Verona - Continued

As the crowd along the outer rim of the arena shuffled restlessly waiting for more news about the weather, another announcement came on saying the weather was looking hopeful, but they needed more info from the weather station. The crowd busted into cheers. Then the most American thing happened - people all around the ancient stone arena began doing the wave. After about 5 times circling around the old oval stadium, the wave died down, but the image of the event was firmly planted in my head. Laughing to myself, I settled back just in time to hear the announcement that the show would continue. The first act finished rather quickly, with a ten minute intermission (seemingly pointless) following. The second act, sadly, put me to sleep, as it was already almost midnight. Waking up each time to clap before falling back asleep, the second act didn't really penetrate my closed eyelids. By the time the intermission after the second act rolled around, I was definitely ready to head back to the room to sleep. Yet from the insistence of one of my classmates who needed my key to get into the apartment, I stayed. In the end, I was glad to stay and see that last act. The conductor of the pit orchestra was very exciting to watch, with his exuberance almost greater than the actors. Finally, I was able to get to bed around 1 o'clock, ready for Venezia (Venice) the following day.