You thought the Aires had done it all: hot Hawaiian babes in 2002, the sunny coast of California in 2003, and the posh slopes of the Colorado Rockies in 2004, but the Dartmouth Aires did indeed outdo themselves in this March of 2005. This year's tour was planned by Micah "Cino, I'm always on time" Dortch and Ricky "Zebo, I swear I like girls" Cole with the immense help of our anal-retentive ex-business manager Sean "Hilo" MacMannis.
Waking up with the sun, the already smelly members of the Dartmouth Aires jumped into a Minibus, clad in matching green, embroidered tour sweatshirts, with destination for Boston. Boston to New York City and NYC to Paris they went, and after double-digit hours of flying, the Aires set foot onto foreign soil.
In retrospect, Paris, Italy, and the entire continent of Europe wish they hadn't let the Aires through customs.
The guys with their numerous pieces of luggage scuttled around the airport until finally finding the right train into Paris. Bouncing about next to weathered French women and chatty young kids, the Aires could only imagine what lay ahead for them above ground. Upon arriving at their humble abode in the Northeast of the city around 6.00 AM, the group immediately began to quarrel due to the fact that they couldn't check in until later that afternoon. After hours of unnecessary chatter, as Aires are so very good at doing, they split up into several small groups and ventured into the huge and exciting city of Paris.
The next three days spent in Paris are all but a blur of excitement for many of the Aires. A blur
that featured singing to a horde of admirers under the Eiffel Tour in the late afternoon, eating
fondue in a too-tight, but quaint restaurant, singing to get into the select club Baindouche,
"Giraffes", and an evening at the Sacre Coeur. Some may recall the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame,
brie and baguettes, Somewhere on the Pont Neuf, and a long night at the Place de La Republique
(Pluto?), yet no matter the memories, all was done in style, with a smile on the face.
After a brief flight from Paris into Milan, the Aires excitedly mounted their shiny, silver
Eurovans captained by Pete "Krbo" Simpson and Kekane "Fivo, Barberino di Mugello?" Yuen. The
luggage was in, the Italian pop was bumpin' like woah, and the Aires were on the highway. In
Italy. On their way to Montecarelli where their villa awaited. I, your humble narrator, will
refrain from trying to even describe the faces of every Aire as we began to climb the windy
road that soon became our familiar driveway. And as each and every one of us that sat in the
back seat slammed our heads on the roof of the car as we hit the gravel entrance to our villa,
I swear I could see tears of joy spurting from certain members' eyes.
Words cannot express how beautiful, large, and ridiculously cool the Airesvilla was, and soon
the Aires had moved in and were sitting like kings. That night, the Aires' resident chef, Fivo,
whipped up quite a feast of meatballs with fresh mozzarella and spaghetti that set the entire
crew into a food coma with its amazing taste and quantity. Of course, though, that was after
breaking the oven and stove, having the neighbor who didn't speak English come over to try to
fix it, and burning the old wooden table with a pot. But it was delicious, and excitement and
companionship pervaded the aire as we all sat down to our first meal at a long, old, wooden
table in the basement of our palace.
The following eight days in Italy were spent not only lounging in the villa but also taking various day trips to nearby cities. First on the list was the charming town of Siena where the group had some of their first tastes of real Italian gelato and sat under the giant Campanile in the Piazza del Campo. That afternoon the group drove up to Bologna where they met up with Rebecca, tour guide extraordinaire, and her boyfriend Mossimo. That evening the group had expected to sing on a small local television show to which Rebecca was connected. Yet this small show turned out to be a pretty wild extravaganza with athletes, Giatta, and a "dancer". After making friends with said "dancer," your humble, but oh so suave narrator carried her off to a restaurant (with all the other Aires and people from the TV show too) and wined and dined her. Then we went home. If only...
Our first trip out of the villa was pretty exciting, and the group was hesitant that it could possibly get any better, but it did, like it does in all stories. Next up was Florence where the guys enjoyed the sights of the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, Uffizi, among others. Various small groups stopped at street-side panini stands, some took hikes up into mountains, and some simply got lost in the rich city of Florence.
The following day team Aires woke up early to go into the Italian countryside and sample various wines in the Chianti region of Italy. They began at the large and productive Castello Di Broligo vineyard where they sampled three fine wines made of the region's star grape, the San Giovese. Then after a quick bite in the extremely small, but charming town of Greve, the group headed to the second and final vineyard of the day, Fattoria Selvapiana. This smaller, more rustic, family-run vineyard was well enjoyed by all (even those too tired to wake up), and many bottles of wine were bought for personal and group consumption.
Next came Florence, the sequel or remix, in which the group returned to Florence to do many of the activities they weren't able to do last time. Sightseeing, frolicking, eating, and gorging on gelato at the famous Vivoli was done by all, and the group crashed early after a hard day at work.
Next came Rome with an Aires marathon of festivities. They began in the Vatican City and split up into various groups that saw sights around the Vatican area: The Vatican Museum featuring the Sistine Chapel, St. Peters Basilica, and the small shops and vendors that line the arms surrounding the plaza. Many Aires enjoyed watching Popevision on the large televisions set up outside of St. Peters for one of the Pope's pre-Easter addresses. The entire group then took a bus over to the old city where they marveled at the Flavian Amphitheater, Trajan's Column, and a lot of other broken things. Moving north, the group visited the Pantheon on their way to Pizzeria Bafetto, the second of our excellent and delectable Aires Dinners. Then with full bellies, happy hearts, and burnt mouths for a few (Cazzo?), the guys traveled to the Spanish Steps where they said goodbye to their two bed-destined chauffaires. But the rest of the group was not about to go to bed. No, they were ready to bring the rage and party all night! In fact, they had to because we only had hotel rooms for the drivers in order to cut costs. SO the team rallied and after jamming with some guys at the steps, and hit the town. After a few hours, the team managed to distance themselves quite well from the hotel where they needed to be the next morning. Yet after three hours and a four-mile walk across the winding, hilled south section of Rome, the group made it back to the hotel by 6.00 AM when they sharply all fell asleep to the delight of the drivers. God must have been on their side: after all, it was Rome. Back at the villa, the rest of the day was spent hanging out and enjoying some of the last moments in our new home away from home.
The last three days of tour flew by faster than all of the time we spend lost in the vans. Well, one of the vans. We first sang an incredibly long show (three 35-minute sets) for an exquisite, free meal in Bolognia. The next day we said goodbye to our villa and were on our way to Venice where every Aire successfully got lost, either psychologically or physically, in the beauty of the floating city. We sang in gondolas, ate pizza off of sheets of paper on the side of the road, listened to street performers, marveled at hand-blown glass and masks, and performed for an adoring crowd in the Piazza San Marco on Easter Sunday. From Venice the group finished off their day with a tired night in Milan, summing up the past twelve ridiculous days.
And clad again in their green sweatshirts, the crew made their way into the vans and onto an airplane bound for New York. With newly bought goods from all over France and Italy, and even more amazing experiences tucked in their back pockets, the Aires bid adieu to Europe and ended a tour like none other.
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