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5 Aug 2017, last p-day and Sunday

It's 8 pm on our last Saturday p-day.  We didn't really go anywhere today. (We went Thursday afternoon with the Salatini.)  This week I gave my phone SIM card to Anziano Griffiths, and I have not had a mission SIM card in my phone this week.  In order to have one for Rome, etc., I went with him to the TIM store at the IPER mall and personally paid €30 for a new SIM card, with internet, for my phone I brought from home. We figured out, after speaking with Sorella Grimaldi, that I was supposed to have had internet on my Church provided phone.  The office anziani didn't know that when we first came, so they didn't program my phone for it, so the Church has been paying for it for 18 months, but I didn't have it.  I could have used it many times. The Copia Giffiths will have it. Such is life. Then, this morning when I tried to call the anziani, I got a message that I didn't have any phone minutes left, so I went back to the TIM store today, by myself, and spent another €10 for 1,000 minutes.  Today we worked on cleaning the house and packing our bags, etc, Myrna made some green chili from pork we had in the freezer, and I went back to Eurospin for some groceries for dinner and to eat until we fly out, one week from today.  Right now she is working on her Sunday School lesson for tomorrow, actually she is snoring at her desk in the office.  Also this week, Anziano Wilson bought some new pants, on sale, and asked Sorella Hoopes to hem them, but when he tried them on, they were way too big, so she is taking them in too.  However, he was supposed to try them on this afternoon so she could finish the job, but forgot, so it may be late tonight when they return, so she'll be up late. She has iced her back a few times today, but it is feeling better.  Actually, when we went with the Salatini on Thursday, and we walked at least a thousand steps (Sister Salatino has a meter) Myrna's back didn't hurt, and she said it was a miracle.  I gave her a blessing with Anziano DaPonte, which was a nice experience, at least for me.  Today Myrna also made a pecan pie with pecans we have been hoarding in the freezer. I bought a can of spray panna (whipped cream), so maybe, if we feel charitable, we'll give a piece to the anziani, but, who knows, they may not even like pecan pie.  Who knows.  It has been really hot today and we are fearing Rome for heat, humidity, hordes of people and getting lost.  I have tried to practice with navigation on my phone, but am not entirely sure how to use it.  Time is running short.  I ordered a new keyboard today from Amazon to be delivered to Amy's and tomorrow I will give my old one to Harrison Danzi, hoping that he has been able to download Hauptwerk on his computer--he hadn't been successful as of last Sunday, but, again, time is about out.  President Allen has been working in the office today and just asked if we want to ride to church with them, which we will.  Bishop Villacorta must not have figured out we are leaving (he canceled our home teaching visit in July at the last minute, so we haven't seen him), so he had not asked us to speak, as he usually does when missionaries go home or are transferred.  Perhaps tomorrow he will ask us to bear our testimonies, and if he doesn't, we will anyway, since it is Fast Sunday. Anziano and Sorella Griffiths are doing really well and don't really seem to need our help, so we are thankful we aren't leaving the mission in a difficult spot, they will do really well. I think I will go up and take my pants out of the washer and hang them to dry.  We washed all day long.  

Today was Fast Sunday.  We rode with the President and Sorella Allen to church.  I played the piano for sacrament meeting.  The Salatini were there, they usually go to church at Lampagno, they just came to see us.  The Executive Secretary came up to me while I was playing the prelude and asked if this was our last Sunday, and when I told him it was, he asked us to bear our testimonies, which we did.  We went up together, which Italians commonly do.  Sorella Hoopes bore hers first, and said a lot in Italian and I translated what she couldn't.  About this time a big rain storm came in and windows in the chapel were open, so there was some confusion, but it wasn't bad.  I bore mine last and said goodbye.  Myrna led the Sunday School lesson, the Dansies were there, as usual, as well as Sorella Allen, and two sisters from Utah who were visiting. The lesson went well. The third hour went well, and Myrna's back wasn't too happy sitting that long in the Relief Society room, but she made it.  We said goodbye to a lot of people, including Gianna Lafrancesca, who we home taught and who is going to Idaho for her son's wedding in October.  She was the most emotional, which made Myrna emotional.  After church we came home and packed a little, then went out to Dansies and delivered my keyboard, of which I bought a duplicate yesterday on Amazon and had shipped to Amy's.  We had to download Hauptwerrk, but when I left, it worked with the keyboard.  Harrison interviewed me for his Duty to God Award, and asked what he should do to prepare for a mission. I told him to read Moroni 10:4-5, and gain a testimony and also learn to be more outgoing, become someone who could approach anyone, which I know will be hard for him because he is introverted. We came home and went on a long ride (to Pavia) with President and Sorella Allen, looking for a restaurant they remember, but we couldn't find.  Then we came back home and warmed up the green chili Myrna made yesterday, and had some pecan pie. We packed some and then asked the office anziani to come up and help us finish off the chili and pie, we ended up taking the rest up to the Griffiths.  Then we went over to the Presidents and had gelato and cookies, and they gave us each a leather bag from Florence, which are very nice.  We came back to the office and printed off instructions on how to find our hotel in Rome and bought a hop on hop off bus ticket, and then, at 10:05, went up to bed to get up tomorrow early. Myrna needs to finishing hemming Anziano Wilson's pants, etc., and we need to clean the apartment some more. Then we come down at 8:30 to help clean the office, go to our last office meeting, and then someone will take us to Rogoredo to the train to Rome.

4 August 2017,  Mariella, Borromeo Palace

Yesterday morning Sorella Hoopes went to visit, probably for the last time, a sister in the ward, Mariella, whom she has been visiting teaching now for about a year.

As a parting gift, Mariella gave Myrna a piece of lace hand made by her mother, whose funeral we attended at the local Catholic Church last winter. Mariella has been a member of our Church for about 20 years and is very active, although her husband, a traveling salesman (he sells the toothpaste like tubes Italians put things like tomato paste in) is a non member.  The lace (the wind blew it up, it is oblong,) is beautiful and Myrna said she may frame it.  Mariella said when we return to Italy we could stay with them, they have a big house, which is only a block from the mission office.  Mariella is the sister who also gave Myrna a couple of cooking lessons.

In the afternoon, we took off and went with the Salatinos to Stressa, a small town on Lago Maggiore, which is about an hour and a half north of Opera, where we live.

We went to visit these two islands out on the fresh water lake, whose water comes down from Switzerland, whose mountains can be seen on a not so hazy day.

In the parking lot we parked, actually we went with the Salatini in their white Toyota Yaris, next to this cute little roadster, which has German license plates.

We bought our tickets at this station on the lake.

The Salatini on the boat ride out to the islands.

It was a fairly warm and humid day, but the breeze on the lake was nice.

We rode on this boat's identical twin sister.

This is looking toward the shore, where there are big hotels and beaches, with swimmers, etc.

And this was our first destination, the Borromeo palace.  A couple of weeks ago we went to a medieval castle, also owned by the Borromeo family.  I suppose that when they got tired of living in the castle, about mid 1600s, they had this palace built on a island not too far from the castle.

This is the castle, through the haze.  This is where we saw the doll museum and typical castle rooms in the upper floors a couple of weeks ago

When we went into the palace the first thing we saw was this fairly large oil painting of a saint with a wounded leg.  It had been restored to its former glory.

We saw a very well done video showing the process of restoring an antique masterpiece painting, actually the above painting, which takes many people (each has an expertise, e.g. cleaning, repainting, fixing holes in canvas, etc.) a long time.

Then we went up a long staircase, past large coats of arms of many families, probably all related to the Borromeo family.

Dozens of large coats of arms on the walls.

Then we passed through many (too many to count) rooms full of art and gifts presented to the Borromeo family. One of their family members became a saint, San Carlo Borromeo.

This is a Baroque era tea set.

There were several.

This guy was holding up a mirror, so you could check yourself out before visiting.

There were many small rooms and several very large ones, all full of framed art, probably unchanged from the Baroque time when the family lived there.

These red chairs were probably reproductions, because you could sit on them.

And these were probably originals, because you couldn't sit on them.

And you wouldn't want to.

Through this door you could see into the "master's" bedroom, with his large painting of the birth of Jesus that he could see from his bed.

And through another room was another bedroom with two beds, back to back.

In the next room the master was pointing

to his throne, where he sat when he met his guests.  I don't think he was a king, just very wealthy.

And in this room he fed them, quite royally.

All of the serving vessels were of hand made blue glass with gold trim

On a fireplace grate was the family motto, humilitas (Latin), or humility, which must have been a "vision", because they were anything but humble.

This is the largest room in the palace and may have been used for balls, etc.  It was two stories high. There were more rooms on the second floor and a large rotunda above

The next room, smaller, must have been an intimate music room, which has 3 harpsichords, of different sizes.

You can read about this instrument, which has been restored and is playable.

It is very beautiful piece of art.

This must be the ugly stepsister harpsichord, used for practice by bambini.

And the third harpsichord in the other corner, also there are some stringed instruments on display.

They obviously used candles for light at night.  The crystal chandeliers have all been fitted with electric lights.

And nearly every room in the palace had openable doors, to balconies, and windows, looking out to the lake, and to let in the breeze.

The large library had some displays of armor

The books were all original, and probably aren't dusted on a very regular basis.

A sign about the books.

This is an ivory saddle, pity the poor horse or rider, maybe just something to admire.

There were more, smaller rooms on the other side of the palace.

All with interesting paintings.

And more rooms with paintings

Out the windows you could see the lake, and some potted citrus fruits.

In one room all of the pictures were tapestries.

Another room on the way down to the gardens

The stairs to the grotto rooms, near the gardens on the "ground" floor.

This is an ancient Roman piece of marble.

There was a large room with a display of puppets, the kind with strings.

These were sort of evil looking, in a cute way.

Even Beelzebub himself

They were all pretty interesting, some more normal looking than others.  They must have had pretty interesting plays.

You could look out the windows at the grounds, with workers out keeping them beautiful.

Carefully trimming the edges of the don't walk on grass.

Then there were grotto rooms, full of things that had been given to the Borromeos as gifts, as well as their art collections.

The art was from all over the world, and some prehistoric Italian stuff.

A model boat.

One of the signs in the third grotto room.  I can't remember how many rooms there were.

Another grotto room.

In this one there was Eutruscan (pre-Roman) art, vases, or pots (reminded me of the ones Paul used to dig up)

All in pretty good shape, for as old as they are

Some jewelry from way before the time of Christ.

And horse saddles, probably much newer

A model of a fortress on the hill (not the one we saw) where the saint was born in 1538.

About the Arona fortress.

And on the way out there was another large room with tapestries.

There was a relatively small hallway leading to the Borromeo family private chapel

This passageway wasn't open to us, maybe there is another entrance we didn't see. So at the end of the hallway we could see outside.

And the exit led to the gardens. This is the first courtyard you see, connected to the palace.

Looking back at the palace where we had come from.

There were plants and trees from all over the world, some of them looked pretty old.

Leading to this Baroque outdoor display.

Described here

Myrna contemplating the beautiful gardens we could see below, as well as the lake

With fish ponds

And live, but bashful, peacocks roaming around, trying to keep out of the sun.

Hedge mazes, with little white rocks on the ground

Many kinds of citrus fruits (they must have been collectors) and exotic flowers

To get back up you had to go up a very long stone staircase in a tower.

Then we took a short boat ride to the next island.

Which has beaches and is more of a residential fishing village.

There wen't as many people on the beach as I expected, and the day was warm and pleasant.

And since this island is called Pescatore, there must have been a lot of fishing done here, as evidenced by these old and colorful fish nets, which were everywhere.

In the center of small village is the small church

With an old organ above the front door on the organ loft.

And outside the church, was a dog (I took this pix for Jan) faithfully waiting for its master to come out of the church.

I saw something, perhaps a big bug or a mouse, scamper up a drain pipe, which got the attention of this cat.  I thought of Anziano Hogan, and took a pix of the cat (he loves them) even though he went home to California last week.

When we got back to the mainland, by the parking lot, they were having a large craft fair, which had
lots of interesting stuff.  I bought a spaghetti doser/stirrer. Myrna bought something too, probably for a grand daughter.

Then we drove around the lake to a spot, where you could see the old Borromeo castle and the island, where on the top of the mountain is a very large metal statue of San Carlo Borromeo.  They were just closing it when we got there, but you could climb up inside him and look out his head (which we didn't do), sort of like the Statue of Liberty.

Sharing the parking lot with the statue is a seminary, where they train boys to become priests.  We didn't see anyone there, they could have been on August vacation (Feragosto), if seminaries do that.

Across the road was a church dedicated to San Carlo Borromeo. He was active during the time that Martin Luther was creating havoc within the Catholic Church, for which they had the Council of Trent (Trento), and also became a saint because apparently he healed some people from the plague, which was also rampant at that time.

It was dinnertime, so we went to Fudruckers in nearby Busto. It was just like in the US, except their ice machine was broken and they had no ice, and we were hot and tired.  No ice doesn't bother Italians, they don't use it anyway.  Salatini treated us, which was nice and we enjoyed it.

We even got the hamburger, which is fresh from Piedmont (province of Torino) well done, instead of almost raw, which Italians prefer.

Italians seem to like American food.  McDonalds and Burger Kings are everywhere, and some of the other chains, like Colonel Sanders, Fudruckers, etc. are in Italy too.  It was a very pleasant "last harrah" with the Salatini.

Ciao for now.