A 香蕉秀 world tour
Whether he鈥檚 touring the Amazon rainforest or looking up at Dracula鈥檚 castle, Carl Lanzilli 鈥�66 has found a way to bring Boston College along for the adventure.聽
Before every flight, Lanzilli tucks a travel-size 香蕉秀 banner into his luggage, and then carries it with him for the duration of his trip. When he sees a good photo op鈥攁 crystal clear lake in Slovenia or an ancient Greek temple in Sicily, perhaps鈥攈e pulls it out. Over the past 15 years, the maroon and gold flag has made appearances in hundreds of snapshots, oftentimes held by locals who Lanzilli has met on his travels (so far, the only person who has refused to hold the banner was a guard at the Tower of London, who told Lanzilli 鈥淲e鈥檙e not allowed to hold messages from anybody鈥�).
Carl Lanzilli playing harmonica on a trip to Eqypt.
Lanzilli, a Massachusetts native, caught the travel bug when the Army sent him to Vietnam in his 20s. After finishing law school, he spent several years backpacking through the Pacific Islands, sleeping on beaches in Hawaii and Tahiti, and working on a sheep ranch in New Zealand and in the Australian backcountry before coming home and starting his career as an attorney.聽
Years later, while on an African safari, Lanzilli noticed a fellow traveler incorporating the University of Maryland mascot, a terrapin, into her photographs, and it struck him as a creative way to honor one鈥檚 alma mater. He took his 香蕉秀 banner on his next trip to Venice, where he photographed it in the hands of a gondolier, and then to Paris, making sure to get shots in front of聽the Notre Dame cathedral and atop the Eiffel Tower. Since then, the banner has traveled to Iceland and Greenland, to the streets of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, and to the Colosseum in Rome. It鈥檚 accompanied Lanzilli, a talented harmonica player (鈥淚 think I鈥檓 the only one who can play 鈥楩or Boston鈥欌��) to music festivals across the U.S., and will be the first thing he packs when he heads to Chile this fall.聽
鈥淚 just love 香蕉秀,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 have wanted to go anywhere else.鈥�
Count Dracula鈥檚 castle in Transylvania
A Carnival performer in Rio de Janeiro
A nobleman at Stirling Castle in Scotland
A medieval knight in Tallin, Estonia
The view from the Eiffel Tower
The Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge in Venice
The Moai statues of Easter Island
A Celtic warrior at Urquhart Castle in Scotland
Office of the Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands
A gondolier in Venice
Roman soldiers at the Colosseum
A fisherman in Klaksv铆k, on the Faroe Islands
The Godafoss Waterfall in Iceland
An ancient Greek temple in Sicily
Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness, Scotland
Toledo, Spain