Saturday June 18th, 2005

We left at noon from Florence to go to Verona to see Nabucco (which has been my favorite opera that we've seen here). We got there at about 3 pm, so we had a few hours to walk around. So, Marie took us for an informal tour of Verona. We saw Roman ruins, an old Roman city that's now a museum, the garden of Romeo and Juliet and saw Juliet's balcony. Obviously it's a fictional story, but Verona is playing it up for a tourist attraction. The main street is all marble and lined with designer stores like Gucci, Armani and Louis Vitton. In fact, when we walked by Louis Vitton on our way to wait in line for the opera, there were 6 security guards outside Louis Vitton not letting anyone in. Inside you could see they were serving appetizers to the selected guests. It was quite the ordeal. We tried to see who the celebrity was that all the commotion was over, but we couldn't see anyone we recognized. So, then we went to stand in line (you can't really call it a line) in the MOB of people waiting to get into the Arena di Verona for Nabucco. It was a FULL house! The Arena di Verona holds 32,000 people and looks kinda like a smaller version of the Colliseum. It was pretty disgusting standing in the mob, because it was SOOO hot (I know I know, not that long ago I was complaining that it was cold) and everyone is touching each other trying to get a good seat since it's general admission and sharing sweat. It was SO gross!!! But it was cool in a way that there were THAT many people out to see an opera. Very cool. The opera wasn't over until 1 or 2 am and then we had to ride back to Florence after that. We didn't get back until 5:30 in the morning. I was so tired and I had a blanket with me (it got chilly in the morning back in Florence) so I wrapped my blanket around me and my bag as we trekked the 20 minute walk home sleepily. Then, I got home, and CRASHED. I didn't get up until 3 pm on Sunday.
Sunday was uneventful so I won't post for that day... P.S. I was told that I look like the French top model, Latitia Casta... How is everyone going to deal with my ego when I get back? Haha!
Ciao e baci e vi amo!!!