Again: Italy is fucking awesome. How I could have forgotten it is so awesome, I have no idea. But I was reminded how awesome it was last weekend when I made a weekend trip out of London to Bormio last weekend. One of Anna's best childhood friends, Francesca (one of many of her friends named Francesca), got married last Saturday in Bormio, and I was (luckily) invited.
After a long day of travel (tube-tube-train-plane-bus-train-train-bus), we finally arrived in Bormio late Friday night to a delicious sandwich and a glass of Mazer and a grappa. Despite traveling all day, we managed to have a nice time and see a few things along the way: we had a delicious panini and a caffe correcto in Bergamo, and had a stroll on the shore of Lake Como during a train switch in the evening.
Anna in Lecco
The next day we were up early and dressed for the wedding, which began at 10 o'clock. Or so we thought - Anna had read the invitation wrong; we were an hour early. No problem, the weather was beautiful, we had a drink from the piazza fountain, and went and had an espresso in a nearby cafe. Some wedding guests rolled in not too long after us and began the celebration early, toasting with prosecco and chatting excitedly.
Bormio
Damn fresh water.
We went back to the church just before eleven and took our places in the back, standing room only. The service lasted just over an hour, and although my feet began to fall asleep, I have to admit that even thought I didn't understand anything of the Mass, it was quite beautiful.
Afterwards, the bride and groom got showered with rice as they exited the church under arches of antique skis (the groom, Pietro, is a ski instructor).
After the wedding, the wedding procession made its way along the meandering road up to Santa Catarina, a few miles away. There, we all took a ski lift up the mountain to a ski lodge, where the reception was going to be held. At the top of the mountain 3000 meters up, the view were breathtaking - literally. I had never been that high before and found it a little bit difficult to breathe at first, and found myself quite tipsy after a glass of champagne, but I got used to it soon enough.
Cute Alpine abode.
Mountaintop reception lodge
Reminiscent of Caspar David Friedrich...?
After savory appetizers and champagne, we all sat down to dinner. I can't really tell you how delicious it was since I'm not good at describing flavors, but I'll tell you what was on the menu. We started with a chestnut pasta with a porcini mushroom sauce, followed by apple sherbert, then a medallion of the best beef I've ever eaten with grilled vegetables, followed by a cheese plate and topped off with a delicious ice cream and fruit dessert. Of course, all of this was washed down with glass after glass of delicious local wine. It was a long dinner, however, as the guests (particularly the men, who were properly tanked by this point having been drinking since before the wedding) began singing songs and toasting to the newlyweds, their family, friends, and....well, everyone within eyesight. They danced on the chairs, made the waitresses drink, and hoisted the mother of the bride to glass after glass of wine. And this was all hours before everyone started dancing on the dance floor. Really, I've never seen anyone party so hard or have such a good time at a wedding before. An Italian wedding makes a Turkish wedding look like a game of foursquare between retards. It was awesome.
My name, in Italian
Anna & Francesca
Sometime before the main course
Another toast to the bride's mother
Yummy dessert
We didn't leave until 11 pm, in the pouring rain, because they hadn't started the lift back up again, and even then, we only left because we had to get up really early the next day to get back to Milan for our flight. Of course, the next day when we got to Tirano, we discovered the regional rail network was on strike, and we had to hire a van to take us to Milan. The upside of this, however, was that we had some extra time to see some of Milan, so we went to the Duomo and the main high street where everyone goes to buy their Gucci and Armani and whatnot. The Duomo was beautiful, but I have to say Milan was very ugly with a lot of dodgy-looking people, and I don't recommend a visit of more than a day, should you have to go.
I'm sorry I only got to get a little more than a day in Italy. When can we go back, amore?
