April 25, 2009

went to a club in La Cascine Park. This club called Central Park was having its opening night, so we decided to go. It's a seasonal club, because it's supposed to be an outdoor club, but when we got there, it was all inside. It was really huge, with lots of different dance floors and bars. We didn't leave the main room so that we didn't loose anyone, so I guess there might have been an outdoor part somewhere, but it didn't really look like it. I was definitely disappointed that it wasn't outside.

When we went in, we were told that girls were free, but they had a card system. When you enter the club, you're given a card. Every time you buy a drink, they punch the card. At the end of the night you have to bring the card up to the cash register on your way out. Then you have to pay for whatever drinks you've bought and any entry fee before you're given an exit ticket. The bouncers at the exit check your exit ticket to make sure you've paid. If you lose your card or your exit ticket you have to pay 50! euro. Luckily I didn't lose my card, but when I brought it to the cash register, the woman told me I owed a euro. I asked her why, but she didn't speak English, so she grabbed another woman to talk to me. This woman told me that the euro goes to the CI (I don't know how it's spelled but it sounds like the letters C and I). The CI is the government sanctioned mob group that all events have to be registered with. They're also the ones who give out dancing licenses. That's right. You have to have a proper dancing license to be allowed to even have people clapping their hands in your establishment. So that one euro I had to pay to get of the club was basically a dancing tax. Italy definitely has some strange laws.