NZ vs. Ireland!

Sometime over the summer (July-ish for Southern Hemispherers) E got in touch and asked if I wanted to go to NZ vs. Dublin. In November. No one can say she doesn't like her rugby! She sorted out tickets, I booked a flight, and we were ready! 

Four months early. 

But, November did eventually arrive and we made our merry way to Dublin to watch NZ crush Ireland. Which they didn't really do. We scraped a win in overtime having been losing for the entire game. 

Ignore the possessive apostrophe, we were still excited to be welcomed!

Kenny thankfully lent me a Kiwi shirt, and black and white eyeliner had our cheeks ready too!

Eleanor's cape. Sorry, flag. 

Ireland got way more fireworks than us, but the national anthems were still cool. Ireland seemed to have two which I'm still a little confused by. 

As I said, the game didn't look good for us for about 70 minutes. Eleanor struggled to deal with the stress. 

We founded some kindred spirits behind us who were also feeling the tension. 

Celebration!

P.S. Thanks to Peter for the accommodation once again, Kenny for the shirt, and Eleanor for the idea. Also thanks to the Irish for a brilliant game and a good spirit in the pubs afterwards!

In fair Verona...

I am yet again having computer issues, or rather a continuation of the last issue, so I haven't written anything for a while. I am also in the midst of exams - my first is tomorrow which is possibly why I have abruptly decided to start blogging again now! Procrastination can be surprisingly productive for every other little thing you should do. 

A while back (think Halloween) Peter came to visit. Milan is not my favourite city, so I didn't want to stay here, and I hadn't seen much of Italy, so we grabbed a train to Verona. 

 We checked out the Casa di Giulietta (Juliet's house), though didn't venture up to her very crowded balcony. Nerd Nina feels the need to point out that Verona isn't necessarily the home of Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare based the play on a story that had been around for a long time, but Verona was his own addition.
So the house is a tourist trap but it's still a nice touch. For anyone who's seen Letters to Juliet, there really is somewhere to post letters to Juliet but you don't put them in a wall. There's a nice little postbox perched handily in the courtyard.

Fabric mounted on the walls of this stairwell is covered with declarations of love. It's then stretched across frames and sold in the gift store. 

As you can see, the line for the balcony was sizable. 

 After Juliet's house we went wandering around Verona, popping up a small hill to see the local castle.

Some kind of tomb. Very ornate anyway. 

 In the main square there was a market so we had a look before visiting the Colosseum of Verona.

We grabbed some dinner (Peter got donkey!) and returned to Milan to next day. So just a quick 'day in Verona' post. Hopefully my computer chooses life and I can tell you about the rugby in Ireland soon!