Day 9

(post author, Annette with various editorial changes by Norma)

Annabel and I insisted Norma stay home and nurse her sprained ankle. (Norma was pain free because of the excellent medical care and reluctant but obedient.) We set out for Piazza Bra, a beautiful piazza with a row of restaurants with large outdoor seating areas, and then on to the Roman arena without once getting lost.  Anabel climbed to the top row of stone seats for a view of the surrounding city. We learned that Aida had been performed here and we imagined how glorious that must have been. 

Porta Borsari, a city gate

Piazza Bra'

                                                                             

Roman Arena

 We then walked to Castlevecchio a huge castle with a moat, parapets and many courtyards, the home of the Scaligeri family.

View of Castlevecchio bridge from castle

We explored the museum containing many galleries of Italian art from the 13th to the 18th century. We were exhausted but determined to see it all and after 2 hours we left, settled at the nearest restaurant across the street from the castle entrance and realized we had left with our audioguides (which we returned.)
 We called Norma who was eager to jump in a cab and join us for another great lunch across the street from the Castelvecchio.

Anabel thinking about lunch in the Piazza across from the Castelvecchio

We did it again...another terrific lunch. Norma had a delicious meat filled tortellini dish with butter and sage typical of the town of Valeggio (near Verona), Anabel had some so-so gnocchi and Annette had pasta with asparagus. We had our only Valpolicella wine of the trip (an entire delicious bottle) and then finished with a sinful dessert of layers of puff pastry with creme Anglaise.

Dessert...we dug in before the photo was taken. It was much prettier to start.

Not such a good wine in the U.S. We loved this one, the whole bottle!!

We then all walked to the San Zeno church which took us along the picturesque Adige River and with views of the Castelvecchio and its bridge.

San Zeno dates back as far as about 500.

As you enter, you see simultaneously a lower level, dimly lit, containing behind gates the tomb of St. Zeno and an upper level with the main chapel and altar.

A choir and small orchestra was rehearsing in the main chapel and we climbed the stairs to sit and listen to Mozart, enjoying both the music and the acoustics in this incredible setting. (No luck attaching the video with sound to this blog.)

We took a cab home, shopped for groceries and had a light supper featuring one of Annabel's wonderful salads. We listened to opera on Norma's phone while a spectacular hailstorm with thunder and lightening matched the drama of the singing.