Blogs from Perugia, Umbria, Italy, Europe - page 6

It is clearly no secret to anyone who knows me, or has ever met me, or even has just casually passed me in the street that I am a chocoholic. So when I saw that there was a chocolate festival in Perugia I knew that I had to go. Also, to anyone who knows me, it is no secret that I am a professional procrastinator, so naturally I did not actually book the trip till the night before. BUT nonetheless I booked it in time! (We can just call it spontaneity, not laziness) Meredith and I, with the accompaniment of two other brave Bentley girls, headed out at 8:30am with nothing on our minds but the sweet chocolate concoctions that we would be devouring today. Now let me explain a little bit about the Eurochocolate Festival. ... read more

Today, we'll rely on a few pictures of the free gigs and the surroundings to give an impression of the festival. As for the haricots, we learned that this was the Creole origin of the word zydeco. It means the times are hard.... read more

Wednesday At 3pm, Jane and David went to an event billed as "Jazz on Film" at the theatre. It proved to be a selection of recordings of performances by great soloists, from Louis Armstrong to Wes Montgomery, introduced by an Italian expert. Ellington was well represented, with two tunes featuring respectively Johnny Hodges and Paul Gonsalves. We saw Roland Kirk on a number called "Three in One Without the Oil", playing three saxes at once, then soloing on flute and adding harmonies by blowing into a wooden flute through his right nostril. After the films, Italian trumpeter Marco Tamburini performed a set of originals with a pianist, a drummer, a string quartet and various electronic devices to modify his sound. In the evening, in the bar of the Brufani were Santana's rhythm section and Sergio Mendes. ... read more

Saturday Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Marcus Miller led a tribute to Miles in the packed arena. As we'd eaten a late lunch on the terrace of the flat, we made the mistake of not having dinner before the gig. The support (a young Japanese pianist with a rhythm section) played an hour's set and the main band started around 1040 pm. We dined on slices of pizza and cans of Coke in a side street at 1 am. Sunday After passing a hot afternoon in Assisi, we bought some small bottles of peach juice in a cafe. Back at the flat, we mixed it with champagne that we'd brought from Ville d'Arce, to make bellinis. Dinner was on the terrace of the Ristorante del Sole, with a view across the valley to Assisi on the ... read more

At Perugia airport, we waited among a crowd of Brits for the Ryanair flight, and picked Beck up just after 11am. The flat proved to be very close to the festival venues, in a row of houses by a steep staircase and an aqueduct, with a terrace at the back, shaded by a walnut tree and vines. There was a small general food store in the piazza at the top of the steps and we stocked up with basics: milk, bread, fruit juices, bottled water. Later in the afternoon, we met Tom and Stacey, who arrived in the piazza by bus from the railway station. After dinner in the Piazza IV Novembre, near a stage where an American R&B band was playing, we joined the passeggiata and strolled up to the garden by the Brufani hotel. ... read more