Cervantes monument Taking time out from my observation blog posts to write up a trip report. For the past few winters, Devorah and I have been trying to spend a few days somewhere warmer. Not necessarily warm, but warmer. We've done San Diego twice then Charleston and last year Savannah. We were thinking of New Orleans this time around but we're going there for the CSTA conference in July so started looking around.

We basically finished up our trip in Pesaro, a resort town on the Adriatic Sea. Well, there plus one final day in Rome before our flight home. Why Pesaro? Seaside resorts aren't usually our speed. Well, Pesaro is the birthplace of composer Gioachino Rossini and hosts an annual Rossini festival. Now, I like Opera but I wouldn't travel across an ocean to see some Rossini so how did we end up there?

Next three days were in Bologna. Highlight was getting dinner with former student and friend Paul who is now living in Modena and working for the Ferrari Formula 1 racing team - how cool is that. I also realized over dinner that I've known Paul now for over 20 years - man, I'm getting old. Bologna's usually a few degrees cooler than Rome but overall the mercury kept rising so outside wasn't particularly comfortable.