Count Basie Orchestra

OK, class for 6 hours, not a good idea. It is possible, but I really don't feel like I am very useful after the first couple of hours. However, we did watch a classic DeSica film, whose name I can't remember, in the first one (it's got Sofia Loren in it, and it won an Oscar- anyone know it's title?) which was nice, because I was almost able to follow what was going on. Spent the afternoon relaxing and reading more of the book Mike lent me (it's about the Mormon religion, fundamentalism, and how that related to the Lafferty killings and the Elizabeth Smart abduction, among other things. Very interesting- Under the kingdom of heaven, or something like that). Did the internet thing, was stopped on my way down the street by someone looking for donations to AIDS research for kids, who did his schpeal in rapid fire Italian, then paused to ask me if I was German. So I have now been told I look French, Italian, and German. I'm wondering how many more European countries I can line up before the end of the trip... Met Julie and Mike, got gelato (raspberry, lemon and grapefruit- which I think is one of my favorites) from Leo- the old gelato guy, whose name we don't actually know, and have now decided we aren't sure if we want to know, because Leo fits so well. Went down to the Arena Santa Giuliana about an hour before the show was about to start, and no one was there. That would not have happened in the states. I was worried we would be at the end of the line. But apparently that is how it works in Italy. So we ended up with really good seats right in line with the stage (but in the cheapseat section) , for an amazing show by the Count Basie Orchestra. AWESOME. They did so many of my favorite songs, and they did such a good, clean, energetic job with them. Then a 15 minute pausa (I found it really funny that all the instructions to the crowd were in Italian, but both of the acts spoke to us in English) before they came back and Tony Bennet started his set. Having not really known his work before, I was surprised by how many of his versions of the classics I knew, but had not known were his. Have to say, I really enjoyed his more uptempo stuff, especially Steppin Out With My Baby. Show ended around 11:30, and it took us until 12:00 (a normally 10 min walk) to get home because Corso Vannuci was so crowded. Very awesome night, the energy around here for these concerts is amazing!