Yes, back to the Europe trip. I figure it was time since it’s been almost a month since I told you about our drive through Northern Italy. The two nights we spent in Verona, Italy were the best accomodations that we had of the trip. Note that this does not mean that we paid the most per night to stay here.
We stayed in a Bed and Breakfast run by this wonderful Italian woman named Paola. She was spectacular and helpful and funny and so wonderfully sweet. We got lost on the way there and when we finally were able to call her, she didn’t give us directions, she came and got us. That’s right, came to where we were to get us and lead us to her very hard to find home. This place was fantastic.
The bathroom in this place was the size of my kitchen and diningroom put together. Below is the outside of the house we were in. Zak and I were in the room on the bottom floor closest to the left with the shutters. It was a beautiful place.
Staying in Verona with us at the B&B were two German girls on vacation. Since we were there just the four of us, we spent both nighs hanging out at the kitchen table, eating cheese and drinking wine. How internation do we sound? We had a great time getting to know the girls and talking about New York and Germany and theatre and our jobs and money differences and cultural differences. It was very interesting to get to ask so many questions of people who had so many questions for us. We were also so lucky to get to know them since we had to park our standard car on a hill and they very nicely moved it for us in the morning when we had to leave. I can’t tell you how many people might have been killed had we been forced to do this ourselves.
We spent one morning wandering around fair Verona, where Romeo and Juliet is set and it was a beautiful place.
Note in the photo above that the streets are made of travertine marble. That’s right, marble! And with an area for rain drainage in the middle. How great is that? The photo below is of “Juliet’s balcony”. I quote this because it’s all based on speculation that Juliet was based on a woman who may have lived here. But as with all things Shakespeare, no one really knows. I found this to be a cheap tourist ploy. Oh, we’ll pretend that Juliet lived here and we’ll charge money to see it. What a brilliant way to bring money to the city of Verona. And it was brilliant. I thought it was crap and Zak loved it. What can you do?
The awesome thing about Verona is that is was built on top of the ruins of a Roman city. So, every once in a while, you are walking along and you see an open part of the street below which is the old city. On top of the fact that this is cool, I think it would make a great secret hideout if you ever needed one. Note to selves.
Also cool about Verona is that it is a walled city. So, to get in and out of it, you have to go through these centuries old walls and gates.
Verona, like most Italian cities is very maze-like with tall builings and streets that seem like alleys between the buildings with people drying their clothes on the lines inbetween. It was a wonderful city with nice people and great italian food (obviously). We loved our morning here and were reluctant to leave. Below is the river running between where we were staying and the main part of the city.
However, when we left Verona that afternoon, we went to Venice and that may just be our favorite city we saw. Okay, that’s too hard to decide, but it was glorious-stay tuned!
