Verona and a night at the opera

My itinerary post New York was to fly from JFK to Milan via Paris, meet my old friend Mike in Milan and then next morning take the train to Verona. The plan was for me to touch down in Milan about 10am. That was the plan, but...

The incoming Air France flight was 30 minutes late. So we boarded a little behind schedule. And then waited. And waited. We had missed our slot and they were in no hurry to give us another one.

Upshot was that I, and I suspect a majority of the people on that transatlantic flight, missed our connections. Fortunately there are a lot of Italian bound flights out of Charles De Gaulle, so I managed to get an evening flight. But let us say there are more pleasant ways of spending a day of one's holiday than sitting in CDG. I eventually met Mike at 10pm.

Next morning we set off to Verona. To our delight we had a really nice, spacious airbnb, hosted by a lovely lady with whom I had messaged so much we had almost become friends! It was called the Lucky House. Whether or not it was lucky, it certainly spoiled us for Milan (more of which in a later entry!)

Even had a four poster bed!

Mike had booked us seats at the opera for the evening, so we spent the afternoon just exploring Verona. (On my itinerary I had a full day sightseeing in the city planned, so this was more like a bonus.) First up, we passed the castle on our way from the airbnb to the historic centre.

The views from the castle bridge across the river are most picturesque.

Then onto the city and in particular we searched out the Roman arena which would be hosting the opera.

Time then for dinner and a leisurely stroll back o the arena to join the queues. One suspects Romans coming to see gladiatorial fights didn't need to go through bag searches.

So there we are going through the same Roman tunnels as people did almost 2000 years ago. You have to admire Roman engineering.

And here we are in the arena. With this enormous crane at the back positioning the scenery. A crane which as watched folded up to become inconspicuous.

The performance didn't start until 9pm in order to let the sun go down. We had chosen Aida as, to my understanding, it was meant to be a true spectacle. Now I have to confess I am not a great opera buff. To be honest I put it in the same category as juggling. I am impressed people can do it, but I don't feel the need to see it myself.

So what can I say? It was indeed spectacular. Towards the end I tried to count the cast I gave up at around the 200 mark. I am afraid the music and singing, although clearly requiring much talent to perform, left me cold. At nearly 4 hours (yes nearly 1 am before it finished), it was awfully long - I would have loved to have done some editing! And as for the plot, let me just observe that Princess Aida must have been extremely beautiful because she was a real moaning cow.

No regrets at having seen it. It is a stunning location, and the costumes etc were beautiful even at our distance (and we by no means had cheap seats!), but I wouldn't be in a hurry to go to the next one!

If you are wondering about the stage scenery, it is meant to be a hand, the fingers of which clench and unclench during the performance

The arena at night on our exit. Apparently Verona's arena was a prototype for the Coliseum