Financial ruin averted!

Phew, bit of a panic this afternoon. Had got myself a credit card for this trip which doesn't charge for purchases and ATM transactions abroad, my reasoning being that a) if I run out of cash I can get some easily and b) I only got euros in advance and I'll also need Swiss francs, Czech koruny and Slovenian thingummyjigs. So, first purchase attempt - a bottle of verbena perfume from L'Occitane. Card declined! Twice!! Tried ringing the number on the back of the card and the automated bit didn't recognise my selections, so all I could get to was an electronic voice telling me how to make a payment from an account with another bank. Just give me a person! Fortunately I was on the way back to the hotel anyway - threw my stuff on the bed and had s bit of a hissy fit, then have myself a talking to and went online, got another number and it's sorted. Hopefully... Thank HTC for smartphones.

So, I'm serenely sitting in the little park in Piazza Bra watching the sun lower over the arena and having a cream cheese, Parma ham and fruit picnic. There's so much life here, such rich people watching pickings, that the Kindle and DS have stayed in my bag. The girls at work (hi girls!) got me an alternative travel journal and I've brought it too. There's normal stuff like places you've visited and eaten, but other things like go to a tourist spot 'out of hours' and write down your impressions (I don't think Verona has out of hours though, so that'll have to wait) and listen in to someone's phonecall and imagine the other side of the conversation. Which I'd love to do but it's in rapid fire Italian, so I can only pick out the odd word!

Aida last night was stunning. The Arena's capacity is 15,000 and it was full. All the glamorous people in full evening dress were in the stalls, with the rest of us in tiered seating and in anything from dresses to shorts and t-shirts. I paid ?3.50 for a cushion and even through that, the heat from the stone terrace was phenomenal. The temperature here is in the mid to high 30's and it doesn't cool down appreciably until after midnight. Which was fine since it was a FOUR HOUR performance which finished at 1.15am. Not an ideal choice for my first opera I think - it's quite heavy going and if it hadn't been for the booklet Adele lent me I'd have been lost :-) But what a magical experience - I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

I hope everything is hunky dory with my friends - feel free to drop me an email, they're lovely to receive. A little ribbon connecting me to home whilst I wander.

Ciao x