Sunday, May 25, 2008

KISS in Verona


The evening we arrived in Verona we dropped the rental car off at the train station and I kept seeing all these "hard rock" looking people all around. You know the type. Long hair, black t-shirts from past concerts, black leather jacket, etc. No I am not talking about those strange programmer types. I didn't really think too much of it as we walked from the train station to find a hotel.

After we found a hotel and decided to walk around town to see the sites and find some dinner I kept seeing more and more of them. Then it clicked that most of them were wearing KISS t-shirts. It was obvious that there were too many to be some kind of coincidence. Particularly when we started seeing the t-shirt sales and ticket scalpers. It was so cool. As we walked into the piazza around the Roman era coliseum it was filed with people waiting to see the show. All of these people waiting to see a classic American rock band. The crowd was in great spirits and most were artfully decorated. If you have ever been to a KISS show you know what I mean.

We thought about getting some tickets from scalpers but decided against it. While I don't mind a good concert and do love some KISS songs I didn't think it worth the 50 EUR per ticket for a possible fake ticket. So we went on to dinner and came back later to wander around outside the arena listening to the music and have a cafe. I have to say it was a wonderful experience that we certainly didn't expect to have. If you haven't heard KISS in an ancient Roman coliseum I do recommend it.

Italy Trip

So 2 weeks in Italy has gone by all to quickly. There is way to much to talk about in a quick post but I thought I should at least talk about the different places we went on this trip. Here is a quick over view:Overnight Cities/Towns
Besozzo (Lago di Maggori)
Verona
Lido di Venizia (Lido Island off of Venice)
Monterosso al Mare (Cinque Terre)
Scandicci (Florence)

Day Trips:
Laverno/Stresa/Isloa Madre
Lido island/Murano Island
Parco Nazionale de Cinque Terre/Vernaza/Corniglia
Ponte Vecchio
/Uffizi/Palazzo Vecchio/ The Duomo
Fiesole
Chianti Region/Greve in Chianti
Pisa/Lucca

We took just about every means of transportation possible (car, train, plane, ferry, foot) but didnt rent a scooter or motorcycle. Will have to do that next time along with hiring a death wish.

Tracey and I had a week to ourselves (without the little man) and then a week with Evan and Tracey's Mom in Firenze. Had at least a half litre of wine a day.

Lots more to come we are still getting through all the pics.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Economic Stimulus Package

While living over seas the currently weak dollar has been a bit... annoying. As we head out to Italy tomorrow for a vacation we found it quite wonderful that the government has decided to give us hardworking citizens an economic stimulus package. Obviously in hopes that we would be spending that in the US. Oh well guess not this time. That money will go over quite well on a another bottle of Vino.


Thanks George!