DESSERT IN MONZA/MILANO

Right.... I'm in Italy right now, for an international exchange programme with a secondary school in Sarnico. We (a colleague and friend of mine and myself) flew from Eindhoven to Bergamo near Milan today. Picked up a rental car after finding out our reservation had been cancelled, and drove to Milan. Pretty amazing city. We'll take a cultural programme with a few teachers here tomorrow, and hopefully will get to do some serious shopping!

Then it's off to Sarnico tomorrow evening to meet with the school staff on Monday morning.

Tonight we were invited by the President and vice president of the Italian Marching Band Association, Mr Felice Cattaneo and Franca, for a wonderful dinner and most enjoyable evening full of conversations and exchanging ideas at a fine restaurant in Monza.

They gave us a little tour of of downtown Monza and told us some interesting facts about the cathedral en Piazza de Roma, before having a few apetizers and a Presecco at a local bar and a delightful traditional northern Italian meal (Risotto con Ossobucci) followed by one of the best desserts I have ever had: home made chocolate cake with vanilla icecream. The chocolate was almost like a melted brownie in a crispy cup of dough....

Felice Cattaneo runs the Italian Marching Band Association, and didn't hide the fact that he is very much looking forward to having our corps JUBAL at his Open Italian Championships in Busto Arsizio on the first of July. Wonderful people, and extremely enthused and dedicated for the activity.

We exchanged some gifts. The had some pens, a CD holder and a bag for us. I gave them a booklet in italian about our city of Dordrecht, a pen, and the DVD of the Jubal USA Tour 2006.

Enjoy,

HK