Vada, 6pm

Well, I have just returned from an amazing and memorable weekend at the Umbria jazz fest in Perugia.  We left on Saturday after a short day of classes and arrived in Perugia in the early evening.  Our first views of the city were quite beautiful.  We had to take the "mini metro" to the center of town that let us off up on a hill that overlooked some stunning scenery and architecture; and there was even a rainbow in the sky that emerged after a quick rain shower on the way there. 

We walked to our hotel which was very conveniently located close to all the action of the festival.  I ended up rooming with a couple of really cool people, Fiona, a dancer and Weylan, the musician.  As Stephen wasn't with me, it was great to be with people I really enjoy hanging out with.  We went out and checked out who was playing right away, the main headliner being Steely Dan.  We thought about seeing them but tickets were steep and the stadium was far from where we were.  But there were a lot of great free concerts so we saw Chip Wilson and an awesome Italian funk 14-piece brass band called "Funk Off" who were incredible.  So tight and together, super energetic, choreographed movements, awesome grooves- the streets were packed- we could not move and everyone was dancing.  They were the perfect Saturday night band. 

The next day, I wandered around with Fiona and Weylan and we checked out some other bands during the day, but we had decided that we would go see the Freddy Cole Quartet (Nat King Cole's younger brother) at this hotel that was offering a more intimate venue for a small cover.  I had actually never heard of Freddy Cole until our friend Michelle told us who he was.  They were fantastic...some old standards, some great originals and a group of incredibly talented musicians.  Freddy is 77 years old but very youthful-  (I would have guessed 10 years younger) He has such a simple clean delivery, amazing connection with the audience and such a wisdom and truth in his performance that just looks and sounds effortless.  I was very moved and amused and entertained to say the least. 

After the set, because it was such a small venue, he and the band stuck around to sell CDs and say hello to people.  We all introduced ourselves and once they found out we were musicians as well, the bass player invited us to join him for dinner and Freddy asked us to come back and meet him when we were done.  We spent the entire evening hanging out with them and another group of musicians, the Allan Harris Quintet.  Amazing group of people.  We were sitting there, drinking wine and listening to stories of Freddy going to see shows with Miles Davis back in the day and the tours and gigs they have played and travelled all over the world.  He was even giving me vocal tips and little gems of life wisdom.  Then he would just break out into song randomly when he found that it fit the mood of the conversation.  It was an amazing evening.  (Also finally had my first great pasta experience:  Ravioli Arancia--cheese ravioli in a creamy orange sauce-- delish!!)  Very glad I went :) 

I haven't seen Stephen yet because he left today to go to a medieval town called Lucca where there is an event going on that he wanted to attend.  He will stay over there and come back tomorrow so I have no idea how his weekend went.  It was strange being away from him after we have spent pretty well every day together, but some time apart doing our own thing was nice too.  Very healthy for us I would say. 

Other than that, it was nice to get back to Vada today, my home away from home.  Went for a nice long bike ride to get the legs moving again after my long train ride.  Back to classes tomorrow.  Hope you all had an amazing weekend too!

Ciao bellas,

Andrea