Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia

We returned to Perugia for the opening night of the Umbria Jazz festival, kicked off by Seattle's own Garfield jazz band.  The band was great but the weather was not: rain and thunderstorms or, as Clarence Acox said, Seattle weather.  The crowd was sparse but enthusiastic.

jazz fans 'enjoying' the show

To our surprise, we ran into two people we know--former co-worker John Dalton and his wife Susan.  Their 15 year old son plays trombone in the band which is quite an honor as it is rare for freshmen to make the senior band.  They were chaperoning the band's tour through Europe which included stops in Lyon, Venice and Rome as well as 7 or 8 other places.

Following Garfield was a line up of New Orleans style jazz bands, all fantastic.  My favorite was a band from Texas  that had a 3 woman horn section.  They really got the crowd dancing (and the fact that it quit raining helped). Since it is Italy after all, the refreshment booth was selling a tasty white wine, prosecco, and a red wine which I didn't try but a friend told me was not the worst swill he ever tasted (liberal translation from the Italian).  

In other news, we finally have out outdoor table, chairs and umbrella and also a shiny new BBQ.

Tom watches Mario figuring out the instructions to assemble the bbq

We hope to have our Italian friends over for an American style BBQ Friday night. We have figured out how to do a giant shop at the PAM superstore--walk the kilometer there but take a cab back with all the heavy stuff.  The PAM store is like an American supermarket and offers a lot of things we can't find elsewhere, such as soy sauce and a cute tiny Italian bottle of catsup, and even actual hamburger buns (not that we have been looking for those but we  bought a package immediately).  Mostly we loaded up with coke zero, milk, wine, potatoes, laundry soap and other stuff that is too heavy to haul up the hill in the heat without lots of rest stops.

waiting for the cab with a cart full of groceries

First Sunday of the month means the giant antique fair that covers almost every street in centro.  We spent a few hours checking out the goods, but bought only an old picture to put on the mantel.

working hard at the antiques fair (above)

Loggia Vasari crowded with stalls

still searching for the best gelatto in Arezzo--despite the look on Tom's face,
this gelatto was pretty good

Next Saturday it is off to the Tuscany coast for a week (near Grossetto).  Armed with my new microsoft surface (having broken the kindle as previously reported) I am ready for some serious beach reading.  Luckily there are also ancient ruins, old churches, and picturesque towns in case the turquoise water and white sand grows old.

ciao a tutti!