Italian Elvis
Trip Start
Apr 01, 2008
1
29
Trip End
Ongoing
Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy
Friday, June 20, 2008
My first impression of him was an inquisitive one. After all, how often do you see an Italian man wearing all black and over ten extremely colourful ties. His hairstyle was unmistakably an imitation of The King's which seemed very out-of-place on a middle aged man. He was noticeably thin and tall for an Italian man and he carried an enormous black luggage case that took a great deal of effort to carry up and down the many station stairs.
At first the loud speaker kept repeating a message in Italian that few on the platform could understand, but everyone knew it wasn't good. There were announcements in-between the Italian ones in English, but every time they started a cargo train would pass through causing enough noise to force me to cover my ears. This happened two or three times, but eventually a computerized female voice with a British accent announced, "The train departing at eleven zero four pm for Vienna and Prague will be delayed for 65 minutes due to problems with the locomotive. Sorry for the drawback." The platform groaned loudly. A few minutes later the voice said, "The train departing at eleven zero four pm for Vienna and Prague will be delayed for 90 minutes due to problems with connecting trains. Sorry for the drawback." The message altered every ten minutes changing the arrival platform from three to four to three again until the final announcement said, "The train departing at eleven zero four for Vienna and Prague will be delayed for 120 minutes due to problems with the locomotive. Sorry for the Drawback." The message changed a few more times from a 110 minute delay to 115 minute delay, but in the end the train arrived 120 minutes after its due time on platform three. These messages also alternated reasons for the delay saying sometimes that there was a problem with the locomotive or that there was a problem with the connecting trains and conflicts with arriving trains on the same platform.
Jesse was a bit upset with the delay, but eventually came up with a plan for the next part of our trip. His plan was to find a bottle of cheap Italian wine so that we would be able to sleep easily on the train. He decided to wonder around Udine in search of an open store. This task seemed relatively easy as the train station appeared to be in the middle of the city and Udine is a medium size city. The problem lie in that Italy has a tendency to shut down after eight pm . So Jesse set out on his own adventure in Udine without any knowledge of what he would miss on this warm dark night on platform three.
This seems like it would be the most memorable part of this train trip and a severe inconvenience, but we were arriving at our hotel far too early to check in anyway and we were in no hurry. Besides the plan was to drink wine and sleep until Salzburg . I was sitting on a bench by myself guarding the luggage that Jesse had intricately locked together with a kryptonite lock when I noticed the Italian Elvis open his large case and pull out a guitar case. The seven people on the platform immediately turned their attention to him. He sat and tuned his guitar for a few minutes and no one's attention shifted. He stood up and began playing. Based on his appearance, I didn't expect much more than a mediocre busker taking advantage of a small, but captivated audience, but I was, as was the rest of the audience, pleasantly surprised. He broke out into a full set starting with "Blue Suede Shoes", "All Shook Up", and then moved into a series of songs Elvis would have sung in Hawaii . He had a beautiful voice and his playing was expert. He could shake his knees like Elvis and played in-between announcements and through the passing cargo trains. Everyone clapped and people passing by the station joined the platform to listen. The Italian Elvis finished his set, refused to take any money, bowed, and put away his guitar.
Jesse returned having failed to find an open store. I attempted to explain what he missed, but somehow through my explanation it lost it's magic. The train finally arrived, everyone clapped, and we all got on. The train was uncomfortable, completely full, and I was not able to sleep, but when I think back on that night all I remember is the amazing vocal stylings of the Italian Elvis.
