More new friends, more good times ...

I had dinner with Giusi on Wednesday night at a very nice trattoria she recommended, but little did I know it was going to end the night with me explaining to five Italian guys about American politics, talking about what I was doing on Sept. 11, 2001 and meeting a great group of guys who are as passionate about everything Italian as I am about ... this trip.

You see, Giusi had to work on Thursday so she invited a young man from Volpiano, Davide, who I'd met when I first arrived because he helped me get the laptop hooked up to the DSL internet connection I had at the hotel I stayed at my first few nights in Italy.

Anyway, Davide and four of his buddies came to the trattorria, Da Michele, after watching some Olympic short track speedskating and taking pictures with some bellas in the audience. They had their faces painted the colors of the Italian flag and they were in quite a festive mood. Especially Filippo, a guy who lives in Torino, and speaks the best English of the group. The others were Alberto (Filippo's brother, I believe) as well as Iacopo and Diego.

Anyway, Giusi left us and we all went back in the trattoria so they could order food. It was there that we began talking politics. I mentioned something about the Euro and how much more expensive it is with Bush having us in Iraq. The U.S. dollar isn't exactly great on the wallet these days. That talk extends into me explaining the elections in America because Italians, shortly after these Olympics, will be heading into an elections in April.

I told them about Bush and how the 2006 elections could be important as he wants to push things through with things in his favor or not if Democrats gain any ground.

I then talked about Bush and his election success -- they're aware of Gore and the 2000 debacle and John Kerry, even if these guys only know his name here in Italy, reacted when his name was mentioned as not being good enough to beat Bush. It was an opening for me to also mention that perhaps a third-party candidate could emerge in the 2008 Presidential elections in the U.S. because, in my personal opinion, there's not a lot of strong candidates on either the Republican or Democratic side right now. They brought up Ross Perot's name and I told them who he was and how much of an impact he made the first time he ran. I also mentioned Ralph Nader's name and how his running did make an impact of sorts in the 2000 election.

We also talked about power in government and how it can be scary when it is in the wrong hands or when it is abused. I'd add more about the latter, but then again, I have only so much blog space ;-)

Anyway, we closed the trattoria down and left that night wanting to hang out on Thursday night.

Part 2 (Thursday night)

Davide calls me and he, Filippo and another new person to me, Bruno arrive in Davide's car. We then go only a few miles as they took me to a place called Casa Thùringen. It is a temporary party place and it is housed within Torino's Motovelodromo, which in English means it was held at what is normally a stadium for cyclists to perform. There's one of those kinds of places in Carson next to the Home Depot Center.

Anyway, we get in a LONG line. I wasn't sure at first what we were doing, only knowing there was food to eat and music to listen to. It was free admission. The line actually moved kind of fast as far as Italian lines go (everyone crowds in and it's a sure bet the term single-file line doesn't exist in my Italian-English language book).

So we get inside and walk around to the area. There's several tents and lots of people waiting in line for GOOD German beer (the darker the better, although there was also the lighter, Coors Light-esque offered too). Then there was another line for huge brauts and steak sandwiches. I bought Davide, Filippo and Bruno a steak sandwich (for 4 euro each that was ONE good deal). The steak sandwich and dark beer lasted until we got into another line, OK, cutting in with Phillipe's friend Valentina and her boyfriend who I think is named Paolo (Paul). Anyway, we waited a long time, but it was because it was a DINNER line. Inside there were five or six different German meals you could choose from and next to that was another beer garden. By the time we got to the front of the line, I got chicken (yes, I know about bird flu stuff, but it was very good and I'm not sick), veggies (carrots, cauliflower and broccoli) and these great small potatoes that were very, very good. I also had a fresh pretzel. Oh, and another dark German beer.

Then came the moment you're likely really wanting to know about ... we all sat down in the crowded room with several tables. The band for the night had started soon after we had made our way into the main tent.

At first, I was horrified by the music I was hearing. OK, horrified in a good way if you know my music knowledge. They did a medley of KOOL and THE GANG hits like "Fresh", "Joanna" and, of course,"Celebration". I was laughing at how foreigners just love our American music, especially if it can be amped up a bit by a band whose members likely speak German, Italian as well as English. By the time we all sat down with our food, the band took a break. We ate and then the band came back.

This time, however, we were ready for whatever they were dishing up. Born to be Wild (Steppenwolf), White Wedding (Billy Idol), Come Together (Beatles) and even a few verses of Born in the USA? (Springsteen). But here's the highlights for me. In between the strains of the song Kung Fu Fighting and Ghost Riders in the Sky was the most festive version of Stevie Wonder's song "I Just Called to Say I Love You" done by one guy who looked like Joe Jackson (no, not DB Sweeney), another who looked like he could pass for a guy in the band Barenaked Ladies, another who could have passed as being from Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and another guy who looked a bit like Stevie Ray Vaughan. Oh, but the drummer was legit. I don't remember his name, but he actually was the star of this band because he played really well --- Air drumming by Ryan well, that is.

The Stevie Wonder song got EVERYBODY in the place swinging back and forth, toasting beers and just about the most fun group I've been around here during my trip.

We left the place around 11:30 p.m. though because a few in the group had to work and yours truly had to get up early for curling in Pinerolo.

And now that I've done this, I will check my email and head off to have some dinner.

Ciao!