Verona
Travel day! We left our tower, ready to move towards something that was a little less grand, a little warmer and perhaps even a bit newer :). We started to Verona and Cathy mentioned that she’d like to go by a bakery on the way that she’d learned about. So 15 minutes after we started our trip, we stopped for cappuccino and pastries. Seriously yum. The driver (it wasn’t me) couldn’t believe we hadn’t gotten further, but it was a fun stop.
For the first time, we were seeing a town, Castiglione del Lago, that had people in it and there were young people both at the counter and having treats as well as older folks.
And then – we started on our way to Verona. An easy drive, the directions to the apartment were perfect and Luigi met us outside the door. We unloaded our things and took turns loading into the small, but lovely, elevator with Luigi’s instructions – close these doors tightly, then close this door tightly, then push the button to the 5th floor. And it worked! And when you get out, you have to repeat and make sure everything’s closed up tightly for the next person.
The apartment is very central, though we had no idea until we walked that afternoon looking for a late lunch/dinner. The apartment must have been recently renovated, everything works and it’s now warm and not raining for a bit. What a nice change. So we have windows open, bright rooms with lots of light and we settled in quickly.
Cathy had gotten tickets (which was NOT easy) to Peter Gabriel at the Arena, a giant Roman arena that’s still used for performances. Primarily opera from June to September, but also a few big music performances. It can hold 15,000 people, it was general admission and raining off and on, so we weren’t sure how it was going to go. But what a fun idea!
Tomorrow we are scheduled to meet a friend of a friend of Cathy’s who’s lived in Verona for the last 10 years, married to a Veronian man and who does tours for friends and family. She told Cathy there would be a big race downtown so let’s meet a bit later.. Leaf looked up the race and realized it was like the Bolder Boulder, lot of people, all ages/abilities and there was a 5k, 10k and 20k option. So we all decided – sure, we’ll do that too!
But we had to register – now. We went 4 blocks from our apartment and were at the center of things and saw the arena and absolutely throngs and lines of people. For the race registration? We finally found where to register for the race which was happening the next morning and realized all the lines we were looking at were people already lining up to get into the concert! Good grief.
Luckily, Rick had prepared in case we couldn’t get back before the concert and had extra bags to cover us if it rained, an inflatable pillow to sit on, a poncho (they were selling them for 5) and we got in line. Leaf went back to get Sharon who was getting some stuff settled at the apartment. We thought we could just tell them where we were. So didn’t work like that. It was crazy full and we were shuttled into some of the last seating. Leaf and Sharon ended up getting shuttled to the exact opposite side of the arena.
Getting into the arena:
But then – so fun. Bright colors because of the ponchos, gorgeous sky, the rain stopped and we were in a Roman arena 2000 years old listening to a concert! And the audience – crazy polite. The stone steps we were sitting on were a definite hazard and they took safety seriously. Very steep, very hard, and no handholds. We only saw 2 people leave and come back, presumably going to the bathrooms. We weren’t allowed to bring in pointy umbrellas or binoculars, or any food/drinks. When they sold cans of beer, they poured them into plastic cups and kept the cans, when they sold bottles of water, they opened them and kept the tops. All safety measures.
Guy selling drinks, look at all the colors of the audience!
It was pure fun – maybe some of the songs were slow and long, but the audience loved him and we loved the scene and enjoyed a lot of the music too. A great night!
Reb's Walks! 