This should have been done ages ago so here goes.Haha.
Also, I think I should give some credit to Erina because I'm sort of following the events she penned down and eventually blogged about - names of places, things that happened and such. The first part of her book-worthy Epic can be found here. I think that kind of got me started on mine. Heh.
Because my dad was working , he couldn't send me to the airport .My mum asked me to take a taxi but help came in the form of Erina's dad who coincidentally enough , drove a taxi. So theoretically speaking, I really did take a taxi to the airport.
Erina called and halfway down in the elevator, I realised that I left my jacket at home.It was a good thing I remembered as Erina saw mine and realised she forgot hers too. So we went back to her place to get it. Both our jackets in stow, we made for the airport.
After having dinner at Popeye's, we proceeded to move the instruments. I think I took too long to eat because by the time I got there, erm, most instruments were already unloaded. Any how, having submitted our passports for processing, we took the time to train our snapping skills.
Tuba togetherness
Derek decided to be nice and came down to see us off.
I got a window seat - the only one in the whole trip - but by the time the plane set off for our transit stop at BBK, it was already night so most of the time I saw this.
Dark departure
Not the prettiest of sights compared to the what we saw after our transit, when we about to land in Milan hours later ,namely:
Mighty mountains
Ridge after ridge of snow-capped mountains filled our windows ! This caused quite a bit of commotion as cameras were whipped out, Poema Alpestre whistled and tables safely stowed away in between "oh"s and "ah"s . This was taken by Erina by the way.
After warnings to not take pictures in the airport which I promptly forgot seconds later, we touched down in Milan. Malpensa airport was a rather small airport compared to Changi and having ensured everyone got out safely along with our instruments(which I think took longer), we promptly boarded the coach headed for Besana. One of our guides, Elena who met us with her husband, gave a short overview of our itinerary.
Catching a nap on the coach
The sad thing is most of us were knocked out by the time she picked up the microphone.
Eventually we reached the main square of Besana where we were ushered into a tent and given some snacks. Thereafter pairs of our names were called and together, Cedric and I met our hosts for our first time. It was also the first time I was addressed with the first Italian word in Italy by an Italian.
"Ciao!" Christina , one of our hosts greeted.
Ciao is Hello and Goodbye in Italian. At that time, I thought the long journey there made me smell bad.
We got into her car and five minutes later we were touring around the house which seems more like a bungalow by Singaporean standards. Given that the entire basement had it's own kitchen,dinning area and toilet, I thought the place was fit for a king. Just to give a sense of the proportions of the place we were living in, our bedroom is the size of my living room.
Happily we washed up and slept away our lunch. By the time we got up, it was about 3 but knowing that it is morning back in Singapore, Christina served us breakfast which consisted of eggs, bacon and ham. We also got acquainted with fresh apricots. Yes, that big fat red apple look-alike is an apricot.
Apricot or not?
By dinner time Luciano, her husband came back from work and he showed us around his vegetable patch which had among other things, Zucchini(Italian cucumber), Eggplant and mushrooms. He also tried to hint us about his name by telling us about Pavarotti but it didn't work out too well.
After dinner ,Luciano shared with us his great love for fishing. He makes his very own baits!
Bella blossoms
Our home , we found out the next day is located in Bella vista. Bella - meaning beautiful and Vista - meaning view. A five minute walk from the square, it was really quite a peaceful and quiet place to live in. Many a time, I would marvel at how fresh the air is during our short walk to the main square after breakfast.
That morning, that short walk saw us trotting towards our first rehearsal which wasn't too bad if not for the fact that another band came in and distracted us.
Rehearsal done, we traipsed to a nearby school for lunch which surprisingly was really quite good.Following our itinerary, we found ourselves at Lake Lecco that afternoon.
Lake Lecco
I think that photo just about sums up Lecco. Beautiful, serene and -ahem- my maiden venture into gelato. We poked around a little in the place and went back to Besena for the opening concert by Besena band.
Cedric pang-sehed for a while to play cards with his trombone section at our place. The band was not bad though.
As the venue for the festival ceremony in the morning could not accommodate the entire band ,some of us visited the park near the square after some shopping at the supermarket. The primary goal of visiting the park was to see this humongous tree which is a couple of a hundred years old. I think you could fit 2 NUSWSs within it's vast canopy.
Clarinets
We had a picnic-styled buffet lunch at Villa Filippini which was an expanse of grassland near the square. In between joking about Chao Fan-o(Risotto) and rolling about in the grass, we saw Khee Nguen gaying about with Yong kiat( ah..Our eyes!) Luckily their little escapade was short-lived as some of us had to go for our band of festival rehearsal.
Grabbing our instruments, we trudged towards the rehearsal room. I was grudgingly thinking about how the others were enjoying their free time when I saw this:
So sousaphones...photo?
Sousaphones! Sitting right beside who else but me! Mentally I tried to make a list of things to do before leaving Besana -
1. Take a picture with the Sousaphone.
2. Play it.
I eventually did at one of the rehearsals but that picture is currently with someone else.Haha.
We also first met the band's conductor Amando Saldarini who wore a tight fit pink shirt that day. I was a little traumatised by it but the rehearsal went on fine. The band was much too loud but in the spirit of things I contributed a little of the tuba blasting.
There never really was a dull moment in Italy because of the tight schedule. Once we were done with the rehearsal, we walked all the way back to the square to rendezvous with the rest of the band for our performance in Medolago -AKA performance uno.
Truth be told, the performance felt a little rushed. That and the fact that I didn't memorise Majulah Singapura that well caused me to sweat a little. In my defense it was in a weird key ok. Haha. Some king soul recorded our performanceWe marched down the streets of Medalago and reached their square where we gave our virgin performance in Italy.
Also, I think I should give some credit to Erina because I'm sort of following the events she penned down and eventually blogged about - names of places, things that happened and such. The first part of her book-worthy Epic can be found here. I think that kind of got me started on mine. Heh.
*****
27th June
"Dark" Departure
Because my dad was working , he couldn't send me to the airport .My mum asked me to take a taxi but help came in the form of Erina's dad who coincidentally enough , drove a taxi. So theoretically speaking, I really did take a taxi to the airport.
Erina called and halfway down in the elevator, I realised that I left my jacket at home.It was a good thing I remembered as Erina saw mine and realised she forgot hers too. So we went back to her place to get it. Both our jackets in stow, we made for the airport.
After having dinner at Popeye's, we proceeded to move the instruments. I think I took too long to eat because by the time I got there, erm, most instruments were already unloaded. Any how, having submitted our passports for processing, we took the time to train our snapping skills.
Tuba togetherness
Derek decided to be nice and came down to see us off.
I got a window seat - the only one in the whole trip - but by the time the plane set off for our transit stop at BBK, it was already night so most of the time I saw this.
Dark departure
Not the prettiest of sights compared to the what we saw after our transit, when we about to land in Milan hours later ,namely:
Mighty mountains
Ridge after ridge of snow-capped mountains filled our windows ! This caused quite a bit of commotion as cameras were whipped out, Poema Alpestre whistled and tables safely stowed away in between "oh"s and "ah"s . This was taken by Erina by the way.
28th June
Fit for a King
Fit for a King
After warnings to not take pictures in the airport which I promptly forgot seconds later, we touched down in Milan. Malpensa airport was a rather small airport compared to Changi and having ensured everyone got out safely along with our instruments(which I think took longer), we promptly boarded the coach headed for Besana. One of our guides, Elena who met us with her husband, gave a short overview of our itinerary.
Catching a nap on the coach
The sad thing is most of us were knocked out by the time she picked up the microphone.
Eventually we reached the main square of Besana where we were ushered into a tent and given some snacks. Thereafter pairs of our names were called and together, Cedric and I met our hosts for our first time. It was also the first time I was addressed with the first Italian word in Italy by an Italian.
"Ciao!" Christina , one of our hosts greeted.
Ciao is Hello and Goodbye in Italian. At that time, I thought the long journey there made me smell bad.
We got into her car and five minutes later we were touring around the house which seems more like a bungalow by Singaporean standards. Given that the entire basement had it's own kitchen,dinning area and toilet, I thought the place was fit for a king. Just to give a sense of the proportions of the place we were living in, our bedroom is the size of my living room.
Happily we washed up and slept away our lunch. By the time we got up, it was about 3 but knowing that it is morning back in Singapore, Christina served us breakfast which consisted of eggs, bacon and ham. We also got acquainted with fresh apricots. Yes, that big fat red apple look-alike is an apricot.
Apricot or not?
By dinner time Luciano, her husband came back from work and he showed us around his vegetable patch which had among other things, Zucchini(Italian cucumber), Eggplant and mushrooms. He also tried to hint us about his name by telling us about Pavarotti but it didn't work out too well.
After dinner ,Luciano shared with us his great love for fishing. He makes his very own baits!
29th June
Bella Vistas
Bella Vistas
Bella blossoms
Our home , we found out the next day is located in Bella vista. Bella - meaning beautiful and Vista - meaning view. A five minute walk from the square, it was really quite a peaceful and quiet place to live in. Many a time, I would marvel at how fresh the air is during our short walk to the main square after breakfast.
That morning, that short walk saw us trotting towards our first rehearsal which wasn't too bad if not for the fact that another band came in and distracted us.
Rehearsal done, we traipsed to a nearby school for lunch which surprisingly was really quite good.Following our itinerary, we found ourselves at Lake Lecco that afternoon.
Lake Lecco
I think that photo just about sums up Lecco. Beautiful, serene and -ahem- my maiden venture into gelato. We poked around a little in the place and went back to Besena for the opening concert by Besena band.
Cedric pang-sehed for a while to play cards with his trombone section at our place. The band was not bad though.
30th June
Never a dull moment
Never a dull moment
As the venue for the festival ceremony in the morning could not accommodate the entire band ,some of us visited the park near the square after some shopping at the supermarket. The primary goal of visiting the park was to see this humongous tree which is a couple of a hundred years old. I think you could fit 2 NUSWSs within it's vast canopy.
Clarinets
We had a picnic-styled buffet lunch at Villa Filippini which was an expanse of grassland near the square. In between joking about Chao Fan-o(Risotto) and rolling about in the grass, we saw Khee Nguen gaying about with Yong kiat( ah..Our eyes!) Luckily their little escapade was short-lived as some of us had to go for our band of festival rehearsal.
Grabbing our instruments, we trudged towards the rehearsal room. I was grudgingly thinking about how the others were enjoying their free time when I saw this:
So sousaphones...photo?
Sousaphones! Sitting right beside who else but me! Mentally I tried to make a list of things to do before leaving Besana -
1. Take a picture with the Sousaphone.
2. Play it.
I eventually did at one of the rehearsals but that picture is currently with someone else.Haha.
We also first met the band's conductor Amando Saldarini who wore a tight fit pink shirt that day. I was a little traumatised by it but the rehearsal went on fine. The band was much too loud but in the spirit of things I contributed a little of the tuba blasting.
There never really was a dull moment in Italy because of the tight schedule. Once we were done with the rehearsal, we walked all the way back to the square to rendezvous with the rest of the band for our performance in Medolago -AKA performance uno.
Truth be told, the performance felt a little rushed. That and the fact that I didn't memorise Majulah Singapura that well caused me to sweat a little. In my defense it was in a weird key ok. Haha. Some king soul recorded our performanceWe marched down the streets of Medalago and reached their square where we gave our virgin performance in Italy.
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