Opera Crumbs (a trip to Verona)

So the professor that's here with us is the orchestra director. We are taking art, music, and Italian classes (as well as a literature class on english-language pieces that are about or set in Venice...). And our music professor decided to take us to the opera. For many of us, this was our first. To get to the opera, we had to go to Verona, which I assumed would be a charming, homey, city. However, it was dirty and industrial (well industrial for Europe). There were too many tourists (more noticeable than in Venice, though there are probably more in Venice) and there wasn't a whole lot there but a bunch of over-priced shops.
Anyway... I digress yet again. That's a habit with me.
So we took the train to Verona (the train station actually went quite smoothly even with twenty people) in our fancy clothes (well fancy as you might dress for church or maybe to give a more formal concert). Once there, we roamed the city for a few hours (boring) and found Juliette's balcony (touristy) with the statue of her and her right breast rubbed down... sigh. As an "artist" or whatnot, I really have a problem with people manhandling that statue, or any statue really. I don't think most of them are meant to be climbed on or rubbed incessantly... We went through the little tunnel to get to the balcony, which had six trillion love notes scrawled on it or on pieces of paper taped to it with gum or bandaids... I admit to scrawling a short note on a small piece of paper and dropping it in the tunnel (having no way of getting it on the wall and not wanting my friends to see that I had submitted to such a horrible touristy thing). I figured I might get scolded by a certain someone if I didn't write anything at all.
Then we had dinner in the most lovely restaurant. The waiter was wonderfully helpful, though he couldn't accomodate a certain person's request for mushrooms that ended up being exceedingly complex and none of us could figure out why. I tried to share a plate with a friend, assuming it would be large as the plates often are when you get pasta. But it was super-tiny and we both ate meagerly.
Finally the opera. La Rigoletta. I was so exhausted at this point (having stayed up most of the previous night to fight with that same certain someone from the love note) that for the first act I was falling asleep the whole time. I felt horrid about it. This is my first opera! I wanted to really experience it... So during intermission I got up and walked around. I moved seats to further back so that I could sit more comfortably rather than crammed in between friends. And when the second act started, I had perked up a little. The rest of the show was lovely. Costumes were well-done, which I always look for. The performers were talented, both with singing and with acting. The musicians seemed to do no wrong. And the sets were stunning. I was very happy.
The opera let out after midnight. There are no trains from Verona to Venice at that hour... in fact, there aren't any until 5:30 am. So we had to spend the night in Verona, on the streets. There were cafes open until 2, so we sat down at one and had after-opera snacks (ice cream, pizza, coffee, etc). I had the richest hot chocolate ever. I'm beginning to remember that Italian hot chocolate is like a melted chocolate bar, while the rest of Europe has normal hot chocolate with whipped cream on top even. I drank about two sips, downed my entire bottle of water (acqua minerale naturale), and handed my cup to the person next to me to be tried by the rest of the table. Should've gotten a pizza that night. I was starving.
When the cafe closed, we went into the park across the street, sat in a circle, and played a rousing game of Mafia. By the end of the game, half of us were bored out of our minds. (For the record, the mafia won after a couple hours.) We talked for a bit, tried some Never Have I Ever. We even changed NHIE to a PG-13 version because our professor was playing. We found that very different people won and lost when you took out the sexual components. I got second place, though! Yay!
Eventually it was time to head to the train station. We slept on the train and returned, exhausted, to Venice. Those who were tired took the vaporetto (large boat used as public transportation. with the passes we have, it costs one euro to get on the boat and go anywhere), and another group walked all the way home (probably two miles or so) and I believe some others got breakfast at a cafe. When we opened the door to our house, we ran up the stairs for food and then crashed on our beds. I slept for hours and hours that day. I had gotten five hours of sleep in two days. This from the girl who likes to sleep for twelve hours every night.
For those (Mom) who were curious, I wore my black velvet dress (tasteful velvet) that ties in bows in the back. I've worn it for a few choir concerts as well. I looked classy. :)