Better than Disneyland

It seems like a long time ago that I was going to Wednesday night concerts at the Petrillo (Perillo?) Bandshell in Grant Park to hear the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra.  You could ride your bike and keep it right there with you on the grass.  There was no such thing as "bike valet."  There was a lot of space between you and your neighbors and you could talk about whatever you wanted to or play frisbee or smoke or fall asleep and drool because no one was close enough to see it.
 

That all changed when Millenium Park came along.  I still go to the concerts, but they're nothing like they used to be.  I miss the old view, too.  You were further south and it all just looked different.  The buildings were a little bit further away and you were a little bit more connected to the sky with no metal canopy overhead.  One time I brought a friend from Grand Rapids to a concert with her kids.  I don't know how old Hannah was when she looked at the skyline and said, "It looks real!  It's like you could touch it."  I guess I never REALLY knew what she meant.  I think I thought that she thought it was fake--like a stage set or something.  Even if that isn't what she meant I liked the idea and I never forgot what she said.  I was happy to tell her that it WAS real and you COULD touch it.

I used Hannah's line last night.  I was driving through the Italian hilltowns and every now and then we'd get to a big clearing with fields (and yes, bales of hay).  And there, on the top of the next hill, sitting all by itself, was La Chiesetta Rossa.  It's a little pinkish-salmonish colored church surrounded by cypress trees (maybe) and it's lit up at night, by more than just the moon. It doesn't seem real sitting up there in the sky.  I said, "It looks real!  It's like you could touch it."  So, up we went, so I could touch it. We got out and walked around and you can see all the other hills in every direction dotted with little lights.  I'd have to say, I'd take this over Mont St. Michel anyday.  And just to tease me a little as I was about to make my Mont St. Michel/Disneyland comparison to my friends, God (or someone) set off fireworks in the distance at 23:15 on a random Monday night.  We watched from atop this little hill, beside this little church and they seemed real, like you could touch them.