And the bombs bursting in Air.... Fireworks are prolific here. I'm guessing they are cheap, or little Vincenzo down the street wouldn't have had the aerial bombardment suffered upon us for his 3rd birthday....A sad side effect of selling cheap fireworks, other than a culture of sloth footed childeren, is the proliference itself, and the 'experienced' amateurs who are tasked with setting up the enormous displays....take for instance the big Virgin Mary festival we witnessed the other nite....after listening to an hours worth of the yawn inducing musical prose of Antonello Venditi (Manal chimes in with "He's the Italian Version of Tom Jones"), we are subjected to the most hazardous looking fireworks display in my experience.....

...for anyone who has ever witnessed the spectacle of the International Fireworks Competition in Montreal, you would know fully of the beauty of such large displays...At park Jean-Drapeau, the firework displays are set up, and certainly, a perimeter is set up around the park, keeping onlookers at a safe distance, as determined by some expert.

....In Nola, there are apparently no experts. There are no limits to how close you may come...only your own common sense stands as a virtual barrier between you and immolation....So, the other night, let come close as we've ever been to a fireworks show, we took most of our liberties in approaching at an unsafe distance.....when the fire started falling from the sky, I began to think that maybe we were a little too near...sure the 'works looked more magnificent then ever...they were blowing up right over head, and the perspective effect provided was great...like the firey branches of a willow sweeping down on you from above....but then there was a stray bomb that ventured to shoot itself right towards us spectators, and you wouldn't have beleived my joy when it did finally ignite in a shower of silver streaks right beside my vantage point, not 10m away!.....I was in the show!....we were laughing while running for our lives...!...we feared God, and still waited against all better judgement to see the Finale (which indeed was grand)....

...come to see the fireworks here, they make you part of the show. Its fun. And dangerous...but if you don't get blown up by it, you may be happier then you've ever remembered after watching such a spectacle..  ¶ 02:21