'Museum' and Opera

We checked our emails at the Internet Café again. The Sicily house-sit is off. We never seemed to be on the right wavelength with them and in the end it seemed they just wanted employees who were to be paid in kind, and we didn’t see ourselves in that way. Anyway, we now have tickets to Sicily in winter but no place to stay, and no real reason to go. Still, we’ll make a holiday of it I’m sure. Speaking of which, C has booked her flights for January, so it will be nice to see her. O is coming too and we’re planning to spend some time in Paris. (Euro-Disney seems to be compulsory.)

After the catch-up we went to the Historiale, a new multi-media museum on the battles. Who should be handing out brochures but Egidio whom we met last time we were in Cassino: He and Lorenzo drove Ray and I around Cavendish Road. The walk to the Museum was along the banks of the Gari and sadly it proved to be the better part of the trip, as the museum was completely underwhelming, “full of sound and fury signifying nothing”. The sound effects, music and voiceover were far too loud, you had to have a guide who tried to push you along before you’d finished reading or looking at everything, and there was sweet F.A. information anyway. To top it off there was no NZ flag flying (but a Belgian one for goodness’ sake) and one rather inauthentic looking uniform for the Maori Battalion - there was a Jewish Brigade uniform in better condition and they didn’t even fight there! Another unfortunate point is that it seems to be competing with another museum around the corner that I visited last time. This town’s too small for the two of them and you’d think that they’d cooperate. I won’t be recommending this museum in my book. Better to spend the time at the cemetery and the Abbey.

After dinner we went to the Puccini opera Madama Bootairrrrfly. Culchared, that’s wot we is, see? It was in the open air Roman Theatre again and was quite a good show even with a language difference. Italians don’t look very Japanese though, even in make-up. Surprisingly there were still people arriving at least half and hour after it started, talking through it, and even leaving with ages to go! Just plain rude I thought. We stayed through the whole thing and enjoyed it all. If only Pinkerton (Peenkairtone) wasn’t such a fat bastard he may have made it in time…