BTW, the bathrooms in the Gatwick Express train are spiffed up for the tourists, I guess. I’ve seen a lot of toilette in my day, and I’d have to say  this one was the nicest train bathroom I’ve ever been in: a spiffy, new wooden toilet seat, a wallpapered scene of the Brighton Pavilion, and everything very clean and tidy.

Anyway, the airport experience was relatively straightforward, and by 1:30pm Verona time we were officially “stamped” as incoming tourists, and in the taxi headed to meet our very friendly landlady for the next four weeks (we’ve rented a vacation apartment nearly the entire month of April).  The apartment is lovely (photos to come later, as I forgot to take them before the sun went down.) Everything went so smoothly that by 2pm we were seated across the street in our favorite little restaurant in Verona, ready for lunch.

Yes, by coincidence this apartment turns out to be kitty-corner across the way from our favorite restaurant. You can’t get much better than that, eh?

Although Plan G technically started when we left Tübingen on Tuesday, it’s felt like the past 36 hours have been a holding pattern waiting for the real Plan G to begin. I guess that’s because of an idea that has been in the back of my mind through the craziness of the last few months. Don’t get me wrong: life has been good, even through the stress of the decision to figure out what to do with ourselves after the paperwork for the job in Hamburg fell through. Even through the seemingly endless sorting, and packing, and through the mountains of forms and paperwork to be filled out.

But that thought I’d had was “When we finally get to Verona, then maybe we’ll have a chance to relax.” And now … here we are in Verona.

At last.

L’Arena, Verona, April 2, 2015 (click to open a larger version)