Home time.

Day 67.

Up at 7:00 this morning to get ready. After breakfast at 8:30 we finished getting our stuff together, paid and walked to the station. The bus to the airport left at 9:55 and was full of people obviously getting the same flight as us. Checking in was easy and my suitcase weighed in at 19.8kg, with an allowance of 20kg! My accordion passed security without a problem, thankfully. We moved through to the departure lounge before everyone was told to leave because passport checks hadn't been done at the entrance to the departure. So, we all had to form a huge queue, which spread half way around the airport, and have our passports checked. 
Then came boarding. We went through the gate but were all held in a corridor for half an hour before another corridor for ten minutes. Finally we boarded the plane and took off half an hour late. At 13:30 (BST) we landed.

So, there ends my Italian gap year adventure. It's an experience I'll never forget. I've learned so much about accordions and Italian life, and my Italian has come on leaps and bounds. I met lots of great people and made new friends and contacts. I'm very sad it's over and I'll miss it greatly but hopefully I'll return and see everyone again in the not too distant future.
Thanks for reading!

Grazie, salve x

One last day.

Day 66.

We had to get up very early this morning (6:30) to get ready and catch the train to Genova. When we were ready to go we said our emotional goodbyes to the Beltrami family. Ivana cried and said she'd confront her fear of flying to come to England and visit, which was very touching. 
Claudio drove us to the station and we were in plenty of time to catch our train at 8:40. It was then announced the train was delayed by an hour! This was later reduced to half an hour, but when the train did arrive it sat at Stradella for fifteen minutes and everybody got off while it waited. Once we were on the move the train seemed very slow and, taking everything into account, we arrived in Genova Brignole about an hour late. We also had trouble with our printed ticket because Claudio had printed the receipt and not the tickets, but the guard let us go.
We walked straight to our hotel, which took two minutes, where we left our bags in storage. We then had the rest of the day to explore Genova. First we walked up the main high street to the orange fountain - the water is orange, presumably caused by a mineral or a metal. We sat there and took photos in the sun before entering Palazzo Ducale where we found a car boot-style sale with lots of stalls selling old items, dating back a long time (jewellery, furniture, snuff boxes, pen knives etc). It continued outside where we found a stall selling pin badges. We bought an Italian flag pin and two accordion pins. The stall holder gave us a free one of Genoa FC after I engaged him in Italian conversation about football. 
After buying a map we walked down a busy street, passing the Duomo (cathedral) and found a little cafe, where we ate sandwiches and shared a salad. Stephanie wanted to buy a Genova souvenir, so we went to a visitors centre and bought a magnet. We managed to then find our way to the harbour, which was teaming with people, and we sat in the sweltering sun looking at boats and the sea. Genova is a big port and there were lots of huge ferries and ships. We walked past the aquarium after baulking at the prices and came across... a pirate ship!! It cost 5€ each to go on board, so we thought "Why not?!" It was teaming with children and their parents. Everything on board felt fake and cheap - the cannons were plastic, but we later discovered why. It wasn't an actual old ship. It was built in 1985 and used as the set for Robert Polanski's film "Pirates". It cost $8.2m to build and was capable of sailing at speeds up to 5 knots.
Next we confused ourselves. We'd found where we wanted to go next on the map but I completely underestimated the scale of the map so we ended up taking an utterly pointless one-stop Metro journey. Oh well, it was fun! We eventually walked to our destination - via Garibaldi; a street famous for its beautiful 16th century architecture. There were speakers all along it playing classical music. From there we walked back to the orange fountain and took the Metro one stop back to Brignole. We went back to the hotel to check into our room and collect our bags. At 18:30 we walked up the brick steps, as on Wednesday, and took pictures of Genova in the evening sun.
After descending the steps we walked through nearby streets in search of somewhere to eat. We came across a delightful little restaurant, furnished in brick and wood. We both had pasta dishes.
Finally, we went in search of an open gelateria - easier said than done at 21:00 on a Sunday night! We eventually found one and ate the last ice cream of our trip while walking back to the hotel. We did our final bits of packing and went to bed.

Ciao x

Last Tango in Stradella

Day 65.

We got up at 9:30 this morning and at 10:30 we made our way to the workshop for the last time. I had to print off my boarding pass and pick up some things. Claudio had repaired an accordion part of mine to take back to England and he also gave me some materials to be able to do accordion maintenance in England. I forgot to take my passport for the online check-in so Stephanie went home to get it.
When we left the shop we took photos outside the shop with Claudio and Stefano. We then walked into Stradella for lunch at Alternative Cafe again. We shared a large ham and tuna panino and a toastie. After that we walked to the station to buy our tickets for tomorrow morning, but found the ticket office shut. Bother. We then walked to the gelateria for the last time and they said they were sorry to see me go! We shook hands before Stephanie and I went to eat our ice cream by the bell tower. Then we bought crisps for tomorrow before sitting in the little communal gardens for a chat.
Eventually we got home and set about starting the packing process and sorting the flat out. Very stressful! I packed pretty quickly though, I must say. Later in the afternoon we went with Erica and Ivana to a supermarket before going back to the station as Erica was convinced there was a self-service ticket machine. We'd checked earlier and there wasn't one. Erica checked herself, and there still wasn't one! We went home again and Erica told Claudio about the ticket dilemma, so he set about trying to order them online. He had all sorts of problems with the website, and was at it for about an hour, but eventually they were booked. Stephanie and I then carried on packing/sorting as well as writing a card for the Beltramis.
At 8pm we went next door for our final night in Stradella. Ivana had made lots of pizzas and Erica had made cheesecake with sprinkles on it! Stephanie and I were joined by: the four Beltramis, Daniele, Valerio, Stefano, Kleidi and Kleidi's parents. At the end of the pizza course I was presented with a scroll of mock certificate for working at Beltrami Accordions! We then presented them with a card, a Taplow Youth Choir CD, shortbread, Percy Pigs and a wooden train spelling out BELTRAMI, which we bought in the market in Milan. After dessert Kleidi helped us plan what to do in Genova tomorrow. Matteo rang to say goodbye, as did Ivana's parents. I'm going to miss them all so much! I left a bag of Percy Pigs for Mattero.
We left at 00:30 after saying goodbye to everyone except the Beltramis. We finished some last bits of packing and went to bed.

Buona notte x

A day trip to Milan.

Day 64.

We got up at 7:00 this morning as we had an early train to catch at 8:20 Aris, a friend of ours who was at the meal last night, picked us up as he was going to Milan too, so got the same train of us. We were all in a bit of a panic because a transport strike was reported this morning, so we weren't sure what to expect in Milan. Our train left at 8:55 and was so direct so we got to Milan Rogoredo just before 10. We discovered the Metro wasn't affected by the strike until the evening, so we got on and travelled a few stops to Porta Romana where there was a little market. We also went for a drink in a cafe.
After that we all got the Metro to Duomo and walked through Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II to Aris' university - Brera School of Fine Art. He showed us round everywhere - Sculpture, Printing, Library, Theatre Set Design, Costume Design, Fashion, Botanical Gardens and Observatory. The build was fantastic; it used to be a monastery was all stone, so it was like walking through the corridors of Hogwarts!
When we'd finished at the university we walked to the park surrounding the castle and ate our lunch. Aris then went back to the university, while Stephanie & I stayed in the park for a bit longer as it was beautiful and the weather was glorious. The forecast said thunderstorms, but the sun was beating down and there wasn't a cloud in sight! Stephanie then bought a Milan magnet for her family's collection. We walked through the castle and dipped our fingers in the fountain on the other side.
Next came the fun bit - trying to find our way back to the Duomo (cathedral). We managed to find our way back to the university, by accident, and from there it was an easy walk back. We looked around Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II more - it's a very old shopping centre with a stunning domed roof. After that we walked to the Duomo and went inside, paying 2€ for a photo pass. It's a very impressive building, although not as ornate inside as I was expecting. We lit a candle together for our late grandfathers.
Next we made our way back down to Duomo Metro station and headed to Milano Centrale station, which is huge! We found a train stopping at Milano Rogoredo and got on it, but had a half hour wait for our next train at Rogoredo. Stephanie got a fright at Rogoredo - Aris jumped on her! We hadn't agreed to meet up again but he happened to be at Rogoredo at the same time as us. We all got the train to Stradella and along the way Aris drew a quick, but brilliant, sketch of Stephanie and I. 
We arrived at Stradella at 19:05, where we said goodbye to Aris and headed to a restaurant. However, it was fully booked so we went to the supermarket to pick up a few things to make tomato pasta. We also bought a a tub of ice cream from a gelateria to take back for pudding. We made our dinner and ate ice crew before starting to watch a film. However, after such a long day, with so much walking, we only managed to watch half before going to bed.

Arrivederci x

Siamo pieni!

Day 63.

This morning we leisurely got up and left the house at 10:30. We walked to the workshop where we chatted to the others for a bit. I picked up the famous little accordion to show Stephanie and discovered that three reeds in the bass had been waxed in the wrong place. I saw this as the perfect excuse to introduce to the work I've been doing. We took the reed block out and I showed her how to remove, clean and re-wax a reed. She seemed to quite enjoy it, and she did a good job, too!
At 12:15 we headed into Stradella for lunch. We went to Alternative Cafe and we both had tuna salads and mini toasted sandwiches, which didn't last long! After that we went for a walk around Stradella, which included discovered a great pained wall mural for the Oratorio and walking up the old town. We also went to the station to buy tickets for our trip to Milan tomorrow. The lady said I spoke Italian well! We finished stroll with a bit of ice cream and a mini supermarket trip. We walked home in the glorious sunshine and relaxed. I asked Erica for the key to our balcony so we could sit outside in the sun, reading, before we started double checking plans for Milan.
At 19:15 we went with Erica to Stradella, via Kleidi's house, and went for drinks and aperitivi with lots of friends. At 20:30 we went to Liros Pizzeria where we met Simone and some other friends. The meal was organised so most of the friends I've made could say goodbye to me. Stephanie got to meet them all too, which as lovely. I said I was paying for Simone, Erica and Kleidi as well because they've paid for me a lot while I've been here. Eventually the let me!
We got home at 23:00 and made sandwiches for tomorrow.
Off to bed now for an early start tomorrow.

Salve x

Reunited at last!!

Day 62.

I woke at 7am this morning; early but in plenty of time to catch the train to Genova. Erica dropped me off at the station at 8:20am, and I caught the 8:40am from Stradella to Genova Brignole, which stopped at several stations along the way. I sat on a flip seat in the vestibule area and read a book for the one hour and thirty five minute journey. When I arrived at Genova Brignole station I had two hours to kill before my bus to the airport, so I took a leisurely stroll in the nearby area and up a busy high street. I killed some time in a café before heading back to the station down the other side of the high street. 

My bus for the airport left at 12:26pm, one minute late, and I bought my ticket from the very grumpy driver! I was the only one on the bus until two others joined at another stop. I arrived 20 minutes before Stephanie landed but I just hung around in Arrivals. Finally the passengers from her flight started trickling in. Stephanie eventually came through and I managed to take a photo and put the camera in my pocket before she ran at me, threw her bags down and flung herself at me! She had a beaming smile on her face as she gripped tight to our bear hug. She was definitely pleased to see me, as I was her!! 

We boarded the bus back to the station and had an hour to kill before our train, so we ate our sandwiches before climbing up some brick steps, giving us a great view of one part of Genova. We took several pictures before descending the steps to return to the station and catch our train, the first of three! The first train took us to Genova Piazza Principe where we had five minutes to catch the next train, to Voghera. At Voghera we had a forty minute wait, so we found a café outside the station and sat outside until our train came, the one to take us to Stradella. 

We eventually got to Stradella, where Erica picked us up, albeit fifteen minutes late! We made our way into Stradella for ice cream and Erica had to pop into a shop. We stopped off at the workshop afterwards, where Stephanie met Claudio and Kleidi. After a brief introduction to Ivana back at the flat, Stephanie unpacked while I cooked our dinner of pasta with tuna sauce, which we ate fairly quickly! Then we popped next door to meet Simone before heading back for an early night after our early starts!

Ci vediamo domani x

Last day in the workshop...

Day 61.

Today was my last proper day in the workshop. The first thing I did was regulate a reed valve on an accordion where a note wasn't working properly. After that I took the left hand side off my accordion and prepared it for polishing, which Stefano will do in the next few days. My next move was to check the dodgy note from earlier and I discovered it wasn't alone! I replaced or adjusted most the reeds in the right hand of the accordion and that seemed to do the trick!
Remember the little accordion I've been working on a lot? Well, I was back to that next. Some of the metal trim on the right hand grill had come off so I glued it back on.
We went for lunch at 1, before I went to town for ice cram and pop into the supermarket.
I went back to work at 15:20, where Claudio asked me to count out 190 tiny blue gems (for accordion decoration) to be sent to his representative in Norway. After that I replaced the grill cloth on the small accordion, before putting it all back together. It's finished and I've done it all! Claudio just needs to tune it a little.
The rest of the afternoon was spent working on the only remaining Dallapè Liturgical accordion in the world. I had to take before & after photos of every move I made as its restoration is being controlled by a civic authority. We took the grill off, and another grill that was behind, and started unhooking all the register switches - a fiendishly tricky job on such a monstrous accordion. Sadly, I'm not blessed with patience, because it was definitely needed. Using a little metal hook I had to unhook tiny hooks from rods.
We went home at 19:30, via the petrol station, and I had my dinner. After that I spoke to Stephanie on Skype, before making sandwiches for tomorrow's lunch.
Off to bed now because I have to be up early to travel to Genova to meet Stephanie off the plane... 62 days later!

Ciao x

Lots of work today. Good stuff.

Day 60.

My first job today was to neatly pack away all the components to make the bass mechanism of a diatonic accordion. Then I had to put the repaired bellows back on an accordion, before regulating the keyboard height. A guy called Mauro Carra then arrived. He's an accordionist who I've met once before as he's a good friend of my teacher, Romano Viazzani. He's a long time client of Claudio's and has a virtually new classical button accordion that he's looking to sell, and I'm looking to buy one. He left it with us and I tried it once he'd gone. It's all black and looks great, and it has a great sound. It has some bad points, too, so I'm not sure I'll buy this one. I spent the rest of the morning applying the final set of reed valves to the small accordion after Ivana had waxed the reeds onto the reed blocks.
After lunch I walked into Stradella for ice cream, but found my favourite gelateria closed for the first time! Not to worry though, there were another two to choose from!
I got back to work at 15:15 and set about putting the springs on these morning's reed valves. After that I sorted out a few reeds in another accordion that weren't sounding properly. Then I put the reed blocks back in the small accordion and tested it, only to find that four of the reeds were waxed in the wrong place. I took them out, cleaned them and asked Ivana to wax them back in the correct place. In return I put springs onto some valves on two other reed blocks she's just waxed. When my reeds were ready and correct I put them back in the accordion and sorted some notes that weren't sounding properly. Kleidi's parents came to the shop for a chat towards the end of the afternoon before Kleidi and Erica arrived, too. I had a queue of jobs to do today and once I finished one I went straight on to the other. As a result I was busy all day, which was great!
When we got home I made a large saucepan full of tuna & tomato sauce and had some for my tea, before putting the rest in the fridge to eat with Stephanie when she arrives on Wednesday!

Time for bed now.

Buona notte x

Christmas, carbonara and chilli.

Day 59.

I woke up at 10 this morning and leisurely got ready and played some accordion. At 11:45 I went with Simone to Ivana's parents' house for lunch via the car wash! At their house in the hills we ate well, again! The first douse was bean & pea stew with cooked salami and pasta al forno. The second course was various meats with chips and salad. The meal finished with strawberries, cake and chocolate. Because it was my last Sunday in Stradella I agreed to play the accordion for the grandparents so they could hear me play before I go back. I played for about fifteen minutes or so, before we FINALLY persuaded Erica to play for the first time on five years! She had no music and couldn't remember much but we're hoping she'll agree to play with music again on Saturday! Once the musical interlude was over Erica and I went down to the garage to play with Matteo, who's trying to learn how to ride a bike. I tried to help him by holding the bike upright but he wasn't keen on that. We all played a bit of football before endless games of Indovina chi? (Guess Who?) in a mixture of English and Italian.
At 16:30 Claudio, Erica and I went home, where Erica slept and relaxed (she's lost her voice, which we're all celebrating!). Kevin and Liam soon turned up and us four guys sat around chatting before heading to Stefano's house to see the work he's been doing on the diatonic accordion project. Being a trained lute-maker, he's a specialist in woodwork and has been building a prototype body for the diatonic accordion out walnut wood. Kevin and Liam were very excited; they were like two little boys at Christmas!
Stefano then came with us to Piacenza where we met Simone and went to a beer house with thirty beers on tap. We sat outside in the warm evening sun and ordered some food. I had spaghetti carbonara, which, quite frankly, was disgusting! Not a patch on Dad's! Claudio also tipped beer all over the table! He then appeared with a basket of nachos and a pot of chilli sauce from inside the bar. The chilli brought the others to tears it was so hot! Liam and I sensibly decided against trying it! We then drove home, said goodbye to Kevin & Liam (they leave early in the morning) and I was in bed by 23:45.

Buondì x

The English arrive, again!

Day 58.

When I got to work I discovered that Claudio had already put the last key on the small accordion. My first job became correcting my mistake from yesterday on the diatonic accordion. I removed the four incorrectly placed reeds by heating them up with a soldering iron, before I cleaned the area on the reed block where they were to be replaced. I then waxed them in place and tested the accordion... I got it right this time! After that I regulated the height of the valve springs I applied yesterday. Next I applied a line of wax around the inside join of wood on the small accordion to stop air escaping. Claudio then polished the right hand part of the accordion a bit, before I put the grill and belt loops back on.
We went home for lunch at 12:30 and at 2:45 I walked into Stradella for ice cream. Kevin and Liam, the two English diatonic accordion players who were here a few weeks ago, arrived again today and I bumped into them on my walk home. We met up again almost immediately at the shop and I went with them and Claudio to the agriturismo in the hills where my parents stayed, too. They were blown away by the building and its position. We all went back to the shop to discuss more plans for their diatonic accordion project.
At 6ish they went back to the agriturismo and Claudio & I went home. Claudio had to rush off suddenly so I had to tell Kevin and Liam to go ahead with their plans for tonight without Claudio. That was after I'd had a call from Kevin to say they were lost on their way back to the agriturismo!
At 7 I went with Erica, Kleidi, Debora and Michele to Codogno where we met Simone and some others at Terminal 1, the restaurant/brewery we've been to before. We watched the Champions League final and I ate a BBQ pulled pork hot sandwich. We got home after midnight!

Salve x

The project still continues...

Day 57.

No waking up early today, thankfully.
My first job at work was to clean/polish the black keys of the accordion I've been working on. Thankfully I managed not to break any today! After that I applied valves to all the reeds of the accordion. There were a lot of them so it so it took me a while! There were five different sizes of valves, which had to be applied to the correct reeds. 
Soon it was time to go for our break and I went next door for lunch because Matteo was over in his school lunch break. We had pesto pasta followed by chicken dinosaur shapes and fresh white fish with salad. Pudding was a big jam tart that Ivana made late last night. I played a bit of accordion after lunch before going back to work, where I applied springs to nearly all of the valves from this morning. Again, there were a number of different sizes to use appropriately. Just before I put the springs on, Ivana filled up the glue bottle I was using and proceeded to spill glue all over the table! After the springs were glued I began reattaching the keys to the accordion. Claudio and Stefano had done some repairs on the body of the accordion during the morning, so Claudio checked the glue had dried sufficiently and I got the all clear. I put most of the keys back in place, but had to adjust some of them. There are still two to adjust and replace tomorrow. At one point in the afternoon Claudio asked me clean some reeds that had broken away from the reed blocks in a diatonic accordion and put them back in the right place for Ivana to re-wax in position, which she did. However, I then tested the accordion and discovered I'd putting some of the reeds in the wrong place! Whoops! Claudio and I each had a small bowl of strawberries in the afternoon after someone came to the door selling large trays of huge strawberries.
At 7:15 we went home and I had sausages, baked beans and potatoes again for tea before going next door for ice cream.

Buona serata x