A wet start as the rain started at 5:30am. This wasn’t too bad as we had decided to go into Venice early to go to the bell tower, St Mark’s Cathedral and Rialto Bridge. It showered heavily throughout the morning, but didn’t put the tourists off. 

The bell tower gives fantastic views of the city. 

After we went into the incredible cathedral with life size mosaics on every wall. Their love  of gold is clearly represented here too as the background to every picture. There is a balcony here which is the best place to see the clock and bell which is struck by metallic statues. 

Hannah showing the main canal. 

The bridge was exceptionally busy and under reconstruction. But we did see it. 

By 12:30 we made our way back to the campervan. We had a slight detour as the bus we got on decided to change its number after the first two stops from 6 to  4. The locals realised the bus had been signed incorrectly so the left after two stops. We took a little longer and decided sensibly to wait until we reach a larger station. We got advice from the station cashier and made our way back to the camp site.We left for Verona which is an hour away. It’s complex city roads that are not for the faint hearted! But Simon managed them confidently in the van – which is why he drives! We parked and went into the centre, walked around the arena and shared a couple of calzones each before lining up for the opera, IL Travatore.

The arena is an old Roman theatre and we had unassigned seating so we sit on the stone steps. Hannah and Robert decided to buy themselves  cushions. The view was good and the set was amazing. It had a subtitled screen which translated the Italian to English. There are 7 key singers but a supporting cast of over 200. 

 Unfortunately it started raining just before the last scene and the performance was suspended. As Hannah was asleep we decided to leave it could of been 40 minutes or more before the performance continued and it was nearly 11pm. We drove back to the campsite which was still in party mode at 1am (backpackers seem to like this site as well) and went straight to sleep. What a great day and a wonderful experience. Robert wants to see more operas as he really enjoyed it. Hannah did too, but she was very tired and was fast asleep by the interval. She did wake up occasionally to join in the clapping. 

Tonya xx