So, I went to Verona for the weekend and fell in love. I actually didn’t think Verona existed and was pleasantly surprised to find it did exist and is actually known as “Little Rome”.
We bought our tickets the morning of, and online it said we transferred in Milano Central Station. So, we go to Milano, just chatting on the train not paying attention, and we go to find our binario but cannot find the train number… WELL! I look at the ticket and see we were supposed to get off at Milano Lambrate. There was a train leaving from Central but it wasn’t a regional train and we could have gotten heavily fined. So, we decided to hop on a train to Lambrate and pray they didn’t look at our tickets. Being a 5 minute train ride we thought we would be safe. We didn’t even sit down, just stood in between cars and thankfully got off at Lambrate and didn’t miss our train to Verona! So, we were on our way in a nice air conditioned car.
From the moment we arrived I loved it. The main Piazza is lined with restaurants on the left hand side. On the right is a mini park with a fountain, benches trees and a statue of Vittorio Emanuelle II. Behind that is the Arena (mini colosseum) and the the shopping district. We walked around for a while trying to find our hostel. I decided to start asking people and we eventually found it, right in the middle of the shopping district! Perfect location!
The hostel was great. Cheap, only 25euro each. In a nice area, very clean and the room was huge for 3 people! The only thing was we had to share a bathroom with everyone else but, it was clean and I didn’t mind. The only issue I had was the heat. There wasn’t a fan, and the little window didn’t let in any air. We all woke up wet! It was honestly like I just had a shower. Disgusting, I know! You’d think after 9 weeks in heat I would be used to it but I still am not used to the fact that I am ALWAYS sweating, and never feel clean. Ah the joys of Europe!
So anyways, back to Verona! We began by having some lunch. Pizza Please! Then set out on the journey towards Juliet’s house. We found it no problem. The infamous graffiti wall was there. I brought a paint marker for the occasion and we all signed the wall. It was glorious! After the wall you walked into a courtyard complete with Juliet’s bronze statue and her balcony! Clare and I paid the 6 euro to go inside her house which was basically a modern art exibit by a local artist. It was cool because we could stand on the balcony, and there was a replica of her room from the original film version of the story. As well there were the original costumes the actors wore in the movie. I was very excited by this and actually felt like I was walking back in time and looking at what could have been Juliet’s room. Once we were done we went into the little gift shop and I bought some overpriced souvenirs. Overpriced became the phrase of the weekend! Everything was ridiculous. I went to ask how to get to Romeo’s house when James came up to us and said “someone give me your camera quick” and he took off. Once we found him it was incredible – he was back in Juliet’s courtyard where there were two actors acting out the famous balcony scene. Once that was done we were invited up for a free show. They acted out 3 famous scenes from the play in Italian. I was in 7th heaven and got goose bumps and choked up on more than one occasion during the show. I was watching Romeo and Juliet in Italy, at Juliet’s house in Verona. I could not have been more lucky. After the show I asked if I could take a picture with the actor playing Romeo and he said my Italian was beautiful! I was just on such a high after that for a few hours! Not to mention he was gorgeous! The most beautiful Italian I have seen thus far in my opinion.
We tried to find Romeo’s house but failed. It looked like it was going to start to rain so we opted to climb the tower to see the view of Verona. BEEEEEUTIFUL! I only wish my camera could capture what my eyes saw.
We did a bit of shopping and had a lovely dinner than did a nice roundabout of the city in search of a disco. Needless to say we didn’t find one, but we did walk to the Castle and got to appreciate it at night and go for a nice walk around the city. The Arena was a site to see all lit up. James brought a cigar so we sat by the fountain and he smoked it. I was feeling fun so I tried it as well. I didn’t like it though. I love the smell, but the taste, not so much! So that was basically our first day. We finished off at a pub just chillin and talking.
Sunday we had to be out by 10 so we woke up early and went on our merry way. On our way to find a café for breakfast we passed a grocery store so we went in. Bought some Nutella, bread, water and fruit for 5 euro! We took our gourmet breakfast to the Castle and ate overlooking the river, castle and mountains. Beautiful start to the day! We did some exploring at the castle and ended up at a park. We were all exhausted so we took a nap on benches for an hour to the sounds of the wind and tree frogs. Not too shabby! We then had lunch, did a bit more shopping, grabbed our stuff (the hostel let us keep our bags there) and were on our way to an Internet café for James. He needed to tie up some loose ends for the beginning of his 3 week solo tour of Europe. We ended up taking the long way back to the station and walked with our stuff in the intense heat for about 45 minutes. Nice little tour of the residential area of Verona! Before I knew it I was on a train ride back to San Colombano for another week of camp!
No comments:
Post a Comment