Starting to get serious...

Last night we went to the opera. Ho hum, I hear you say. Wrooooong. The physical theatre is one thing - red, gold leaf, rising tiers of opera boxes, ushers in black uniforms with bronze medallions around their necks.

And then the  conductor comes into the orchestra pit - oh God - he's very young, and I don't recognise the names of any of the singers. Have I hyped this up too much in my mind?

And then the overture begins and there is nothing but subtle, precise, beautiful strings and an achingly,piercingly haunting oboe - oh yeah.

We're here to see The Barber of Seville - a romantic comedy/farce. I don't have the words for the music but if you ever get an opportunity to hear Joyce DiDonato (Rosina) or Lawrence Brownlee (Count Almaviva) - run to the ticket office as fast as you can. These are musical athletes - not just technically sound but with profound control, perfect timbre.

And the staging was subtle but spot on...

But I digress because the real reason we are in Europe is to play tennis. So it's off to Gstaad for pre-tournament fine-tuning.

We had to change trains in Montreux. So there we were just sitting in our seats and a Swiss woman walks by and yes - it's Ursula - who runs marathons and who is the partner of the woman (Michelle) who beat Judy in the tennis at the Chicago Games. Yes, they're coming to Cologne but no, not playing tennis - just (just!) run the marathon. 

We are here now at the Gstaad Palace Hotel where I will shortly start a 6 day week of intensive tennis training with Roy Emerson and his team of professional coaches.

A relaxing dinner tonight (and a glass of champagne just because I could) and a relatively light day tomorrow. Down to the village to pick up supplies - I don't pay $15 for Heineken if I can help it! A swim and a workout to get the kinks out of the body and then a cocktail reception. Training starts for real on Sunday,

This will be the first real test of my fitness - let's see how that holds up although I have to confess to whinging a bit about having a sore right big toe. Judy, ever solicitous of my well-being, has suggested that it might be gout. I refuse to have gout - and that's final. It's just something else - minor and all will be well in the morning - right??