Monday, January 30, 2006

Grande Circo, Grande Spettacolare!!

The theme for the weekend was the circus. The Darix Circus had its final weekend in town. I knew this from all the posters all over town and Saturday morning I woke up to the sound of a guy talking through a loudspeaker about the circus. Now this has been happening for the last 10 days so it was no big deal but this morning I happened to look out because he seemed to be louder and slower. I saw the same “circus tractor” going by at 2 mph (much to the joy of the Italian drivers) and it was towing a trailer with a camel in it. That ranks right up there with things I never thought I would see here (one of other things was a American professional wrestler riding a scooter the wrong way up my street, but that’s a whole other story). There have been concerns with this circus. They set up next to the soccer stadium, which is also next to the airport. Not the best place to keep animals and tent that’s pretty high. They also have a giraffe, which I know for a fact is an animal that is scared easily. I don’t like the circus. Zoos can at least build a cage that makes sense for the animals. The circus cannot possibly pretend to be a healthy environment.
The other part of the circus theme was when I turned on the TV and saw a strange program. It was a parade going on live up north in San Remo. It caught my attention because all the floats were made of flowers. Sound familiar! They also all had a circus theme. Not sure the history behind this but it was funny because the weather looked awful. It was just cold enough to rain instead of snow and there was a nice wind to try to pull the umbrella from your hand. Why would you have a circus parade at this time of year? I thought it may have something to do with Carnival season but I don’t think so. Then again, kids are starting to dress up in costumes and throw confetti at each other. The crowd was very light and even the commentators looked to be wishing they were somewhere else. Even in Brindisi you would problems getting a crowd for a parade now but then again it was nice enough to take a coffee outside on Sunday afternoon in Otranto.Anyway that’s some random notes from the weekend.

3 comments:

C said...

I'm not a circus fan, either. Poor critters. :o( Plus they have clowns, which give me the creeps - like mimes but they're allowed to make obnoxious noises.

You have some great pics! What a cool castle. And I found the burning of the olive trees in place of furniture fascinating!

Jeff Gromen said...

Thanks,
That reminds me that there is a mime in town that freaks me out. If you give him some change he will pretend to fry some eggs in a frying pan he has with him. He's out EVERY night in the same spot doing the same thing.

C said...

Maybe those aren't eggs. Maybe it's his brain. . .on drugs.

How much do you have to give him to make him leave? }:->