I snapped out of it. For several days I honestly thought Alan's Italy had come to the end of a great run. Then I was browsing through some old albums and my interest came to life. I am currently working on a show on the City of Verona in Northern Italy. I have put in some work researching and assembling the images, and now have a good idea of how it should be presented. I will begin to shoot probably this weekend. Today I will probably plan out the sequence of events with greater detail and an eye towards how the show will develop. I am sort of excited by it. One of the problems with the Verona album is that for various reasons, back in 2007 when we took the trip that included the storied city, we only took about 45 photos. It was an overnighter with us staying in a lovely hotel right in the city center (which everyone should know by now is what we always do - as opposed to staying out of town at an agritourismo or some other place in the countryside). We hardly photographed the hotel, and even left out several key sights. It was a rainy day which always puts a damper on attempts at sightseeing. We did take 4 videos which are fascinating, but with such "fertile" territory as Verona, we should have many more.
I suppose the cause of the problem rests in three areas. First we were very new at using digital cameras; this was only the second or third time we were using it for the trip. Second, we had no idea that four and a half years later I would be producing the TV show. Had we gone to Verona now on a future trip, we would surely plan to take more videos, and even many more photos, and certainly not leave out some key sights even if we had to stay over an extra day. And finally this was a long vacation and I suppose that by the time we arrived in Verona after having already traveled for almost two weeks to Vienna, Salzburg, Bolzano, and Venice, we were probably a bit worn out; especially since we had rented a car in Salzburg and driven across some pretty daunting mountains and, if I recall, treacherous roads through the Dolomites. I recall the drive we made from Bolzano south around (but into) Trento, east to Roveretto, and then south southeast to Venice. The drive once we left Roveretto was, up to that time - I believe the fourth time I had driven in Europe - very anxiety producing, with the road winding, sloping up and down, and with the typical blind curves I later had to deal with to an even greater degree. I remember Laura saying, hey look at that view, and my hands tightly gripping the steering wheel and my eyes fixed on the road ahead. Needless to say I missed that photo op!! When we finally pulled into the Tronchetto Parking Lot just outside of Venice, I was happy to give up the car for a few days. Then back in the car we decided to stop in two places on the way to our next destination of Varenna on Lake Como (the first time we ever visited that area). As I always do and certainly did back when driving was a part of just about every trip, I studied the map to see what was between Venice and Varenna. It turns out that Verona was my first choice among the three main Veneto Cities of Vicenza, Padua, and Verona. I almost made it to Verona back in 2002 during my third solo trip, and then as I was buying the ticket to board from Venice as a day trip to Verona, I found that there was an imminent railroad strike and if I went to Verona, I may not have been able to return.
So we left Venice, heading west on the autostrade for a very easy and welcome drive to Verona from Venice. That drive was not, however, free of worry. Before GPS use, I studied the map so I wouldn't get lost exiting Venice, and almost as soon as I left Tronchetto, took a wrong turn!! Amazing, but true. Nonetheless, we did arrive in Verona just after noon, drove to our hotel, left our luggage there as we usually did when pulling into town, and then I had to find a distant parking lot and walk back to the hotel, all in the rain. Then probably around 2:00 PM, we headed out to various places that will be covered in the show. We left Verona the next morning and before we took our next stopover in Bergamo (southeast of Varenna and Lake Como), we stopped in the amazing town of Sirmione on Lake Guarda. Verona was a place I read about via William Shakespeare (to be explained during the show). Sirmione was a town that was described to me by a friend at the college many years ago. Bergamo was a town which my former principal at the high school told me about. Thus the plan for the two days between Venice and Varenna.
I am detailing all this because I probably would not describe such things during Alan's Italy. I should point out that although we did have a great drive from Salzburg to Bolzano and the parking lot in Bolzano was close to the hotel (LOL), I did have a harrowing experience that I never wrote or spoke on the show about. We went to the Reiferstein Castle just north of Bolzano on our drive south from Salzburg. We parked the car, and walked up the hill to the very, very charming castle when I suddenly realized I may have left my lights on. I left Laura and ran down the hill, saw that I did not leave my lights on, and headed back up the hill to the door of the castle where Laura was waiting. I saw three young women hiking up to the castle (I thought they were anyway). After about ten minutes I realized they were not going to the castle at all, but just going for a leisurely hike. I panicked, and tried to find my way back to the parking lot and got lost!!! Now minutes were ticking away as I could not find my way back to the car and the regular route up to the castle. Eventually I found my way, but Laura was indeed concerned about where I had been, and I was sweating profusely on a humid June afternoon.
I mention all these trials and tribulations to put in perspective what had transpired during this particular vacation in June 2007 which I will summarize on the show. But the bottom line.........I am back!!!! I hope.
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