Lecco and Lake Como

April 25 is the day the WWII ended in Italy, and it is a national holiday. This year, it fell on a Friday, and I didn't have school! I had invited one of my friends, Morgan, to stay at my house for the long weekend. Morgan, however, plays trombone in a marching band, and had to play on the 25th. Her host family graciously invited me to stay with them for the weekend, and of course I accepted.

On Thursday of last week, Morgan and I met up after school in Milan. We walked to the Castello, met up with Kristen and Kailee, got gelato, walked around some more, and then headed to the train station to catch a train back to Lecco. Lecco is a city on lake Como, one of Italy's most famous lakes. George Clooney has a house somewhere on Lake Como, and rumor has it he just bought another house in Lecco. I thought Morgan lived in Lecco itself, but I was mistaken. We ended up taking a 45 minute bus ride through the mountains to arrive in Barzio, the tiny little mountain town where she lives.

We didn't stay up too late Thursday night, because Morgan had to be at the marching band's meeting point at 7:30 the next morning. Morgan's host family plays in the band, actually. The two host brothers both play clarinet, the younger sister plays sax, and the host mom plays the cymbals. Dario, the host father, is instrumentally challenged, so he stayed with me through all the parades.

Here is how the festivites went:
The band (and Dario and I, and some of the other parents of people in the band) piled into cars and drove to a small mountain town. The band then marched in a "parade" down the main street of the town playing "Bella, Ciao". The parade was led by the town priest, followed by the band, veterans of the war, the mayor, some police officers and military members, then people who lived in the town. Each town had a memorial to those from the town who died in WWII, so the priest would say a prayer, and the mayor would give a little rememberance speech. The band would then play the national anthem, we would walk back to the cars, pile in, and drive to the next small town.

Barzio was the last town the band played in, and the whole town was in the piazza to see the parade. I was recruited to help carry the memorial wreath in the parade, and I got to talking with the other person carrying the wreath. He was an enthusiastic old man, (he insisted someone take our picture with the wreath) and I mentioned that my great-grandfather fought near Lake Como in WWII. The man got all excited and ran off to tell the mayor. When we reached the memorial, the Mayor included my great-grandfather in his speech, and thanked the Americans for helping out in WWII. I felt proud to be American, and proud that all of my brothers are in the military.

After the parade, we walked home and had lunch. Later that afternoon, Morgan's host father took Morgan and I to Lecco to walk around. It was a beautiful day, and Morgan and I ended up sitting under a tree next to the lake, enjoying the weather and the view.

After dinner that night, Morgan, her host brother and sister and I ran around the town, pretending we were secret agents. After we got tired of that, we played charades in the front yard until it was bedtime.

Saturday morning, morgan and I slept in, then walked to the grocery store to get the fixings for an apple pie. Dario told Morgan that she wasn't allowed to return to the U.S. until she had maken an apple pie. We got home, made the pie, french toast, and pancakes, and the family ate breakfast for lunch. The pie turned out not-so-great (the crust crumbled to bits and the apples weren't cooked all the way) but Morgan's family loved it. Her health-conscious host mother even had two slices. Saturday afternoon, there was a market in town. We took Sara, Morgan's host sister. We got gelato, then browsed around the market for a few hours.

Sunday was a fantastic day. Dario took Morgan and I to Varenna, a small town on Lake Como. We walked around, enjoying the Italian-ness of it all, and of course we got gelato. After about an hour, we took the ferry (Dario took the car on the ferry!) to another town, Bellagio. Bellagio was beautiful. The houses were well kept, and there were flowers in bloom everywhere. Morgan did some shopping, we explored a little, and then got in the car to return home. Dario took us up the mountian to a place where there was a beautiful view of the lake, and a chapel devoted to the Madonna of Byciclists. I'm sorry to say my camera battery died while we were on the ferry.

Speaking of cameras, the computer won't let me upload pictures again. I tried to upload pictures I took in France, and there was an error of some sort. Any advice would be appreciated, but you guys may just have to wait until I get home to see all the pictures I've taken!

Monday morning, I caught a ride with Dario to Milan, then took the train home. Morgan's host mother invited me back this weekend, and I plan on going!

I hope everyone else is enjoying their spring as much as I am!