About This Book

You might think, from the title, it’s a love story.
It is, sort of.
You might also think it’s a travel guide to Italy.
It is, sort of.
Giving it the casual flip-through you might think it’s a magazine full of beautiful photos and very peculiar articles. You’re getting warmer.
With all the music and melodrama you might even say “rock opera?”
Warmer still.
Above all, this is a true story, if not the whole truth and nothing but.
If you couldn’t have guessed by the title, you may have realized by now this is a post-modern melting pot of experiences. The joy of victory, the agony of blistered feet.

The photos were taken by the author, Frederick Noble, for the most part. There are probably some by my guide, Heather. I had to go back a few years later and snap a few more shots that I’d missed. On that return trip I served as the guide for Dale Norris, who’s photos also appear at random, and David Cornelius, who may have taken a shot or two in there as well.

The songs are credited to their writers, when I could find them, and often to the artist who’s version is stuck in my head at the time.
The story was written as it happened, a diary, of sorts, documenting the events as they unfolded. When my own words fail me, as they often do, I defer to the words of others and try to give credit where credit is due.

Hopefully I’ve credited everyone correctly. If not, my sincerest apologies.

Hopefully I’ve communicated this tale clearly. If not, there’s not a lot more I can do, you’ll just have to live such an adventure yourself.
But enough prelude, let’s get on board. Please put your seat in its full upright position…

"Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who
Before us pass'd the door of Darkness, through,
Not one returns to tell us of the Road,
Which to discover we must travel too."
Edward Fitzgerald, from The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám