Benvenuti Lidia e Greg!

Rachel and I drove to Milano today to pickup Lidia and Greg who arrived this afternoon.  Yay!  It's been 23 years since Lidia's been here (only 2 for Greg) and all the cousins here in Berzo are quite anxious to see her. But, that will have to wait until tomorrow since they were both very tired from the long flight.  Greg's was a marathon day, as he flew from San Francisco to LA, then LA to Roma, and then Roma to Milano - some 30 hours total transit time.  Their flight from Los Angeles went well, and, unlike our Air France nightnare, they both complimented the food and the service on Alitalia.  Lidia made fast friends with the young man sitting next to her who was from Australia but who spoke perfect Italian.  Neither Lidia nor Greg made it very long once we got to Berzo, so they are happily asleep as I type this.

We've finally made some very good progress on the house, at least on the top floor.  It's been scrubbed from top to bottom, but we're still needing some other things to fall in place, namely new mattresses (just a minor technicality) and a thorough cleaning of the marble flooring.  Meanwhile, life at Casa Riboli is wonderful as always and now Rachel and I have some company other than my cousin Bruna's least favorite neighbors - the cats!

Tomorrow morning Lidia will see her house for the first time and after that, we're planning on stopping at the pizzeria/bar here in Berzo for a yummy espresso.  The bar has been closed for the past two weeks, so it'll be fun to finally have coffee with our cousins who frequent there for their morning "cup of joe" and to get caught up on all the local news.  The next few days will be spent visiting family, a trip to Iper Supermercato so Greg can load up on cheese and salume, and possibly a trip to the Lovere mercato on Saturday morning depending on how the time change is going for Lidia and Greg.  We have tentative plans to visit either Pavia or Cremona next week and maybe Lago di Garda or Lago di Como.  Stay tuned.

How about those Azzurri!! For those of you who watched the Italia vs. Ireland game, or maybe just the highlights (or maybe you didn't watch at all), the player who made the last goal - Mario Balotelli - is from the province of Bergamo, which is our province here in Berzo.  How cool is that! After Italia's win, you could hear people cheering outside all around Berzo. Now, we're all very excited and hopeful about the Italia vs. England quarterfinal game on Sunday.  So, wear your soccer blue for the Azzurri and think red, white, and green.  Forza Italia!

I've been trying for two days to upload pictures of the house without luck. The internet connection here is soooooooooo slow. It's takes at least 1/2 hour just to get online (and I'm not exaggerating).  I'll keep trying though, but there may not be any photos until we head to Barcelona the first week of July and have good internet access.

Happy summer solstice everyone!