Carnevale and Super Bowl Sunday
Trip Start
Jan 21, 2005
1
5
16
Trip End
Aug 20, 2005
Viareggio,
Italy
Tuesday, February 8, 2005
The parades I have been to in the past only have people standing on the curb and watching floats go by as a voice recording of Minny or Micky Mouse talk about all of the fun they have when we aren't around. The parade of Viareggio is nothing like this.
I've been thinking pretty hard about how to accurately describe the Carnevale Parade and I think this paints the perfect image: a cross between the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and most gay pride parades.
"I Just Want to Dance" Float
The floats were amazing and colorful. Many floats had political themes of peace and tolerance. The people on the floats and on the ground danced and cheered to some Italian version of Bar Mitzvah music. "YMCA" and "Will You Be My Girl" were played over and over again.
The best part was that nobody was confined to the sidewalks. Everyone walked freely in front and around the floats and performers. We all stopped to take pictures with some floats, danced with the ethnic dancing groups, and sang along to music coming from the procession. So far, the Carnevale parade was my favorite experience in Italy.
After the parade was the Super Bowl, starting promptly at 12:30 am in Florence. I got to the bar 2 hours early and still couldn't find a seat! After awhile I started gathering the stools of anybody who stood up so we can all sit down. This much work should be worth it because its Super Bowl Sunday, right?
To save you all the suspense, the Super Bowl sucked. SUCKED. The whole time I'm craving my normal Super Bowl fare of a pitcher of Bud, nachos, and buffalo wings. Unfortunately all Florence had to offer was expensive pints of Beck's and focacia bread
Alejandra and I with our Hats
. However, we stayed hoping for Super Bowl commercials to at least remain a constant. Honestly, it took us about a half hour to realize that the Dusseldorf Boat Show probably didn't pony up two million dollars for Super Bowl time and we were getting European commercials about cologne and crackers. With everything I love about the Super Bowl gone and the full knowledge that the Patriots would win, I left before half-time where Paul McCartney would've probably been replaced by a series of commercials about chocolate.I hope everyone is enjoying these posts and pictures. If not, feel free to unsubscribe. Please contact me and tell me what's going on in your lives.
Brian
