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Saturday  I caught a 10:15 AM plane from Gatwick to Verona, George was NOT on this one. LOL It was a bit early anyway. London was very bright and sunny, Italy was rather cloudy but about 12 degrees. I caught the shuttle to Verona from the airport without any wait, then swiftly moved on to train transport to Mantova (it REALLY only cost 1 Euro-something!) and arrived in Mantova in the early afternoon. I realised I had forgotten to take Kristine's number, so I couldn't call her to check if she was at the hotel already. I started walking from the station, and go lost. I had a map, but that one didn't have any street names on, so no wonder! I eventually found the city centre and the hotel, but couldn't make myself heard by ringing the door bell. So I had an Italian ice cream and lay down on a park bench for an hour or so reading. Luckily Kristine then texted me, and I could go up to our room Very shortly after Sybille arrived as well. So it had all worked out just fine! :-)
The hotel was rather lovely: A huge old palazzo with lovely "design" interior. The hosts were adorable, too! It's a pity we couldn't stay longer! (If anybody ever ends up in Mantova, I can recommend it! Here's the link. The rooms really look like in the pictures!)

We went for a small walk to check out the venue and have something to eat. When we found the Caffe Borsa club we pissed ourselves because they had spelled out the name BOY GEORGE in HUGE polysterene letters on the glass front! So over the top!! LOL We took several pictures in front of this facade which I still have to receive. Carlo, the only other fan we knew from the Forum, approached Kristine while we were taking photos. He's a really lovely guy, and very cute! :-)

We then walked around a bit, trying to find a place to eat, but it was still too early for Italian dinner. It was a lovely mild evening though and we all agreed that even without George it had been worth the trip, LOL! We ended up in a pizza place and had dinner. After that we went back to the hotel and talked and then got ready.

The club was funny, it was just like one of those House-compilation CD covers: very luscious, slick, beautiful people in elegant clothes sipping Martinis! The club was also very tiny, and WARM! There wasn't anything like a dance floor, and the DJ "booth" was just a record player on the corner of the bar. I was surprised to learn that in Italy it is already against the law to smoke in public places, so the air in the club was rather clean. We were wondering how George was going to cope who usually smokes about 800 cigarettes a night while DJing! LOL

He arrived at about 12 PM, after the security guards had squeezed us in to make a passage for 20 minutes or so! They had security men all over the place, and what was rather annoying was the "VIP zone" that was about as big as half of the bloody club! And they wouldn't let anybody in there. Everybody was pushing right in front the DJ desk, so there was virtually no space for dancing (or breathing).

George was in a great mood however, looking gorgeous and healthy. Yes, maybe he has lost weight, too. He played lots of stuff we already knew from earlier sets, but sometimes different mixes. The people were just MAD, and holding up their bloody mobile phone cameras incessantly!! I think they should be legally SHOT !! It's such a bloody waste as well: You can't take good quality photos with a mobile anyway, so what the heck?!
Well, the Italians did like the Italians do and went very over-excited, loud and pushy. If I had to sum up in one word what pisses me off about the Italians it would be: "inconsiderate".
Don't get me wrong, I know very lovely considerate Italians, but as a general "people's" characteristic they are just getting on my nerves. Oh yeah, you could say it's lovely how "emotional" they are! NO, thanks!! I find that only irritating and highly undisciplined!
George seemed to enjoy his "Superstar DJ" status, cheering on the mad Italian girls and dancing more than the punters -- well, HE had the space! LOL
He even kept spinning after his 3 hours were up and most of the guests had already left!

Sunday  We staggered home at about 3, our feet killing us. My feet had already been hurting in the afternoon, so you can imagine... Kristine had to leave really early at about 7. Me and Sybille stayed until after the breakfast. It was raining hard on Sunday. I got quite soaked but managed to get to Verona airport in perfect time. The rest of the trip went just fine as well: No train, shuttle or bus had any delay. I kept falling asleep where I was sitting, but made it home to Sheffield eventually. Apparently in Germany and Switzerland there had been "snow chaos", but not were we were heading! LOL

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