Our first excursion was to Riva di Garda on Lake Garda. I'll spare you pictures, because Miles and I were already there a month ago and you've already seen the pix. It was beautiful again, but this time it was more hazy and very few windsurfers since there wasn't much of a breeze.
Onward south along the lake, we stopped at a small village called Malcesine. What a sweet place, with very narrow alleys, cobblestone streets and fun shops.
Climbing up to the castle at Malcesine
Us with David and Debbie in Malcesine with Lago di Garda in the backgroundNext stop: Verona, about 1 hour south of Trento. What a charming and bustling city.
Welcome to Verona!
This is the setting of a few of Shakespeare's plays, so of course we had to explore where Romeo and Juliet lived. Sure enough, Juliet's balcony is a big tourist site.
"Oh Romeo, Romeo...where art thou?"
What are Miles and David doing, you ask? This is Juliet's statue and men (and women!) line up to touch Juliet's right breast for good luck. I must say, we were very lucky the rest of the day.
The real highlight of going to Verona was attending the opera in L'Arena di Verona. It is the 88th year of the Verona Summer Opera and we got tickets for Puccini's "Madama Butterfly". The arena is amazing. This is a 1st century a.d. arena much like the one in Rome, but this one is very intact. Really beautiful!
L'Arena by day...
...and by night
Welcome to Verona!This is the setting of a few of Shakespeare's plays, so of course we had to explore where Romeo and Juliet lived. Sure enough, Juliet's balcony is a big tourist site.
"Oh Romeo, Romeo...where art thou?"
What are Miles and David doing, you ask? This is Juliet's statue and men (and women!) line up to touch Juliet's right breast for good luck. I must say, we were very lucky the rest of the day.
The real highlight of going to Verona was attending the opera in L'Arena di Verona. It is the 88th year of the Verona Summer Opera and we got tickets for Puccini's "Madama Butterfly". The arena is amazing. This is a 1st century a.d. arena much like the one in Rome, but this one is very intact. Really beautiful!
L'Arena by day...
...and by nightThe arena holds about 25,000 people and there were probably about 10,000 at the opera.
Our seats were rather far from the stage, but we had binoculars.
Act I, scene i: A superb set, designed by Zefferelli with a cast of at least 75
Act I, scene ii: Pinkerton marrying Butterfly
Brava! Brava! The opera was superb! What a thrill to see one so grand!
Our seats were rather far from the stage, but we had binoculars.
Act I, scene i: A superb set, designed by Zefferelli with a cast of at least 75
Act I, scene ii: Pinkerton marrying Butterfly
Brava! Brava! The opera was superb! What a thrill to see one so grand!After getting back to Trento at 2:30 am (zzzzz), we were off the next day by 10am to our old friends, the Dolomites. On the way, we couldn't help but stop and take a picture of something "only in Italy": a Lamborghini police car which is used to catch those Italian wannabee race car drivers on the autostrada (like Miles as a teenager).
Those Italian police have REAL style.
Back to the mountains. We drove about an hour to the Dolomites and took a cable car up to a hiking area called Alpe Siusi. We were in the another area of this mountain-top alpine meadow with our other visitors about a month ago. I mistakenly thought Alpe Siusi meant Swiss Alpine area, but it is a Tyrolean name that has nothing to do with Switzerland. Just a coincidence.
Those Italian police have REAL style.
Another shot of those beautiful mountains in Alpe Siusi
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