Okay, so it wasn't exactly a private performance, but he was singing to me most of the time. It began with a free morning in Venice. We decided to visit the Peggy Guggenheim museum, and on our walk over to the museum we encountered some street performers. One man was playing the crystal glasses, he was great; another man was painting street scenes of Venice; and then there was the man singing Italian arias. We stood and listened to him for a bit before moving on.

We found the museum and enjoyed the modern art. Afterwards, we finally got up enough courage to try the Traghetto (crossing the canal standing up in a gondola) to cross to St. Mark's Square. By the time we found the crossing location they had left for lunch - so much for a new adventure - and we had to back track to the Accademia Bridge to cross. It turned out to be a good thing because we found the opera singer performing again at another square. I convinced Brian that I needed one of his CD's to remind me of Venice while preparing Italian meals at home.

We encountered a bit of a language barrier, but finally decided on one of his CD's. I thanked him and Brian asked (gestured) if he could take his picture with me. He was gracious and smiled and said “si”. After the picture, I thought we were finished, but no. He took my hand and led me out into the middle of the square and started singing to me. Not knowing what he was singing, and with people stopping to listen and watch, I developed a bit of a red face. There was a lot of hand and arm gesturing, and I had not a clue on how to respond to his performance. After what felt like forever, he took my hand and kissed it and walked me back to Brian. He said something to Brian in Italian and smiled at me. I think I received a compliment, but I'm not sure.

I have never been sung to before (by a professional). I enjoyed it, and will always have a wonderful memory. Unfortunately, the CD was a bit of a disappointment in that the sound quality of the CD was poor. It certainly wasn't recorded in a studio, more like a garage.

Our Wow Moment! On the first evening of the tour, after meeting our tour guides and fellow travelers and getting the necessary tour information out of the way, we left the hotel for our orientation walk and dinner. I expected a great evening, but it was so much more - a surprise gondola ride that included a singer and an accordion player. Since four gondolas were needed to carry everyone, Karin gave the honor of riding with the musicians to the two couples that had been married the longest and the shortest number of years. Yes, we qualified. I couldn’t believe it; it was so romantic and marvelous - perfect. We boated through one of the side canals just west of the Rialto Bridge and out onto the Grand Canal. The music made the ride so magical. You could tell that other tourists on the shore were enjoying our experience as much as we were. I couldn’t stop smiling. I had my tour Wow moment and the tour had just begun. How was this going to be topped?