Opera, Southern Tirol and Flooding

Hi everyone!

On Monday, Michi and I drove to Verona, Italy. My mother-in-law, and brother-in-law, Traudl and Andreas, flew.

We left at the same time, and Michi and I arrived two hours after they did.

We did a lot of sightseeing in Verona, and rode the bus without paying. It's funny in Italy: you can't buy bus tickets in the bus. You have to go to a Tobacco shop. Our hotel was in an industrial area, where there weren't any Tobacco stores. So we were forced to ride without tickets.

Verona is great! Lots of history . . . but most of it is being renovated. Pay €5 to go into a church that's under construction?

Then "Nabucco" in the Arena di Verona. We're the cheap tickets, so we have to arrive early. The seats are great, and the Italians behind us are nicer than we've experienced anywhere else.

No loudspeakers, but you can hear everything. Wow. 20,000 spectators.

Then, the next day, drive to Kaltern, Southern Tirol. On the radio, we hear about flooding in Austria and Bavaria. We buy a newspaper from Munich. Well, according to the paper, almost all roads from Italy to Munich are flooded.

No problem! We'll be here for a few more days.

Eating, drinking . . . , Italians really know how to live!!!! All four of us had Spaghetti aglio olio (with garlic and olive oil), so the inside of our car was poisonous!

Some pictures next week!

On the way back, we were worried that we would have to go way out of the way to get home. We went to an internet cafe to check e-mails and to write an e-mail to Mom and Dad to let them know that we're okay.

I got an e-mail from Eduardo!!! He's the proud father of a little girl: Elena. August 15, everything's fine. Eduardo writes as if he's the first father on earth. I'm really happy for him and Karine.

We got home without problems; we saw (from the Autobahn) flooded areas, but it didn't effect us, thank God!

Back at home . . . laundry, ironing, etc. Michi has to dig a huge hole. Why? More next time . . .