4/21/15 day 3: Milano, IT

Jet lag can be a bitch. It's still fun at the moment (this is also only day one). You get moments like this that allow the mind to process your new location and savor your surroundings and the little differences in your environment.

Breakfast was modest but fresh and served on bright orange dishes. Reminded me of my kitchen growing up in the early 80s. Choko brioche (Italian for croissant), choko fruit cake thingy, brötchen and processed cheese, creamy peach yogurt, peach nectar with sparkling water... Less cheese and sliced meat than in Germany. Italian breakfast I think is more intended to shock your system with caffeine and sugar than fill the tank and is only intended to help you survive until you can eat hot, delicious pizza at lunch... Which is when, by the way? Just wondering... I'm not hungry!? Well, maybe just a sliver...

I'd actually find it interesting to see if there is a link between the different cultural cuisines at breakfast and how they affect things like national work ethic and productivity, general health, outlook, education, etc. You think about the German breakfast and how hearty and protein rich it is and their work ethic and productivity and once you start to consider other countries' cultural habits and trends you start to see some correlations... Maybe there is something to this whole 'breakfast' thing... Ah fuck it, when's lunch?

We rehearsed in the little hotel courtyard for a couple of hours. Smoothing out the rough edges and adding some new

Jams to the mix. It's important for us to keep progressing, keep changing, keep making things better. This rehearsal helped with that. We were able to fine tune some bits and really tighten up the set. Plus we were sitting outside in beautiful Italian spring day... There was that too...

At about 1:15 we had played all the tunes and decided to be tourists and head downtown. We took the M1 (I think) to the Duomo which is really the focal point of the downtown area. A huge open piazza allowing throngs of tourists to gaze and snap photos all while pigeons zoom about and suited business Italians walk past talking on their phone.

Behold. The Duomo.

I was here in 1998 w my mom when I was studying in Freiburg. I couldnt tell that much had changed. It's still a big white cathedral...

We walked north through the Gallerie and stumbled upon the Brera neighborhood. The old roman/medieval bits of the city. It's old and clean and less touristy and busy than the duomo piazza. We stopped into a small restaurant for a delux focaccia (that was still totally reasonably priced) and continued on our loop back to the metro. Peter and I were all tuckered out, still battling w jet lag.

Crushed a short nap and then we decided to take the metro to the gig. We had a great parking spot in front of the hotel and after walking around a bit we realized parking was usually hard to come by. We left for the venue at 630, and arrived shortly after 7. Load in was 7. We are so used to German punctuality and when we arrived and the place was still closed we were concerned. Max the owner rolled up about 15 minutes later. Nidaba Theatre isn't very big but it's cozy with a small stage. We did our check sound check and then chilled. Another thing we aren't used to are the late starts. The gig was supposed to start at 10 but Max recommended we wait until 1030. In Germnay we are usually done by 1030! We chilled had some beers and Marco the bartender made us some sandwiches. The room filled up around 945 and we hit to 40ish folks. The performance was good; you know the first show of any tour isn't perfect but we felt good and the crowd was into it. We flew a new cover tune: Free Falling by Tom Petty and it felt good. I was happy to see my friends the Moffa's show up. Back in the 90s, I went to High School with Marla and Linda so it was great to reconnect with them and have some friendly faces in the audience.

After the set at like 230am, Max offered to drive us home. The metro wasn't running anymore. He dropped us by a Döner joint by our hotel and we happily gobbled down some delicious snacks. The sandwiches we had at like 845 were but a distant memory.

Crashed hard at like 330 after a loooooong day. But feel good about the prospect of the remaining Italian dates. I dig this country! Thankful to Cesare and Enrica at Roots Music for booking the tour!