Posted on

A night at the opera and rain!!

I had an amazing night last night. With one of my friends from school (Anita) I went off to Torre del Lago which is this beautiful lake just back from the coast at Viareggio where Puccini had his summer house and wrote most of his operas. There is this amazing open air theatre there and we had the privilege of watching a performance of Tosca. Amazing!! A perfect midsummer night, one of those times when you just know how privileged you are to be doing this.

We got a shuttle bus there, had a lovely meal on a terrace over-hanging the lake as the sun set with extraordinary pastel hews across the lake…hard to describe but amazing. We then went and watched the opera in fantastic seats. There is also something about watching an opera in Italy, firstly you start(just start) to understand the words but secondly the enthusiasm of the audience is fantastic. Half way through the second act the soprano sang the aria (no programme so don’t know who she was and can’t find it online) and the audience went mad and started screaming ‘Bis’ ‘Bis’ for an encore so lo and behold the whole opera freezes while they repeat the aria…never seen that happen before…and then when she finishes the other actors pick up where they left off.
It went for 3 hrs + and we got back to Lucca at 1.30am and the apartment at 2am. A very late night for this old girl.

Then a few hours later, fortunately all tucked up in bed, the lightning and thunder started to pound and it rained!! As I sit and write this the thunder is cracking, its dark and rain is spitting. It is so humid but for the first time I have opened all the windows and it is cooler (not that it’s cool!!), its lovely.

Lots of writing up to do of the last week of school, photos to label etc so an indoors type of day…sneaked my coffee in during a break in the rain!!

Posted on

End of my penultimate week in Lucca

Yesterday Norjie left early in the morning and I set off for school. It was sad to see Norjie off but I hopped on the bike for school. Norjie had bought a fan while here because it was badly needed in the second bedroom. A friend at school was suffering badly because she didn’t have a fan so I said that when Norjie left I’d bring her the fan.

So I set off to school with fan and bag in basket of bike…a bit of a juggle and a bit wobbly but no worries I got myself to school but when I stood the bike up after I’d got off it over it went and the poor fan took it very badly i.e. mangled. Not to be defeated, I and a contingent of people at school set about bending into back into some sort of shape so that the blades could at least spin freely!! Oh dear…however it was working and Carmel (the woman) came to school today having had her first decent night’s sleep since arrival in Lucca last weekend.

It was a particularly bad day at school in that I was very tired and I just wasn’t getting it!! It was all about when to use Direct Pronouns, Indirect Pronouns and Reflexive Pronouns. Once again I was saying WTF??? No idea and just losing the plot.

Back at the ranch after school, that awful feeling of a very empty apartment. I overcame this feeling by marching off to the laundromat. Ever been laundromatting in 38 degree heat…I thought I seriously might die…but of course didn’t so have lived to tell the tale. I then spent a couple of hours or so going over this pronoun thing and trying to get my head around it all. Must say I felt much more in control of it at school today as a result. Nonetheless I didn’t feel too terrific in the evening. Everyone was heading off to listen to the Robbie Williams concert from outside the gates but I went to bed at 9ish…totally pooped. Most unusual for me.

Back on track today but Friday is always a sad day at school. My last day of being a student for this trip for sure. It’s been a great experience despite the failure of my brain to respond adequately. A fabulous school, great friends along the way and amazing teachers.

So…straight home today and no insane excursions to the laundromat. But tonight I’m off on an adventure with a friend from school to Torre del Lago, Puccini’s house by the lake, to an outdoor performance of Tosca by the Lake. It should be fun.