September 17, 2011- Two Gentlewomen of Verona

September 17, 2011—Two Gentlewomen of Verona

This morning we woke up at 5:30 a.m. to head to Verona. Thankfully, the buses run early so we didn’t have to walk to the train station at 6:00 a.m. We got the 6:13 bus, the starts and the moon were still out, and it was FREEZING cold outside. When it’s ninety-five during the day, how is that possible?! We got on the bus and, of course, no one was on it. We were surprised when even three more people did get on. We got to the station, got on our train, and left promptly at 7:00. The train was a pretty nice one because, after we got off in Bologna, it was heading to France. The trip to Bologna took only 35 minutes; we got off there, and found our next platform. We waited there for a while until we realized that there really was no one else at the platform and no train. Apparently, we were not at platform six but six for some other kind of train. Thankfully we still had plenty of time and made our train without any trouble. Then we were on our way! The train drove though the beautiful countryside and, in an hour, at 9:30 a.m., we arrived in Verona. We left the station, without a map in hand or any idea which way to take to get to the heart of Verona where everything was. We began wandering one way, following a couple with a Verona guidebook. After a little bit, they realized they were going the wrong way and turned around; we followed. In the end, Franzi and I found the way and had a line of tourists following us! We wandered down the main street and, before we knew it, found ourselves in the heart of Verona.

We first came to the big piazza with the arena that sort of resembles the Colloseum. They often have concerts there and I am sure it is a very cool venue. We wandered through the park in the piazza and then headed down the main, pedestrian-only walkway. The first stretch is all high-end shops and designer stores. THERE WAS A DIRK STORE!!! Mom, Dad and Sonja, your names keep popping up all over the place! Anyway, amongst all the designer stores, there was a Disney Store! Kristin, I am really getting close to my goal of visiting all of the European Disney Stores ;) London, Paris, Florence, Verona…and was there one in Edinburgh? Anyway, I’m doing the Disney European Tour! We continued down that main drag and eventually go to another big piazza. There was a big market in the middle and beautiful, bright buildings surrounding it. We then wandered down another street and found a sort of art fair where Franzi bought a beautiful leather journal. Our wanderings led us to find Romeo’s house (not really on the maps), some fun, bright buildings and, eventually, the river. The view from the bridge (hey, that’s the title of a play! :P) was incredible. Verona is so beautiful! On the other side of the river, we found the Roman Theatre ruins which were built into the hillside and beautiful. While we were on the other side of the river, we saw a few couples that looked like they were going to a wedding. Sure enough, when we went to see Verona’s cathedral, there was a wedding going on. It was funny that we were allowed in while it was going on but I am glad we were because it was lovely.

After the cathedral, we decided to find Juliet’s house. We didn’t have much trouble finding it because we just followed all the tour groups. It was so busy but still very cool. It was definitely cool for two theatre girls :) We took our photo with the Juliet statue and then I decided I wanted to pay to go in the museum and go on the balcony. Franzi stayed outside to take my picture. I got a student discount so it was not expensive at all. In the museum, you got to kind of tour the home, which is filled with paintings across the years of Romeo and Juliet. Then you can go out on the balcony and Franzi took my picture! Then it leads you through the rest of the home. One room features the bed, costumes and costume sketches from the 1968 movie version of Romeo and Juliet-the version we watched in high school (Sonja, it’s the one in which Romeo looks like Zac Efron)! In another room, you could write an email to Juliet asking for love advice, which I, of course, did. I look forward to my email back :) I was very glad I went through the house because it was very exciting for me as an actress :) After the museum, I met back up with Franzi and we wandered back toward the cathedral.

At this point it was about 1:00 so we found a cute and cheap little restaurant by the cathedral and had some lunch. We both had tortellini stuffed with spinach and ricotta, which was absolutely delicious! We also sat right by the open window/door so enjoyed some good people watching. After lunch, we wandered down a different street, leading us, once more, to the river. We saw a cool castle further up the river so walked along the river until we reached it. It was a very cool castle up close as well and we could explore it for free (you had to pay if you wanted to go in the museum). It even had a drawbridge! The castle also had a grand bridge over the river that was lovely. We explored the castle and it’s surroundings and then headed back to the main piazza to find a place to rest our feet.

We ended up coming across some street performers who were performing as part of a festival going on this weekend in Verona. We sat down and watched them—they were incredible acrobats and performed tricks I did not know were humanly possible. A very cool bit of culture to come across. There was a huge crowd, as well! After watching them, we went and walked around to look at the old city walls and walk around the arena. When we came back from that, another performance of the festival was beginning, so we found a spot and watched the flag twirling/throwing men and listened to the drums and trumpets behind them. Apparently, this flag sport is very popular in Italy among men…it’s a male sport; very cool and athletic. After that performance, it was almost time to head back to the train station so we got some gelato. I got crema and baccio (which translates to “kiss”), which is chocolate and hazelnut. It was absolutely delicious. Once we’d finished our gelato, we headed back to the train station.

We made it back no problem and found our train. We’re on a fast train home so it passes all of the little town stations and only makes stops in Bologna and Florence before heading to Rome. When we bought our tickets a couple days ago, for some reason, the cheapest tickets for the train were for first class (and they were pretty cheap, as far as trains go). We got into our first class car and kind of freaked out. The seats are big and comfy, there is so much space, the seats recline, we get free magazines…we were excited :) The car is also air-conditioned, while the other cars are not. Once the train started moving, we found out that first class also gets free drinks and snacks like on an airplane so we got orange sparkling drink and peanuts! That was another thing we got a little over-excited about :) The train ride went quickly because I worked on my blog (which is now nine pages long in my journal…sorry) and listened to my iPod. We arrived back in Florence around 8:40. We were at a different train station than usual, not the central one, and we didn’t really know how we were going to get home. Amazingly enough, the only bus that runs from the station happened to go in the direction of our house and have a stop close enough to our house that we could walk the rest of the way! We were home before 9:30! Now we’re just laying low and will probably go to bed soon, although I am going to post this first. We both took a LOT of pictures today so that’s a lot to sort through, as well. But I can do that tomorrow, too. For now, I’d better wrap this up; it’s gotten pretty long. I am so sorry! If you couldn’t tell, we had a WONDERFUL day in Verona! But now it’s time to get some sleep. Goodnight!

All my love,

Kari

P.S. For those of you who have seen Letters to Juliet, no, it is not really like that. Most of the letters are just graffiti with a few notes stuck to the walls. That beautiful wall with all of the letters tucked inside the stones, sadly, does not exist. However, there are a few post boxes in which you can send your letters to Juliet. Yes, both Franzi and I wrote letter to Juliet and brought them with to Verona. And YES, we did actually put them in the mailbox to be sent to Juliet :)

P.S. I will post photos in a different post