Oh man am I struggling here. I see this new @BanjoBen lesson on improvisation and I really really really want to watch it…but I am in Florence, Italy and there is a beautiful woman singing opera (and doing it well) on the street below. What do I do? What DO I do? Watch Ben or gawk at the Italian, I mean, er, listen to her sing. THESE, my fellow musicians, are among a retired man’s toughest decisions. #RetirementRocks!
Ron
The last time I was in Florence? I got to pick guitar. Oh yeah, right there on the street outside of Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore.
We then rented a car (public trans from Naples to Rome and then to Florence) and drove up into Austria and stayed next to a glacier for 3 days…then drove back down to Venice…and got to see this guy get up from his chair/eating and sung this at St Mark’s Square!
Enjoy your trip.
my cell phone recording…
Wow…very cool! This is my 4th trip to Europe in a year (I have an Italian citizenship along with my US one…and I love coming back to “the old country”…AND I am a retired airline employee so the air fare is kinda cheap…yeah, I’m blessed…) (3 of these to Italy). Where was I? Oh…I much prefer the smaller cities and towns…but in the larger ones like Rome (earlier this week) and Florence (here for a week) you can always count on a street singer to blast out some tunes. I’ve often wondered why there aren’t more mandolin players here and I jokingly told my wife I was gonna bring one of my mandolins here and set up shop somewhere around the Duomo. She was horrified! Oh well, I’ll just have to learn some more Italian tunes and make another solo trip here. Thanks for sharing your video!
You are welcome. When we were in Florence at the Davinci museum there was an Actual Strat Violin on display.
Have fun, love Italy. We are planning a trip to the Amalfi Coast in the future, start S of Naples and head to Sicily.
I was in Europe in the military, traveled to Spain, Amsterdam, all over Germany, France, and Italy while there. My wife and I with the 3 kids 100% plan our own trips and AirBnb it along the way.
If you get up North to Austria. Mayrhofen Austria is a really good place to go white water rafting, ride ski lifts up to the clouds (1 hour over 3 lifts) to the top of the alps and ski in July on a Glacier. We skied up there on the glacier on my Bday - July 14th.
Austria is a place to get lost in the beauty. Brush up on your German before going.
Have fun!
Oh, this is a hard one! Hmmm, should I watch a live performance, or the video that I can go back to over & over again for a couple years?
As Burns Red in the Sun said in “Little Big Man”…“I have a pain between my ears!”
I may be too late, but my advice would be to learn the lesson and then go woo her with your incredible new skills.
I’m pretty jealous of anyone in Florence. From 2014 to 2019 I went to Florence twice a year to teach a class when I worked for GE. I think I saw everything Florence had to offer over the years. The best tourist experence for me was a day trip to Cinque Terre. The only part about Florence that makes me sad is that I was never about to take my family with me. I also got to work in trips to Rome during those years.
We need a Cabin Camp in Italy!
Med cruise? If so, what ship? I took part of a med cruise on the Richard L Page. Many years ago.
Army. I was stationed in Bamberg, Germany. I had 3-5 friends at the time that realized the significance of Europe, so on long weekends or holidays we’d “hit the road” (jump a train) and go see all there was to see.
Since we were Army and “knuckleheads”, we didn’t care if we slept on park benches all night in Munchen or go to McDonalds to grab a case of beer at 0100 and hang out in a Bahnhof with the local homeless population…they were enjoyable company too… better sleeping conditions than out “in the field” in Grafenwöhr or Hohenfels, Germany in 12" of snow “camping” for 30-45 days at a time.
During times of 5-10 days off, we’d make the trip to France, Italy, Spain, or Amsterdam. We had a travel agency right outside of our billets. If we noticed a “good deal” for soldiers for $200-$500 each we’d hop on a tour bus, then do our own thing once we arrived at the location.
I like that idea!