Roosevelt Jazz Band

My last photos from the trip…

The underground tour in Perusia; Umbria Jazz Festival

And the trip home, including the bus ride to Milan via Parma (our late lunch stop) and also a few photos from the airport in NYC.

Hello all!  Most of you know we made it home okay, but if you didn’t, now you do!  We had two long travel days, one by bus from Perusia to Milano, and then the flying day (yesterday) which lasted a looong time (with 9 time zones gained for a day lasting 33 hours).  Plus we got up at 4 am local time… (!). (more…)

Phenomenal concert tonight.  Mr. Brown told the seniors they could come up with the final set list, which they did while swimming in the hotel pool.   Fans in the thousands, all the kids played their hearts out, a marvelous set and conclusion to the band.  A young Italian man came up to me after the performance and expressed his heartfelt gratitude for hearing it and for what these young people have achieved — strong from start to finish, he said.

And the photos for the day trip to Bologna and more Modena photos are here.

Long travel day to Milan tomorrow.

Heading out in a sec for dinner and the final concert of the tour.

Here are a few photos from recent days:

Cinque Terre

Modena (and 1st concert in Modena)

It’s 7:30 pm in Modena, and yet the day seems only half over.  To come:  a picnic arranged by Daniela at 8:00 pm, and then the youth concert at the same park where our kids performed so enthusiastically last night.  It promises to be a beautiful evening again, since the sun will set on the stage just before Roosevelt Jazz Band performs, and that will drop the temperature down to, oh, say about 80 degrees perhaps.  Such is life.  Most of us are getting used to living in this hot climate, no thanks to Seattle for preparing us!

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Hello armchair travelers!  We made the transfer from La Spezia to Modena, Italy earlier today.  We arrived a bit ahead of schedule, and our team of Johan and Daniela arranged for a group visit to a world famous balsamic vinegar maker called Aceto Balsomico Tradizionale Di Modena.  The husband and wife duo who spearhead the small, excellent operation gave us a great presentation of the history of the vinegar and a tasting of four varieties, the first 12 years old and the final 32 years old.  It was hard to believe how complex and incredible these vinegars tasted.  They make very little per year, about 200 liters as I recall, so it is indeed a small and excellent operation.  All of us enjoyed the samples and marveled at the taste sensations, unlike anything we’ve had before.  They mentioned that Michelle Obama received a bottle of the 32-year old vinegar and responded with a very kind letter.

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I got back to the hotel too late for uploading more photos last night — kind of a slow connection in the lobby of the Hotel Firenze Continentale.  But they are flying across the Atlantic right now.

Transfer day from Montreux, Switzerland to Aix-en-Provence, France

Morning and early afternoon in Aix-en-Provence

Afternoon in Toulon and concert in the evening.  An absolutely amazing setting and experience!

Very quick post… we are meeting for dinner in 10 minutes.  I prepared a lot of photos, but the upload is slow so I’ll upload most after dinner.  Very scenic drive today along the coast with frequent views of French coastal cities and all of the tiny, wealthy Monaco.  Short story of our little drama:  our bus had a blowout just a few kilometers from our new hotel.  The driver, Andrea, handled the situation extremely deftly, getting us to the shoulder, popping out with orange vest to place cones on the roadway, and calling the police who soon arrived to close the right lane.  After an hour, a temporary bus arrived to take us into town, and within thirty minutes, the original bus was repaired and arrived with our luggage.  Terrific handling by the driver and our guides, Johann and Daniela.

And as promised, more photos.  These are Betsy’s covering approximately the first half of the trip.

Betsy’s photos are here.

I have two or three more galleries ready which I’ll upload later this evening.

We are in Aix-en-Provence this evening, and the kids are checked in and hopefully nodding off to sleep soon.

This AM, we had an early start from the very classic old world hotel in Montreux, beginning with a fabulous breakfast buffet and then a procession of suitcases down the stairs to the “Fancy Tour” bus.  Our route today included a minor deviation to give us  a more scenic experience, but when we got to the first small pass, rain and drizzle settled in until lunch, so we couldn’t really see anything anyway.  But after the lunch stop, the skies gradually cleared and the revealed views of Provence were striking.  We enjoyed a two-hour stop at an ancient fortress, the Chateau des Baux, built in the tenth century, and I noticed nearly everybody got an ice cream on the way back to the bus.

And during the bus ride, I prepared a couple more photo spreads:

Montreux, Day 1

Montreux, Day 2

This is out-of-order, but on the bus yesterday, I prepared some more photos showing our travel day and also the sightseeing in Vienne, up the hill and overlooking the ancient Roman theater and also in the Museum across the Rhone from the hotel.  The photo of Andy with the map was when we were in a long delay at Sea-Tac (and hour and growing at that moment) and we thought we might miss the connecting flight in Amsterdam.  But shortly after he got the map out, we got clearance to depart.

At this moment, we are in Montreux, and many of us just returned from visiting the castle down the road which was from the Baron Savoy which was really amazing and photos will follow soon.  The kids just caught the bus down to the venue to prepare for the 4pm performance.  Photos to follow in a day or two.  I also plan to collect some photos from Betsy and perhaps others and format and upload soon.

 Travel day and Vienne area photos.