Ahhh... some time to rest...

Monday 9 December

We woke up at the silly hour of 10am and drove back to San Vito, where I stay. Monday was a day of rest. No gig that night, so I had a nice, quiet dinner and an early night to bed.


Tuesday 10 December

FINALLY the sun came out! It has been rainy and gray for days. It doesn't really matter when you're in the club at night, but the days are very long when the weather is crap. So, with the sun in San Vito de Negrar, I went for a nice long walk up the hill into the town. This area is known as Valpolicella, and the main product is red wine. There are grapes EVERYWHERE. In the distance, you can see the snow-capped Alps. I'm sure it is extremely lovely in the summertime. There are still a lot of grapes hanging on the vines, although I don't know if they are any good.


The walk into the village of Negrar took about 45 minutes, uphill all the way. It is a little bit hairy, as there is no sidewalk, and it is a windy road up into the hills. When you hear a car coming, you just step aside and wait, because pedestrians don't seem to have any rights here! The air is a bit thin here, with the altitude up there. It is a quaint little town, with a beautiful VERY OLD church, and some nice shops and restaurants. I had a good lunch and bought some trinkets and Christmas gifts -- spent all of my cash from CD sales!

Tuesday night was the annual Christmas party for the family that runs Hotel San Vito. We provided the music. They provided a very festive atmosphere, and some REALLY good eats. There is a room off to the side, adjacent to the function room, where they used to make wine. It looks like a wine cave, with all stone walls and archways. They served antipasto and wine of Valpolicella to the guests. After, we had dinner in the function room, followed by one long set of music. We played for about 1.5 hours straight through. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, as they asked for MORE! So we gave them 'another Piece of My Heart' and that appeased them, and encouraged them to buy a few more CDs! YAY! more spending money!

Wednesday, 11 December

A whole day and night OFF! I took the bus into Verona city center. There is SO much history there, and I was looking forward to exploring, but the weather was VERY rainy and cold. I decided to do some more shopping in the outdoor Christmas Markets, and got a few more gifts. Then, I went to the proper shopping area, where the stores are more like Newbury Street in Boston; sorta outrageously priced average quality stuff. But it was nice to get out of the rain!

Tomorrow, we play a private party in Brescia; it will be Roberto Morbioli and Diane Blue, with a few other guys, not the usual suspects. Should be interesting to see how it comes together.