4 days in Rome

Rome - Mamma Mia!!

I've returned from a most excellent 4 day trip to Rome. My adventures included Capuchin Monks & skeleton art; Fountana del Tritone; Spanish Steps; Fontana Trevi; Colosseum; Palatine Fields; Roman Forum; AMAZING PASTA & PIZZA; Vatican; St. Peter's Basilica; Pantheon; and large amounts of Gelato :D yuuuuuummmmy!!

Wayne and I rented an apartment on the outskirts of Rome - definitely cheaper than hotels and it only took us 15/20 minutes to travel into the City Centre. Nice place to stay and a relaxing environment. I became well acquainted with public transit - €1/trip. That's like 1/5 the cost compared to the UK. We're totally getting ripped off on this side of the Channel :(

I've never tasted Italian food like that in Rome. I went to all the little restaurants recommended in my tour book and was never disappointed. The pizza, pasta and gelato was beyond belief. Sooooo tasty I'd go back just for the food. Most menus were in Italian so it was a bit difficult making the right choice and Wayne generally ended up with some pretty crap appetisers lol! When you order mozzarella it comes as a chunk of wet cheese. Not really what you might expect sitting in the middle of a little plate.

I got to hear the Pope yammer on at the Vatican well I walked around Piazza San Pietro. It was cool seeing him on the big screen but he wrapped up his speech just as I was about to snap a photo of him... boo-urns. I had the chance to heckle with the road side vendors over sunglasses and knock - off purses (presents for back home). It was awesome - buddy was like "25 Euro" - my response "15" - He says "20" I say "15" - he says ok 15 :D hah I never thought it could be so easy. I probably could have taken him down to 10... can't be too greedy.

The best part was that we went the last weekend of the month when all Museums are free (well on the last sunday of the month). It averaged out to be rather inexpensive getting into the big attractions and soaking up the culture. Definitely pay the extra 4 Euro charge to have a tour of the Colosseum - you save yourself 1hr 1/2 in the line and when it comes down to it - it's the price of a Gelato. ALSO take a back pack with water bottles in it. By the end of the day the bottles are empty and the pack is a lot lighter so it's not too much hassle and you save yourself €5 for a bottle of water that costs .39 cents at the grocery store :D

My flights were alright mainly because I slept the whole way (the only advantage of cheap early flights) but booking ahead saved us around £250 so that's also highly recommended. I think I'll be laying low on the Travel radar the next few months to get the budget balanced. My next target is Ireland in the Summer followed by an up and coming weekend trip to Amsterdam I hope. You never know where the wind will take me. As for now its back to teaching another 7 week half term. Sounds short and sweet... I might use other adjectives lol.

Midland Area Regional Brass Band Championship

This weekend my Brass Band played at the Division 2 Regional Finals. There's Division 1-4 across the UK and Championship Division is for the Pros. For instance at Midland Area Regionals there were about 10-15 brass bands in each division - Division 2 having 11 entries.

ANYWAYS - you practice 1 piece for about a month straight and everyone in your division performs this piece at the Competition (a bit monotonous for the judges eh??) The judges sit in a curtained off booth in the middle of the concert hall and ring their bell when they want the next band to perform. They have a random draw to see in what order the bands play (just to keep it fair) and our band performed last meaning after the 830 draw we had to sit around until 130 to perform.

Finally it was our turn to perform - I was playing 2nd Baritone and our conductor rewrote the horn feature in the second movement so that I had to play it. (PS horn parts are really high all above the staff!!). I had enough practice but to make a clean go of it took some panache.

The performance went fair enough with a few minor mistakes. I really didn't think we played it our best. After we performed the judges left their 'padded booth' and announce the results. They go through what they heard throughout the day how some bands had the articulations wrong, how some played the wrong tempos/style etc. etc.

He then says it was very apparent who the top two bands were and that the first place band was 5 points above 2nd place. You start with 200 points and every mistake made is minus one point. He said the First place band was an exceptional example of a Division 2 band and did a superb job. At this point I'm rolling my eyes thinking about the little glitches here and there in our performance. They announce the 4th place band - -- -- not us. 3rd place --> not us but whoever won went crazy excited!! 2nd place ---->not us. At this point I was thinking "sh*t" not even top four. Then out of the Blue he says "First place with 186 points, one eight six points, City of Coventry Brass Band!!! hah hah that's right - I'm officially a Division 2 Brass Band Champion :D Heading to National Championships in September!

They also take an average of your score at Regionals each year to see which bands get promoted up a division and which band move down a division. In a most excellent way we've also been promoted to Division 1!! Pretty cool eh??