Cristina: Hollywood
Saturday morning, in front of the cup of milk and Eggo pancakes with maple syrup, breakfast party of the weekend:
Me: " going to see a show tonight? ... so to do something different . "
My Ing" yes, it's a good idea, I thought of myself, let's see what we find in the Internet . "
Me:" I'd like something fun, maybe a musical! Since we returned from Italy I'm sad and I feel too much nostalgia, I need to relax and recharge a bit ' . "
My Ing " yes, I noticed ... Listen, the Pantages , center, Hair loss, the musical of the '60s, to Aquarius, you know? "
Me:" I understand it, the show about the war in Vietnam ... it seems interesting and still relevant and I like the music, then ok, we buy the tickets and you go away! "
The show is scheduled for 8 pm and experience taught us that it is precisely the time at which it will: Americans do not know the concept of the academic quarter of an hour!
We start from Redondo around 6:00 pm, having put in quotation forty minute drive, traffic permitting, and having calculated thus sufficient time for a quick dinner before the show.
's dark. We drive on the highway leading to downtown.
My Ing " there is a lot of traffic tonight, but is smooth, we should not have problems "
busy for a few minutes to fix the inside of the bag always chaotic, his eyes instinctively got up and I am almost blinded by the light of the river of the other six-lane road (in some places are even 8!) That almost I do not notice the identical stream of red light that lies before us and where we are totally immersed.
arrive at your destination, concerned about the parking, unintentional victims of anxiety by Italian place in the second row, but we are in America and how many times have we learned, there is nothing sudden, everything is perfectly organized, everything a fee of course, but at least there are no disruptions or are very rare (to make the idea, you could buy a parking ticket and then ensure their on-line!) to settle in the car with ease.
We Hollywood Boulevard, the theater is right there, I saw the streets of Hollywood by day and I liked them, I found them rather too shabby, is invaded by tourists, is completely deserted on Sunday afternoon . In the evening, however, are different, more exciting, I can not explain why, maybe because the darkness, hiding defects, brings out the party lights and entertainment.
The room is full, the show is and engaging the audience gets involved willingly, especially at the end when the whole audience stands up, not so much to give a standing ovation, but to participate in the collective dance to the tune of the song that closed the musical. The people sitting in the front rows, and some come running from the last climb on stage with the actors, in a literal explosion of joy dancers.
There are young people, adults, seniors and children and we have the two of us (not on stage, is too much for us) and we feel a bit 'dazed by such participation in a play, but we are there, feet, and almost without realizing it, we dance, clap and sing too " let the sunshine. "
E 'on a Saturday evening all, a theater like any other ordinary viewers, nothing short of extraordinary, and not only I know, but I perceive a normal event by my own attitude and my engineer, but inside I will not stop repeating, "I'm in Hollywood, you see? And from a resident, not as a tourist ... you would never have imagined it? "No, definitely not! ... And meanwhile let the sun shine in my microcosm .
Cristina: Huntington Library
Me: " this weekend is now gone, the weather was too bad, but next weekend is scheduled for looking, and then Sunday I would go to the Huntington Library .
My Ing " yes, okay, there's a beautiful park where we can rest assured, walking, enjoying the sun ... yes, we already anticipate next Sunday we "
Also he said:" see that we must start in the morning and not late, please, no excuses when the alarm "
Me:" man of little faith, always ready to remind me that sometimes I like to sleep ... "The
I also do a tongue, if it deserves it.
I also do a tongue, if it deserves it.
Here we are dedicated to the Sunday library: it is a museum and a cultural center than a library in the strict sense and is located in Pasadena about an hour by motorway from Redondo.
arrive without difficulty following the instructions found and printed from google map in the American version: I am the navigator and now I am used to read and understand the distances in miles and feet.
from parked cars we sense that the library has to be rather crowded and in fact is so, but the park is so large - enough to be divided into several gardens, Chinese, Australian, desert, Japanese and others who do not remember - that the sense of the multitude, and not perceived You can easily find an empty bench to rest and keep warm in the sun like lizards.
From the parking area and access to museum buildings at the park along a tree-lined avenue in which we see so many Chinese red lanterns hung ... we are perplexed as to their meaning, but now revealed to us as soon as we arrive at the ticket office (as mentioned, here you pay for!) from the sign you see in the picture. In Italy I had never seen that in any public or private townhouse to celebrate the Chinese New Year by inviting people to participate, as if it were an event now acquired a local tradition, yet the Chinese there many are also in Italy, but perhaps the most hidden and silent.
you ask where is the special moment, for me it's right there in that sign which states that a famous library in the U.S. and Chinese Americans celebrate with a Chinese feast: for an Italian provincial This is an exceptional event and there was also by chance, has made my life a normal bit 'special.
Enza: Here comes the year of the rabbit. ... And I am a tiger!
Well, will amaze you ... even in Italy, somewhere, we celebrate the Chinese New Year.
Some evenings, after work I ask Ale (which often acts as my taxi driver!) to make the "ride along" to return home.
This small deviation allows me to spend in front of the Colosseum then down Via dei Fori Imperiali to Piazza Venezia and after the Mouth of Truth and the Temple of Pausanias, through Trastevere, go to the Gianicolo, where I'm lucky to live nearby. All of this helps me, as Christine says, "to distract and recharge a bit ' . I often, in fact, looking at the coliseum and wonder: if he has lasted so many years to the weather, wars and so on, can not do it I want to address the problems, I hope, an 'eighty years?
And then, in one of these rides in the car the other night in what I run? In Chinese dragons and lions!
Intrigued by the voluptuous red tapestry and not just Italian dances, the next day I did a search on the Internet to learn more about the strange pre-show carnival.
Actually puffin Milanese and had nothing to do but it was nothing of the celebrations Piazza del Popolo in the Chinese New Year.
I learned that this year's Chinese Spring Festival falls however at a particular time why 2011 is the year of Chinese culture in Italy, a year of events and a bit 'all over the world.
On this occasion it seems that under the Pincio terrace, equipped with a large LED screen framed by red and gold lanterns, many artists, both Italian and Chinese, will be produced in traditional dances and songs celestial empire.
As you see, as the dawn, even in Italy there is an attempt of integration.
I lived in America too little to understand the soul but not so little sense even in this wonderful world a multi-ethnic difficulties in accepting gays, blacks, Hispanics or anyone can be an obstacle to their comfortable and peaceful life.
often look to other countries as an example of a great civilization and modernity, and in most cases this is so, on many things, the comparison is unequal, and Italy often comes out a loser but I think there still people in this tiny state of great culture, tolerance and dignity even if it struggles to emerge , in fact I have a feeling that is, increasingly silenced.
Ours is a country that has great difficulties, not so much to find, but just to build his own identity, where some people refused even to celebrate the 150th year of unity because he feels to be an Austrian minority forcibly tied to Italy.
What can I say? How is it possible to accommodate and integrate different ethnic groups in an appropriate way if we do not yet know exactly who we are? Someone said ... Italy is done, now we must make Italians! And if we did not succeed in 150 years ... I begin to see it hard!
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