Chocolate

The all-time highlight of our entire time in Greece and Rome was nothing that involved tourism. It involved music ... music as smooth as chocolate.

How I miss good music. Live music of any sort. Even being able to hear an accordion player on the street was a thrill. But this ... was ... phenomenal.

We got two of the last few tickets for a sold out concert in the largest concert hall in all of Europe -- The Auditorium Parco della Musica, Sala Santa Cecilia. We heard the Orchestra dell'accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, founded in 1585! The entire program was Spanish music, therefore two of the four pieces featured a guitarist playing concertos -- Pepe Romero. He was Jim's favorite part.

My favorite part began when the oboe played the "A" for tuning. I started crying as the whole orchestra started tuning and I didn't regain control until about 10 minutes into the first piece. I don't know what my neighbors thought and I certainly couldn't understand anything that they might have later said (we were the only non-Italian speakers in the entire parco!) but that didn't worry me. The opening note of the string section was unbelievable. I've never heard strings play in such unity, each section sounding as one instrument. And that's when I thought "chocolate" -- that's the only word to describe this sound.

I will carry the memory of that opening measure with me forever ... or at least until I hear even more heavenly music upon leaving earth!