Before Meeting The Group and Tour Guide

 We're scheduled to meet the tour group and tour guide at 6 pm in the lobby today, but we have the day on our own, so despite the rain we headed out to walk with our umbrellas.  We had checked on line to purchase tickets to tour Teatro Massimo (The Opera House), but it indicated there were no openings.  So we walk there to see if we could in person tickets....Bingo!  12 Euro's a piece and we only had about 10 minutes to wait for the guided tour.

This incredible wooden model was built in 1866.  

The Opera House is truly beautiful, colorful details every direction you look.

Even the ceiling

The Royal Box, which we were told some lucky patrons have the opportunity to sit there if The Royals aren't there and the house is full, as the Opera House is very much in use with a full performance schedule.

In the very center of this room is a circle that men used when they had secret business to discuss.  You can stand in the center spot and feel and hear what you're saying almost as if you were using a microphone; but no one else in the room can hear you.

The Opera House was dedicated to King Victor Emanuel II and opened in 1897. 

We found a spot for lunch out of rain after the tour.

We did not get a milkshake, we had adult beverages

Our waiter suggested Carpaccio as a house favorite.  Not generally something I would order, but we did.

We also order two sandwiches, but they were HUGE!  So we didn't eat but about half.  Tasty, but too much food.  We waddled back to the hotel, slowly as the rain had stopped.

We had our meeting, then walked a short distance for our group dinner.  We neglected to take pictures or catch the name of the restaurant that evening.  The first course was some good pasta, but the 2nd course was a meet roll.  What kind of meet is undetermined.  I thought it tasted like pork, some thought chicken; but we thought it was suppose to be beef, based on what our tour guide (Ivan pronounced Evan) said.  Most of us wished we had eaten more of the pasta and forgotten the 2nd course of the undetermined meet roll.  Though it will not be the only night we had that as our 2nd course.  We did learn though and didn't stop eating the pasta to make room for the 2nd course thereafter.

We were given our marching orders by way of this itinerary, as Ivan said he would not be posting notices to the bulletin boards at our varies lodgings.  Breakfast starts at 7 am and we're to meet in lobby at 9:30 am to begin our walking tour of the city and the markets.  The coach will meet us at the end of the walking tour to transport us back to the hotel were we'll have a mini rest period, refresh before we head out at 1:50 pm for Monreale.  We're scheduled to be back at the hotel around 5:30 and dinner is on our own.