by glass.

Here you can see some of the carving on the door.

And here are the old knockers! 

 It was a very nice church inside.

 Under the pulpit is Saint Ambrose himself!  Not sure who the other guy is.

 Fabulous mosaics above the pulpit.

 They had this pillar with a snake on top in the main nave.

There was a nice court yard in front of the church.

This guy looks to be my height

  Here is a door in front of the court yard of Saint Ambrose

 We then wandered down the street to find the next destination.

 A door with the ring of the knocker removed.

 Here is the whole door.  Just after I took this picture several people walked out of this door.  not the big door but the door with in the door.  See the lower right hand square and the lines that go down through the kick plate?  This little door is about 6 feet tall.

 Yes, there is graffiti on a a wonderful door.  How sad!

 These blooming trees were a real surprise to me.  This is our 1st sign of spring here in Italy.  For the past 3 months it has been wet and it will freeze about 2 days each week..  I have seen no buds on any trees yet.  These trees must be in some micro climate where the sun heats and reflects off the building behind them.

How about this door and the sculpture above it?

Across the street was this children's toy store with this little guy out front.  I think he is a LEGO Pirate.

 We then found San Lorenzo Maggiore a church built in the 4th century.

 Next door was this enormous Japanese painting above a restaurant.  The eatery is OLD WILD WEST which is a franchise steak house that I have seen in the mall and many other places.  We have not tried it yet.

 The old 4th century ruins lined up alongside the new modern building and billboards were a real contrast.

 Here is part of the old city wall

 San Lorenzo Maggiore is an octagonal church.  Very different that all the others built on the plan of a cross.

 We then walked north to find the Metro station.  Here is another neat church. We did not go in.

 The streets were very crowed with people. Everyone out for the day window shopping.  Across the street was this store.It is not a music store like expected with a name like that.  But a clothing store.  About 50 miles South east is the town of Cremora where Strdivarius lived and built his Violins.  We will go there soon.

Another interesting church.  In the round?

We walked a very long ways and ended up at the Duomo, One metro stop past where I expected to find the Metro.  But it was all very interesting.  We hopped on the Metro and went back to where we parked.  Went grocery shopping and then rode the elevator up to the roof and got our car.  It was a great day.