Ellen in Italy

Ahhh, Italy. Ellen here. Ken was unable to join us on this leg of the tour so the report was left to me, the procrastinator. Fortunately, the memory lingers on.

Torino is a lovely city, with much of the downtown shopping district defeating the rain with covered stone sidewalks. I wondered how services to buildings could be installed or upgraded without damaging those beautiful sidewalks, and how power was distributed with no overhead wires. Then I discovered the grates in the sidewalks and streets, below which could be seen the water, sewer, gas, and electric lines running through well finished tunnels beneath the streets. 

The theatre, housed in a very old stable (think thick stone walls and soaring ceilings),  has a huge stage and an intriguing back stage area with squat toilets and wide stone staircases leading to the upper floors. Mounting a play with high tech features seemed somewhat incongruous, but the audience never noticed. They had FUN! So much fun that I was immediately reminded of audiences in Mexico.  And of course the food and grappa did not disappoint. Can you spell “frais du bois”? In October?

Udine is a real jewel of a city, with antiquities at every turn. Our hotel was close to the theatre, with coffee bars and small restaurants en route, to say nothing of tiny fruit and vegetable stands with fabulous displays of fall mushrooms (porcini and chanterelles to name a couple).

Before we opened the show, we had a fun, well attended press conference, with a wonderful woman doing simultaneous translation for us and for the Italian speakers. Now that’s talent! Once again, the theatre was packed and audiences most enthusiastic. One day three of us headed to the smaller, ancient nearby city  of Cividale where pursuit of food and drink took precendent over sightseeing. The train ride there and back and the bus trip from Torino to Udine were the only daytime surface trips we had on this leg of the tour. Nice to see some of the countryside and enjoy the amazing roadside facilities on offer.

All too soon it was off to the Venice airport (we were able to see the skyline in the very dim early light) and home. Unfortunately, the joy of Air Canada replaced the real pleasure of Lufthansa to bring us back to Vancouver via Calgary, where the spirit of the Olympics still lingers, represented by red clad greeters at the airport.