Shop til you drop!

• It rained until about 4:00.
• Yesterday people were armed with gelato cones. Today there are masses of moving umbrellas.
• We got up and out a bit earlier than yesterday. Eating at the Bar Gallieno was like camping — under a tarp while it rained.
• Shoe shopping (finally some shoes!).
• We went to a photography exhibit at the Centro Internazionali dei Fotographia Scavi Scaligeri, an exhibition space in the midst of subterranean medieval ruins. They usually have pretty good exhibits, and this one was too.
• Lunch was at another pastry place, recommended a long time ago by our friend Marco for their panzerotti.
• We made dinner reservations, senza backpack, before heading back for a siesta and to watch L'Arena in the rain from our room.
• We tried out a new to us pastry place for cookies to get energy for more shopping.
• We got a couple contemporary copperplate engravings from 19th century images of L'Arena, more shoes ("the ruby slippers"), and jars of wild boar sauce. They didn't have the ragù that we'd gotten last time, but the woman said that she preferred this type, and if you want a ragù you just add tomatoes. At the bookstore C gave the owner a challenge by asking for a mystery set in Verona, or at least in the Veneto (the region Verona is in). Eventually, he did get one, with a food theme, too. Later he saw a big promotional sign for it in another bookstore and he read in the paper that it was the third-best selling novel in Verona the previous week. Next time he'll ask at this other bookstore... The best selling non-fiction work was the Pope's "Jesus of Nazareth." The Italian press often refers to Pope Benedict XVI as Ratzinger, his family name, while the U.S. press never does. The hotel umbrella we had was stolen from the umbrella stand while were inside the bookstore. Sheesh! At least it stopped raining before we had to get back.
• Back to the hotel briefly after an aperativo across the street from the bookstore. They had the porkrind nibbles that we remembered as being ubiquitous last summer.
• Restaurant observations:
  • We need to revise our ratings. Casa Vino has better food than al Duca, so they shouldn't both get 5 stars. But we like al Duca for sentimental reasons — Marco and Stefi took us there for our first meal in Verona. So al Duca gets a parenthesized 5th star.
  • The waiter added wine to L's glass, which M and S had told us long ago is bad luck. L said that it must be bad luck for the waiter, not her. This led C off on a monologue about Donatism (actually mentioned in a guidebook for Provence, since Emperor Constatine ruled against the Donatists at a council in Arles), the 4th century heresy that sacraments administered by a priest in state of sin are not valid. San Zeno, the patron saint of Verona, preached extensively against this heresy, which originated in Egypt, and which was popular in North Africa, where San Zeno (purportedly) came from. The problem with Donatism is that the sacrament receiver gets the sacrament (baptisms, communion, etc.) in good faith(!), almost certainly not knowing whether the priest is in a state of sin or not.
  • Many Brits came in and spoke only English, which was surprising. It must be in some British guidebook that the proprietor speaks English. They didn't even bother to say "Buon giornio" or anything. Where do they think they are?
  • One British couple came in with a girl 7-8 years old who fell asleep — way past her bedtime. Each of the parents was reading their own (guide?) book.
  • The restaurant got a lot more crowded, and noisy, at 9:00 when the Italians (mostly) arrived. Before that, it was mainly tourists, and us.
  • We confused the proprietor twice, first by ordering the cheese plate, then by getting recioto (dessert wine) instead of dessert. Not exactly tourists, but not locals, either.
  • We weren't as full as last night, which was a good thing!
• More L'Arena watching on the way back to the hotel.