Italy and Beyond

 There was another excursion with the group today to Vicenza, but we chose to not do it and just stay behind and relax.  We had breakfast, then I decided to head out to check out a couple of spots I hadn’t seen, or photographed, so I did that. This is what Verona claims: Another piece of the still-standing Roman architecture at the arena.  We are going to be in there watching Aida tonight! I decided to head up to the top of the hill where Castel San Pietro is.  Fortunately, there is a funicular up. These are some shots from the top, looking over Verona.  I’ve marked where the Roman amphitheatre is.  At one time, it was on the outskirts of the town (when built by the Romans).  So everything between the river and that arena was originally developed at that time.  Things have been updated and changed since, obviously, but the plan of the town is similar.   The river is called the Adige.    And the funicular down I returned to our hotel after stopping at the wine store - again, and for som

 Today was a walking tour of Verona.  If you will recall, this is where Romeo and Juliet lived.  But it has a famous, old Roman arena where plays, usually opera, are performed at night. This was offered for breakfast - a giant-sized container:   There are a few people out there who would love it. So we gathered outside our hotel this morning to have our guide guide us to another guide’s meeting point.  Before we left, we had this picture taken of 3 of us:  Eleanor, Tim and me. The 3 of us attended Park Street Collegiate in Orillia (obviously Tim at a much later time than Eleanor and me).  Eleanor is sending this photo to the music teacher we had as we all played for him in the high school band, and he remembers us. This is advertising for the opera, Aida (which, by the way, we’re seeing tomorrow night).  Nice job. And this is the old Roman arena in Verona.  Something to learn…the word “arena” is Latin for “sand”.  The floors of all the Roman arenas had sand on them in order to absorb t

 Sorry, I’m late posting this - again. Yesterday morning we were up and at ‘em early. Just waiting outside the hotel for our buses. Pertaining to our concert last night, someone in the audience sent this message to us:   “ Good evening.  I attended your beautiful musical show in Cavriana this evening.  I was truly moved to hear the perfection of the instrumentalists and the great commitment they showed.  As I listened to the music I observed the impassive and concentrated faces of the musicians and I understood once again that as long as there are these angels playing AND as long as we have an audience that loves this great gift that is music, we will no longer have wars.  Thank you for the warmth you have sent us.  See you soon!  Joseph” Beautiful message.  They actually want us to go back next year :/ Today was a drive to Mantua with a tour of part of the old town, then to Verona, where we’re staying for the next 3 nights. When we arrived in Mantua, we met up with a tour guide for th

 Today was the first day since we got here where we could just sleep in and didn’t have to be anywhere at any specific time.  All morning and early afternoon we could just do whatever we wanted.  We weren’t really close to the downtown area of Desenzano, but they had the buses here for us to go downtown if we wanted to.  We chose to just chill.   I did wander to a grocery store to pick up something for later as we won’t have much time, nor places to go, to eat.  We’ll be leaving for our concert spot around 5:30 where we’ll do a bit of a sound check and short rehearsal for our concert at 9 pm. I did take a couple of pictures while I was out.  A couple of the mountains across the lake. Oh, and did I mention it was raining?  Yeah - a couple of downpours at times.  Another reason why we didn’t really feel like going into town. And this is the Palace Hotel where we’re staying.  Quite a lovely spot and the nicest hotel yet in our travels here. We just grabbed some lunch at the hotel.  When w

 This morning we hopped on the bus, leaving Cremona behind, and headed up to Lake Garda, about an hour away.  Our first stop was Sirmione, which is on the spit of land sticking into Lake Garda.  The poet Catullus wrote about Sirmione as his most beautiful place on earth - well for him, within the Roman Empire. So we get to Sirmione and it’s raining.  It’s actually been raining the last couple of days.  But, we want to take a boat trip anyway…just because.  It was quite a challenge with the rain, but hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Here we are on the boat: Even though they had covers overhead, water and rain were an issue.  But hey, when we look back on this, we’ll just laugh about it.  There were some interesting moments. When we started out, the boat driver (who did not speak English very well at all) started up some Latin music.  Well, that didn’t go over very well on a boat filled with classical musicians.  We tried to tell him, but he didn’t understand, although he did turn