Italy (Northern Exposure) - Day 3

Some photos of Day 2 opening ceremony, marching segment.



Besana Marching Band

First Saturday in Italy. First concert. But first, what happened in the day...

We are supposed to attend a ceremony at the town hall; however it is unable to accomodate everyone, so most of us set off on a supermarket trip instead. For a moment, we become la NUS (pronounced "noose") Supermarket Shopping Symphony.



The meat section is always fascinating - at least to a meat-lover like me.


Residences in Besana always have their own gardens or little spots where they grow some shrubs or bushes that turn out magnificant - proof:


What needs stocking up in Italy, or at least this part of Italy, is bottled water. Drinking water, fizzy or normal, comes from bottles - somehow no one believes in boiling tap water. I buy a few huge bottles for myself and Ben to last for the next few days.

Lunch is a outdoor buffet-style affair at the park opposite the town square, otherwise known as Villa Filippini. Pretty good spread of food - proof:


After lunch, we adjourn to a nearby cafe for some coffee - someone's (Italian - Simeone? Reminds me of that tomboy in Bookworm Club...) treat. I abstain from espresso-neat, but almost charge up to the machine to try my hands on it, because its a Rancilio, the same brand that I'm seeing and touching and cleaning day-in, day-out.

Somehow, we break up into small groups and I find myself going around the park...

There's this tree in the park that's supposed to the biggest in the park, and possibly Besana(??).


I'll show you the way in:


This is how it looks like from the inside:


I settle on this spot:


After the park, we drop by the supermarket again. Nothing much; we head further down to the train station to pass our time.




Perhaps, this is Life symbolised...




Walking away, from the troubles in my life...

The train pulls into the station at abit after half past three.......


We head back to the town square to wait for our bus to Medolago. After some anxious moments and false information, la NUS Wind Symphony is now complete, hours before its maiden performance in Italy (discounting the NUS Band which took part in 1997 of course).


The REALLY old ones (minus the OLDEST ONE of course.)

Medolago is about an hour's ride from Besana - the bus never really hit the highway.



We reach our dinner place slightly after 1900hrs local time. Dinner is at this outdoor place; this elderly Italian guy who spoke articulate, if slow, English explain our dinner menu to us.

Dinner stretches us to our limits, both physically and temporally. The programme says we are up for performance at 2100hrs; we formed up just before 2100hrs for the street parade. It is a really funny sight - trying hard to memorise the national anthem and the three songs just before marching off. The parade route is longer than expected; a further surprise awaits us when we finish our parade. We (most of us anyway) end up rushing off looking for the bus, retriving our files and then scampering onstage to start performing.

I guess the performance is a hit with the locals. On the other hand, my mis-count affair with a particular piece begins on this night - I am to play the same part wrongly in all 3 public performances.

Each one of us receives a token gift at the end - ties for the guys, scarves for the gals. The local town band even invites us for a post-concert reception - free-flow of snacks and drinks.

And photos too.


I guess most of us head back to our host families feeling buoyed by the response we have had from the Medolago crowd, and secretly anticipating the same but magnified response from the Besana crowd the next evening. A pity I fail to catch the Lithuanian Army band perform their "thang" at the dopofestival; from the accolades they receive, they seem pretty awesome.

Meanwhile, its back to our haven in Montesiro, to our comforts of our room...

Marching awaits.....

Out.

~Ugly~