"So ya, thought ya..might like to...go to the show..."

Tuesday, June 19, 2012:  Tonight, I dragged Ashlee to see Roger Waters perform "The Wall" Live at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.  This was my second time seeing the show, but Ashlee's first.  Beforehand we had a delicious dinner at Suzy Wong's House of Yum.

I knew the theatrical nature of the show would keep Ashlee interested.
And it did.  She wound up really liking the show.  Our seats were good
and almost center, but unfortunately they were high up enough to get
a bit of stage blockage by speakers and projectors.
In the shot above local school kids join Roger on the stage and the
evil schoolmaster for Another Brick in the Wall Part 2.
Below is a little of Mother with Roger singing a duet
with a younger version of himself from the 1970's.

ABOVE:  "Surrogate band' time!
BELOW:  I believe there are a lot of people out there, Roger.

Run Like Hell to see this amazing show!

No more waiting, the worms are here!

Goo Goos and Boom Booms

Friday, June 15, 2012 - We headed down to Chattanooga to catch a show by one of our favorite bands over the years, The Goo Goo Dolls, who were headlining tonight in the city's annual Riverbend Festival.  The guys are showing their age a bit, but still sounded great.   It was also nice to catch up with a couple of our friends including Mollie who we meet up with at the festival before the show, and then Elizabeth after the Goo Goo Dolls show for some late-night food and drinks at The Mellow Mushroom.

Goo Goo Dolls front-man, Johnny Rzeznick, "works the rail"
of the giant Coca Cola Stage at Riverbend 2012 in Chattanooga, TN

Saturday, June 16, 2012 - For the last night of Riverbend 2012, we headed down the Tennessee River on the sweet hand-restored boat of our brother-in-law, Andy, to catch a little of the headlining show by local American Idol star, Lauren Alaina, and the always-awesome fireworks conclusion to the festival.  We picked up our sister-in-law, Paige, at the festival later on  as well as our friend, Elizabeth, for an enjoyable evening on the water.

Heading out from the Rivermont Boat Dock
upriver from downtown Chattanooga.

A beautiful evening was developing as we passed
under the Walnut Street Bridge in downtown Chattanooga

Let the fireworks begin!  An amazing site from the river.

The best vantage point for the Riverbend Festival's
signature "Waterfall of Fire"is from the water.

ROO 2012

IT'S TIME TO ROO THE DAY(s)!!

After taking a year off to enjoy a couple of music cruises instead of attending Bonnaroo in 2011, we were lured back to Manchester this year to this amazing music and arts festival that takes place in our own back yard.  It also helped that we had an open schedule around the time and that there was a decent line-up for the festival including a headliner we have wanted to see play live for a long time, The Red Hot Chili Peppers!

The crowds were back but the usual high temps and humidity were not so much.

Thursday, June 8, 2012 - Man, did we get in quick!  Unlike the nightmare of two years ago (7 hours in traffic and missed all the music on the first night), we slipped right into the Bonnaroo campground this morning and were set up before noon thanks to an earlier than usual departure from home and the fact that the campground now opens the night before.  Smart decision, Bonnaroo.  We had an easy camp set-up with some friends sharing our RV space.  There was Bridgette. who we meet here a couple years ago, and three young guys from Chattanooga:  Ryne,(the son of a friend of ours) and his friends, Jason and Gage.  We started the music-listening after lunch by catching a little funky bluegrass from the band, Rollin' in the Hay,  then it was off to see one our favorite regional rock bands, The Dirty Guv'nahs.  After dinner, we caught a portion of the show of a young rapper named Kendrick Lamar as we waited to get a good space to see that band after him and our closer for the night, The Alabama Shakes, a relatively new rock band on the scene with the amazing, old-soul lead singer named Brittany Howard (check out a little of the band and Ms. Howard's bluesy vocals in the clip below).


The boys from Knoxville played for a huge crowd under This Tent.



Friday. June 8, 2012 - We started the day just after noon with the hilarious comedic musical duo, Garfunkel & Oates, in the Comedy Theater (yeah, it's a tent).  Sadly it was only 15 minutes worth since these funny ladies were just one of three comedic performers in the set.  Later we got to hear a little of Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings on the big What Stage just before The Avett Brothers took the stage with a huge crowd gathering to hear them despite the heat and no shade to speak of.  They were definitely the musical highlight of the day to us.  What a great band!  We even got a cool poster commemorating their show this year at The Roo.  Can't wait to see it framed and hanging in our home.  We then caught most of the set of The Infamous Stringdusters at our favorite small Bonnaroo venue, The Sonic Stage.  The big acts of the night were Foster the People and Radiohead, and we caught a little of both shows, but couldn't really get into either one.  Just not our kind of music, I guess.

The Avett Brothers perform before a huge crowd braving the warmest day at Bonnaroo 2012.
We are to the left about 40 rows back.  I caught this cool shot off one of the big TV monitors
they have set up on each side of the gigantic What Stage.
Below is a quick clip of one of their livelier tunes from our vantage point.

Saturday, June 9, 2012 - We got up this morning and got another quick dose of Garfunkel & Oates to start our day.  Still funny despite them playing three of the same funny ditties we heard the day before, albeit this time in only a 10-minute slot.  We did enjoy another 10-minute set beforehand by comedian and  amazing juggler, Marcus Monroe.  After splitting up for a little while, we met back up at the Miller Lite Great Taste Lounge, a smaller stage for up-and-coming bands where we found some actual rare non-grass seating (in comfy Adirondack chairs nonetheless) with some much-needed shade overhead.  While we relaxed there, we caught a good set by a young rock band out of LA called Cosmic Suckerpunch (great band name).  In between sets we could also hear (and "see" thanks to a big video screen next to the stage) the indie folk band, Blind Pilot, on the large Which Stage nearby.  Next up in the Great Taste Lounge was Wild Cub, a young band out of Nashville.  We left about halfway through that set to catch a few tunes by one of our favorite Irish folk and rock bands, Flogging Molly, in That Tent.  These guys should have been on one of the bigger stages because the crowd for them was huge (and raucous).  They sounded great, but we were so far back we could never really see them (see the short clip below for evidence of both of these facts). 

Next we moved past the main What Stage and heard The Temper Trap end their set with their biggest hit, "Sweet Disposition" on our way to Cafe Where (another tent actually) to catch Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds, another great band name and the artists who easily won our personal award of "Best Newly Discovered Band at Bonnaroo 2012."  This nine- (yes, nine) member funk and soul band of young Caucasians (yes, white folks) tore up the place with some amazing sound (see the second video below for evidence of all three facts).  After a brief rest back at the campsite, we moved back down to the main What Stage to find our spot for the much-anticipated headliner we wanted to see most of all, the recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees, The Red Hot Chili Peppers!  Beforehand, as we waited for TRHCP,we also caught about an hour of The Roots performing on the What Stage as well.  The Peppers were awesome to say the least.  Bassist, and band spokesperson for the most part, Flea, was genuinely honored to be on the stage and said so to the huge crowd on more than one occasion.  He also acknowledged his admiration of several other artists that he saw perform at the festival himself showing that he is not only one hell of a bass player, but also a real lover of live music which he also urged the crowd to continue to support.  We couldn't agree more.   With tired legs and sore feet, we headed back toward our campsite after the show, but did take time to catch a few tunes by the still-rocking, Alice Cooper, who started a set a midnight...yeah, he's 64, and it didn't seem to faze him a bit.  Talk about inspiration!  You go, Alice!!

This is technically an illegal picture (no photography in the Comedy Theater-
shhh! don't tell!!) of the great Garfunkel & Oates doing their funny, funny stuff.
Google them if you are curious and want a good laugh but be forewarned,
their stuff is NSFW and could offend some folks (but not the good folks).

Ahh, the sweaty youth of rock-n-roll.
Fabien Hameline (left) and Ari Welkom of Cosmic Suckerpunch push on through their first encounter
with Tennessee humidity.  Welcome to Bonnaroo, boys!

Kudos to Ashlee and her new Sony pocket-sized camera for this stunning
shot of The Red Hot Chili Peppers doing what they do best
as the Saturday-night headliners of Bonnaroo 2012.
We were close to the stage, but nowhere near this close.
Below is a quick sound clip of TRHCP from our true vantage point. 

Sunday, June 10, 2012 - The rain started in well after we got in from out long Saturday night at Bonnaroo and didn't let up until well into Sunday morning.  After much debate and consternation that morning, we decided to play it safe and get out of The Roo while the getting was good, and pass on the Sunday line-up which had some interesting acts we wanted to see, but nothing we couldn't live without.  Since we are already pushing the towing limits of our Honda CRV with the pop-up camper, we just couldn't risk the chance of getting stuck in mud and putting too much strain on the engine based on the forecast for the rest of the day calling for more rain and thunderstorms as well.  We reluctantly bid farewell to our camp-mates and headed home without incident.    But with music still in our heads and the images above and below still in our minds, we felt like we had definitely gotten our money's worth this year at Bonnaroo 2012.  More importantly, our faith has been restored in this festival after a rather tough time of it two years ago.  I can definitely say now that we will be back to ROO the day again!!

The 2012 Roo Crew  (Bridgette, me, Ryne, Ashlee, Jason and Gage)



Flower-power takes over the Bonnaroo aerial tower at night.



It's a truly "green" festival with recycling taken very seriously.

Free light show above the giant main What Stage courtesy of Mother Nature.

Our sweet campsite set-up with our pop-up camper on the left,
Bridgette's tent in the middle on the end, the boys' tent on the right
and our "common area" of chairs under a tarped awning in the front center.

Toddle-loo to the Roo...see you again real soon!

WAR-MIL-AMS: Days 6,7 & 8 - The Netherlands

Tuesday, May 22, 2012:
After having to fly back east to Warsaw and suffer a long layover, we headed back northwest
to Amsterdam as the sun was dropping in the west setting the dikes and canals that
The Netherlands are known for aflame in the reflection.

The payoff for the long day of travel was the view from our bed on the houseboat we rented
on one of the Amsterdam canals.  Simply awesome!
Here's a link if you are interested:
http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p905374

This was the view to the right (or west) from our small deck on the houseboat. 
Since it doesn't get dark until 10 PM or so local time,
we still had plenty of time to enjoy the atmosphere.

This was our view to the left (or east) from our houseboat deck showing a couple
of the beautifulsmall bridges that connect the streets over the numerous canals.

"Dinner" tonight consisted of a walk around the corner to a great little grocery store
for three kinds of cheese,fresh bread, summer sausages and tomatoes.
I grabbed some high gravity beer and Ashlee sipped on some wine that the
lady we rented the houseboat from had left for us.
The ambiance on our deck could not be beat.

Completing our "Duck Trifecta" for the trip was "Chuck the Canal Duck" in Amsterdam as we named him.  He was quite the beggar for bread while we sat on the deck of our houseboat and in this shot I discovered him sitting on top of our houseboat one morning.  We were also visited by other ducks, coots (one we named Sylvia) and a swan in the canal while we sat our on deck, but Chuck was the definite mascot of our stay in The Netherlands.

Wednesday, May 22, 2012:  On our first full day in The Netherlands we took a day tour of Amsterdam to see some of the rest of this small, but beautiful country which is only the size of the state of Maine.




There used to be 10,000 of them in The Netherlands, now there are only
about 1,000 left.  Their purpose to pump water replaced by machinery.



Our first stop was the amazing FloraHolland, the largest fresh flower auction house
in the world.  This was actually a "slow time" for them since the tulip season
had just ended, but there are auctions every day on flowers from around the world.

Too bad this picture doesn't have a scratch and sniff option.

The drive through the Dutch countryside was similar to the scenes in Amsterdam, only bigger
houses, bigger canals and bigger boats.

We made a brief stop in Rotterdam, the country's biggest port which is filled with interesting
architecture including this extremely cool bridge over the bay.

Our next stop was The Royal Delft Pottery factory.  These guys are still hand-painting
all theirproducts just like they did when they started  back in 1653.  Beautiful stuff.

We had lunch and some time on our own in the city square of the town of Delft. 
We had a lunch that included some good beer and a Dutch traditional wurst sandwich
 that we learned later was actually horse meat...yeah,that's right, horse meat. 
We found a great cheese and chocolate shop as well where we tried a lot of free samples
to get the thought of horse meat out of our minds.

After a driving tour through The Hague, the political capital of The Netherlands,
we arrived at our last(and strangest) stop.  This place is known as Madurodam,
and it's basically a miniature versionof the entire country??  I
t's all automated and perfectly to scale and you walk through at your
own leisure and pace.  Pretty inventive and kind of weird...so yes, totally Dutch.

The kids love this place and Ashlee was no exception although she did have a lot of envy
as a Christmas Village addict herself.

Did we mention we really loved the houseboat we stayed on in Amsterdam?
Here's a shot of it from across the canal.  We were staying in the far left side.

Thursday, May 24, 2012:  Our second full day in Amsterdam was without much plan.  We wanted to explore the city - the good and the bad - the famous and the infamous and decide for ourselves what all the hub-bub is about this free-wheelin' city.

Did we mentioned we really love the canals?  Especially the more quiet ones away
 from the city centerand the touristy melee of the Red Light District.

We found a recommended little cheese shop called Reypenaer and signed up for an afternoon cheese tasting.  It was held in an actual classroom in the basement of the store and we were allowed to try five of their best products (as much as we wanted) and we were given red, white and port wines to try with them.  This is serious award-winning cheese.  All of it was delicious. Not a bad way to spend an hour in Amsterdam!



Yes, yes, yes, of course, we checked out the "seedy" side of Amsterdam.  We walked through "The Red Light District" and saw the ladies in the windows.  We walked through a few "coffee shops" and even talked to owner of one who was very interesting.  But once the curiosity is over, the sadness of basic human trafficking and the reality that people are spending whole days in these coffee shops wasting vast amounts of time and in some cases their whole lives makes the whole thing fairly unappealing.  Thank goodness for the canals, and the cheese and the warm bread from around the corner from our houseboat!!



Bikes, bikes everywhere!  This city lives on bicycles.  It's the quietest "rush hour" you will ever
experience at about 8:30 on a weekday morning as hundreds of people are pedaling in all directions
to get to their work.  Here's a shot of a

 few hundred bikes patiently waiting for their riders outside
the central train station one night.

The canals after dark are magical.  THIS is Amsterdam.

WAR-MIL-AMS: Days 3, 4 & 5 - Northern Italy

Saturday, May 19, 2012:  Happy Anniversary to us!  We woke up early this morning and made our way to the Warsaw Airport for a short LOT flight to Milan, Italy.

As shown here on Ashlee's I-Phone, we were lucky that each of the cities we were flying to on this trip are in the same time zone and seven hours ahead of CST.  With an overnight flight that we were able to sleep on, and a restful first day in Warsaw, we were not feeling any ill effects of jet-lag.

Our Doubletree Hotel wasn't close to downtown Milan (but it was free thanks to some Hiltion points Ashlee had acquired).  So by the time we landed, rode the Malpensa Express Train (the airport is 30 miles from downtown) and took a short cab ride to the hotel, and then a cable-car ride (photo above) downtown, it was already mid-afternoon.




 
Once we got downtown we checked out the Milan Fortress (Sforza Castle) and its
surrounding park and had  a few glasses of wine in an outdoor cafe there. 
A very nice introduction to this busy, busy city.

 

We got back to the hotel and changed for our anniversary dinner.  Instead of slogging back downtown, we decided to try a place within walking distance, an Italian bistro called L'Imaggine, which got wonderful reviews.  We completely agree!!  What a wonderful place!  Excellent food, good service and a ton of "freebies" including a welcoming drink, table sweets, succulent meatballs (our favs) and even a shot of strong grappa on the way out the door.  Wow!  What an experience!  We were so stuffed (their lasagna is amazing) and so "happy" from all the alcohol, we were afraid to tell them it was our anniversary or we would have never got out of there!

EARTHQUAKE!

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/19/4502777/earthquake-strikes-in-italy-near.html

Yes, we felt it as we lay in our bed on the 4th floor at about 4 AM local time.  Thankfully, the epicenter was 60 or so miles north of us and we were not affected other than being creeped out a bit.

(Editor's Note:  May 29, 2012:  Ten days later disaster struck again in Northern Italy with 17 more deaths from another strong quake.  Our hearts go out to these folks in this beautiful region.)

Sunday, May 20, 2012:  Our first of two scheduled day-tours out of Milan was set for today.  We were headed north toward the Italian/Swiss Alps and the beautiful resort area of the huge Lake Maggiore.



Just over an hour out of Milan is the charming little resort town
of Stresa on the shores of Lake Maggiore.



Isola Madre on the amazing Lake Maggiore

As the weather threatened, we took a great little boat ride on Lake Maggiore
out past Isola dei Pescatori (Island of the Fisherman).

We landed at Isola Bella (Beautiful Island) and toured the Palazzo Borromeo,
an amazing palace of exquisite artwork and beautiful rooms built by the Borromeo Family
which owned all of this area at one time

Our favorite rooms in the palace were the six grottoes in the bottom floor
which were decorated from ceiling to floor in intricate patterns made
of stones from the lake itself.  It took 20 years to complete these rooms.

The palace gardens were equally impressive albeit a little harder to enjoy now that
the rainy weather had settled in quite stubbornly and we were forced to view them
from under the protection of souvenir umbrellas we bought at the book shop.

It was then over to Isola dei Pescatori for lunch and some shopping.

After lunch we encountered our first ducks of the trip on the narrow wet streets
of the small town.  Ducks would become a theme for this trip for some reason.

We did some praying for the rain to let up, but they went unanswered...for now.

Back in Milan, the rain continued as we did a little shopping downtown
 with the Milan Fortress looming in the background.

Now this is how you do a mall!  The Milan Pilazzo was full of shops
(and shoppers) and, best of all, protected from the persistent rain.

Monday, May 21, 2012:  Our second day-tour out of Milan was scheduled to go south to the coast.  After two hours of driving through torrential rain through winding mountain roads, the outlook was kind of bleak.

Our first stop was the big port city of Genoa.  The rain had slacked up some,
but we still needed our umbrellas to enjoy the beautiful architecture.

Genoa has done an interesting job of conforming former private city palaces into government
offices and businesses.  The history of the city is preserved and the business of today
goes on without a hitch.

Amazing frescoes from circa 17th century are free to view in many different
public buildings in Genoa.

The exquisite use of marble in all different colors adorns Genoa's
San Lorenzo Cathedral.

This WW II bomb dropped through the roof of the Genoa's San Lorenzo Cathedral
 but did not detonate.  Church officials declare this a miracle and seeing
actual evidence of a miracle definitely makes it much easier to believe.

The blending of the new and the very, very old is never more evident
than in Genoa as a part of the original city gate is dwarfed by
a modern high-rise in the background.  Somehow, it all works.

Christopher Columbus' boyhood home.
That's right, he was Italian.
He only went to Spain for financing.

There actually are blue skies  in Italy!!  Our hopes began to rise as we stepped out into this
main square in Genoa to see the heavy rainclouds starting to disperse.

A bit of the Genoa waterfront.  This replica ship was built for a movie and is
now a tourist attraction along with a nice aquarium.

We continued east from Genoa along the beautiful Italian coast to the resort town of
Santa Margherita with it's beautiful crescent-shaped bay.

I call this one "The Miracle at Santa Margherita."  Our prayers are answered today as the heavy rain clouds
broke free in glorious wonder revealing the awe-inspiring Italian coastline.  Official weather reports called
for a 90% chance of rain for the entire day for this area.  I guess miracles do happen.

After checking out the town a bit, we boarded a ferry and headed due south along the coast toward
the small village of Portofino.  The views were amazing.  This is the Italian Riviera at its best.

Portofino - easily on of the most beautiful places we have every visited.
Pictures do not do it justice.

We hiked up to the Portofino Lighthouse and were rewarded with this fish-eyed
view of the village in all its glory.  Truly, an amazing place and the weather
could not have been better.

While Portofino lies in a protected inlet with only lapping waves, the pounding of the Ligurian Sea
is relentless just on the other side of this point of the Italian coast.



The ride back was just as good.  The rain was gone for good and we enjoyed a beautiful

ride home north back to Milan.



It was back to L'Immagine for dinner tonight.  How could we not?  Here's just a sample of some of the freebies you get with dinner...clockwise from front:  cherries & apricots, delicious little hard candies with liquid centers (we took a handful of these for our future flights), lollipops, homemade licorice, a bottle of limoncello liqueur (and two shot glasses), some kind of candy similar to Easter peeps and peanuts (we have yet to figure that one out).

Tuesday, May 22, 2012:
Flying out of Milan back east toward Warsaw for a plane change to Amsterdam.
The snow-capped Alps stretch out in the distance over the green of Italy.

Millan and northern Italy were awesome despite some bad weather.  We have loved all of our trips to Italy with Venice still remaining our favorite place we have every visited (although Portofino and the Italian Riviera are a very close second now).  We can't wait to come again and discover more of this amazing country.