Aida!

... is tonight's entertainment, in the open air Arena di Verone. Not really my tasse de thé, but I can pretend to be a culture vulture for an evening!

The train to Verona was thankfully uneventful - last night was a late one, and I was on the 9.10 train out of Rome this morning. Dinner with my family was perfect - the food was delicious (didn't I say it would be?) and everyone was on sparkling form. They were, of course, later than they said they'd be, so I sat on the steps of a fountain to wait for them (at 8pm it was still 27 degrees). Two men, at opposite corners of the square, were shouting and gesticulating to each other, and then decided to come and sit right next to me - despite there being loads of room elsewhere. Suffice to say I suddenly felt the need to stretch my legs...

Anyway, once the family arrived we went and had a drink in a lovely little square (my first margarita - I think, that's the one with the salt-rimmed glass right? - with enough tequila to stun a buffalo... Then off for food and several bottiglie di vino. It was a great night and nice to have people to chat to.

You see, everyone said to me, ohh interrailing, you'll meet loads of people doing the same. But do you know what, most of the people doing it are teenage boys and, even if they weren't, I'm not good with strangers and find it hard to strike up conversations. Part of it is wariness at being a woman travelling alone - those two men from the square might have been perfectly harmless - but it's mostly just my innate shyness. And really, I'm mostly happy with my own company. As long as I've got a book and a mobile phone I can go anywhere. I think that if anyone stole my bag I'd be most upset at the loss of my Kindle!

Anyway, enough of that, I've got an opera to get to ;-)

Arrivederci x