Monday, May 14, 2018

A Nice, Relaxed Sunday in Cagliari


Sunday, 13 May, 2018

Our simple plan for the day was to wake up at some point from the ramifications of celebrating last night's win over the Crusaders and then explore Cagliari, population about 150,000 souls, a bit more.

The first thing we saw in the
morning on the street just
outside our apartment

The sights got better quickly thank goodness.

Nice enclosed entryway about
20 meters from that chair

 On the wall of a church

Cagliari has a lot of churches in a small area even by normal Italian-Catholic standards.

For example, about a block from our apartment there are three Catholic churches. Two share the same back wall and the third is about 15 meters across the ally from the first two.

The parish wars here must be brutal! 

Chiesa San Michele

We both love the colors
  
Inside Chiesa San Michele

Holy Water Font

Sarcophagus?

A REALLY old role up door

 Shady, colorful streets

 Sardinia's King Carlo Felice

Even in Sardinia,
rust NEVER rests

George and Laurie

Are we in business in Cagliari? Nobody told me.

Unfinished Bishops

A open air semi-church

Too early for lunch for us

 But not too early for Laurie
to go shopping

Great old buildings in the historic core

In the upper left is the declaration
that this vending machine
only store is open
24 h
7/7
365/365 . . .

. . . selling beer among other things
this would never fly in the USA

Nice view back out to the street
from the Speedy Matic

Loving the little streets
to the max

 The ruins of the
Chiesa di Santa Lucia di Marina

Laurie in the arcade near
Cagliari's harbor

 We stopped for some wine and
eventually a café

I liked the shade . . .

. . . while Laurie opted for a seat in the Sun

Near the trash cans.

Our harbor view from
another sunny spot

Cagliari's Palazzo Civico
or City Hall

Peacocks are Cagliari's symbol

Nineteenth century war monument

 Bastione di Saint Remy

 A nice, small piazza near . . .

. . . the Cattedrale di Santa Maria

Inside the Cattedrale

 What is this lion eating?

 Santa Maria is big in these parts

 A GREAT Holy Water font

Not one but TWO skulls

What is this lion doing?

Cattedrales are supposed to
be ornate

I just liked it on a
random piazza . . .

 . . . below the Cattedrale

A view of the Stampace district
where we are staying

Note all of the church domes and/or towers in a small space.

 Not sure what it says but this
ancient sign is on our apartment's
outer wall

In the evening we went out for a
nice, relaxed meal at the
Terra e Mari Ristorante

We each ordered a traditional Sardinian main dish and were not disappointed.

Meanwhile, our cracker-jack team photographers started posting photos from the Skorpions trip to Cagliari.

Apparently our boys did not stop enjoying the warm Sardinian night after we left them at 2:00 a.m.

With a scheduled Sunday, 8:00 a.m. return flight on EasyJet did anybody really think that they wouldn't pull an all-nighter?

WR Martino Piazzi and
RB Ema Della Bosca are buddies

So are WR Giacomo "Jack" Micheli
and Gianluca "Golden Arm" Arena

Fun at the airport at the expense
of WR Matteo Mozzanica

Our Pullman ride from the the
airport on Saturday

 #30 Giulio Bonfanti and
#9 Stefano Granelli in hot pursuit

 One Crusader Lineman had GREAT
get-off on this play

#68 Offensive Guard
Cesare Molteno

Laurie on the sidelines

Player/Coach Cristian "Bumba" Bianchi

 With the Heart and Soul of the Skorpions
GM Giorgio Nardi

Former RB Bumba getting OL
pointers from Simone "Ciccio" Magnarelli

#87 Andrea Gorini, #9 Stefano Granelli
and #58 MLB Ivan "Swito" Raso

 QB Omar Passera

Omar is just a WINNER pure and simple.

Stefano Granelli after scoring
the first TD of the game on a pass
from Omar Passera
  
 DEFENSE!
#32 Tony Mitrano, #9 Stefano Granelli
and #21 Nicolas Principi

#87 Andrea Gorini and
#21 Nicolas Principi forcing an
apparent fumble

Too bad for us as Stefano Granelli was about to scoop and score points, just maybe not for us.

Think Roy Riegels and/or Jim Marshall. 

FS Simone Tettamanti DID scoop
and score a TD for the Varese 11

Granelli on the loose again
with #57 Stefano "Lusu" Lusuriello
coming to his aid

OL Coach Leo Pozatto, DC Dani Donati
and that other coach

 Post game thoughts

If Switio is smiling then
good things happened

I can't help the look, we live
near fashion conscious Milano

 Having Andrea Gorini on your side
is ALWAYS a good thing

Andrea gives his all every time he steps onto the field.

What more can a coach ask of his players?

 Bumba . . . WHAT A GREAT STORY!

Crusaders Head Coach Jarvis McGarrah
and his highly respected QB Andrea Meloni

All of the Skorpions have nothing but good things to say about this veteran QB whose career will end in two weeks after the Crusaders play the Varese Gorillas in the season ender for both squads.

Personally, I have grown to admire mental and physical toughness as he just competes down after down, game after game with no complaints. He is indeed a great leader and role model for all Italian QBs.

Poppo and Gigi
after the game taking in
what a BEAUTIFUL night it
truly was for American football!

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