Yesterday, Marco took Ila and me to walk around Como and explore his hometown. We walked around by the lake and went down to the pier. We went among many old villas and the views were incredible. When Marco was 12, he had a tryout with a professional team in Como. There is a picture of him, (all legs and hair) hanging on his wall. We walked by the stadium and it was open by a miracle. We sort of invaded it and I got to run up the top of the bleachers and take a picture out over the lake.
Then the next day we went for a walk up to this really old castle looking over the whole region. I hadn't eaten since breakfast and was pretty hungry when we started our ascent. We walked for about an hour straight uphill. Literally. When we finally made it to the top (Ila sweating and Marco with boundless energy) we had an amazing view. There was the remnants of an old castle and we climbed up it to see to Milano. After we were scared getting back down, Marco helped us as we were being complete weenies.
Then on our way home we were walking, Marco slightly in front and Ila a little ahead of me. We saw this man sitting on the side of the road and then heard this scratching noise in the bushes. Out ran a billy goat who promptly started squirming and chasing his own tail! Ila was so scared she ran behind me, thinking the goat was going to attack us. Marco started talking to the man and apparently the goat lived on the mountain. The man had named him Frederico because a few years ago he had befriended the goat. The man had gone up to the mountain to bury his last German Shepherd, and he met the goat. The goat was extremely friendly and wanted to play. Thus, Frederico.
As we were standing there talking, we pet the goat as if he were a dog. He was chasing his own tail and biting it. At one point, he got so excited to play that he head butted Marco in the knee. Marco: "God damn it, Frederico! I know you are excited but take it easy!"
We parted ways with nothing but fond memories of the goat.
Later that night we went to get Aperitivo, which is something like cocktail hour in the States. We went to the main piazza in Como and met up with many of Marco's friends. All of them fabulous Italians, that is except for Tweet Tweet.
His name was Vincent.
He was a disaster.
He apparently was sort of friends with the guys but not really. He was a bit odd and had this mad habit of not realizing people's personal space. He would sidle up really close to you. You would try to back away but he would just keep coming. Apparently, sometimes he gets about 4 inches from your face without realizing it. Fabio, one of Marco's friends, was able to reel him in more and would periodically yell at him to move back or be quiet. We started calling him Tweet Tweet because he was like a little bird, always following them around.
And then during the middle of the evening, I see a man walking his pet... guinea pig. I thought it was a rat and then I realized it had more crazy fur. For some reason, as I am yelling, Rat! Rat! it ran straight to my feet. The man had to yell at it to walk with him and then he picked it up and put it on his neck.
And Jimmy. Ah... Jimmy.
He is Marco's delightful friend whom at first we all thought was gay but it turns out is a ladies man. He is a SHARK! He chases girls all around but without success. And he is the nicest guy! He was a riot and spoke a little english, but he said it would improve with his consumption of alcohol. We then went to a town barbeque, up the road.
Almost to Switzerland! We got out and walked up another mountain and were met by hundreds of Comanzci and other Italians from around the area. We ate pork, which is a specialty of the area and watched fireworks. Then, there is a huge bonfire where they literally burn the mountain. I have never seen such a humongous fire! Afterwards, we ate some "traditional cake" which looked chocolate but was in fact fruit cake and then headed on home.
Today we went for a boat tour around Como. It was beautiful and I got some great shots of the Villas. I picked out Villa Carlita which I will buy after I make my first million. We passed by George Clooney's villa, but I couldn't pick it out of the crowd. After lunch at Menaggio, we headed back to Como and to the apartment. Time to prepare ourselves for shopping tomorrow!
SHOES
I needed shoes in Italy. They only have 40, which is equivalent of US size 9. Ehh... Anyways I finally found a CUTE pair. They are seriously HOT and they were only 20 Euros. Bravo, Como, Bravo!
No comments:
Post a Comment