Panzone's, the Surflight Theater, and a Squeamy Leading Man

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After we washed the salt and sand from our skin, we were off to dinner at an LBI staple - Panzone's. Open since 1980, they have, by far, the best pizza on the island. And maybe, the best pizza ever. I was excited to get back there, and prepared for a wait because it's definitely a popular dinner location.

Luckily, we got there ahead of most of the groups of eight or sixteen that were looking for dinner, so we only had to wait about fifteen minutes. It was almost less than that, because they accidentally put a couple ahead of us on a different list, and tried to give us their table first. But we worked it out, and as always, it was worth the wait. Our waitress, Crystal, was a little out of it (maybe the sea air has gotten to her), but she did manage to get our food out quickly. Jess and I both had salad, which was good after I picked out all the onions, tomatoes, chick peas, and olives. Then, I had an appetizer pizza (designed for one) and Jess had the shrimp scampi. The pizza was everything I had hoped for, and I only wish that the two slices I'd taken to go had survived the afternoon in my car (don't worry, I didn't eat them!). Crystal had only wrapped them in two paper plates, so that sealed our opinion of her.

After our delicious dinner, we were ready to go to the Surflight Theater for the evening's production of Aida. I had gone to the Surflight when I was younger a few times, seeing My Fair Lady and Jesus Christ, Superstar, among other shows. The actors are talented, and the shows well done for a decent price, so I was looking forward to Aida. We crowded into the theater, which appeared to be almost sold out, and learned that we were joined by a Yacht club, and a senior citizen's group. Jess wanted to know why they didn't announce that Jess and Lindsay were also there. I'll have to make sure they mention it the next time.

The show itself was really good - although I wasn't overly inspired by the songs, I enjoyed the storyline. I won't give too much away if you haven't seen it, but basically, it chronicles an unlikely love story about an Egyptian and a Nubian during a time when the two countries were at war. The woman who played Aida was incredibly talented and beautiful, but unfortunately, the romance between her and the Egyptian was less than believable. He was a talented actor as well, with a great, powerful voice, but he was a little...squeamy. I just didn't believe that she would have fallen in love with him. Aside from that though, we enjoyed it immensely.

Afterwards, we had planned to go next door to the Show Place for ice cream...that is, until we learned that someone at every table had to participate in some type of song in order to get their ice cream. I think it would be great fun to get a big group together and go, but when there's only two of you, it's a bit more intimidating. We both said, of course, we'd sing, but in the end, we chickened out and ordered the ice cream from the take out window. Sitting on a bench in the courtyard, we watched the actors come and go and catch up with their personal audience guests. Then, it was back to our wet room, where we learned that our air conditioner liked to periodically rev itself up, reminiscent of a jet plane taking off. Picture that puncturing a restful sleep every hour or two, and you can imagine what kind of a night we had. But hey, it was a room in the height of the season and beggars can't be choosers!

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