Verona

This is the final report of this mission. We had to be on the coach by 9 to go to Verona. We needed a headset for when we got there to listen to a guided walk. But, because I didn’t go to Venice smenice I didn’t get a headset because they used the same ones. I would have done without but mum found a spare machine somewhere. However there was no earpiece so she made me ask the guide when he went past but he wasn’t interested. I would have called it quits then but she galloped after him when we got off the coach to ask again. He replied very sniffily that we should have asked before as he probably had none with him. But he did find some in his bag. I would have preferred to tell him where to shove them at that point but mum snatched them. So we set off for the walk but I deliberately didn’t listen. Bloody Venice mafia won’t beat me!
Anyway by walking at the front I could hear what she was saying without needing their precious headset. Turns out there never was a Romeo and Juliet. There’s a balcony with some tart pretending to be Juliet and all the bloody tourists are falling over themselves to have a photo holding the breast of a statue of a non-existent person. Idiots!
After the guided walk we had 3 hours to kill so strolled round Verona in the sun. There was a wine promotion this weekend. You pay 20 euros and get a wine glass and a little bag for round your neck to put the glass in and you get 9 tokens for “tastings”. Then there are wooden huts everywhere with people flogging their own company’s wine. The idea being, I guess that if you like the tasting you’ll buy a bottle. The result is that there are hundreds of people wandering the streets with wine glasses and the “tastings” seem to equate to a full glass. As the day wore on these people were getting progressively happier! I made do with my last Hugo over lunch.
Had our last meal tonight so also my last beer. Donato (alias Manuel) was on top form and we gave him a tip which produced handshakes and kisses for mum. If I sound a bit grumpy it’s because I sustained 9 mosquito bites last night and mother got none. It’s probably the bloody Venice smenice effect!