June 29th - 30th - Verona

View from the B&B

The B&B was up in the hills above Verona which was wonderful but a little more difficult without a car. Our hosts had to drive us into the city center and pick us up but first our day started with a delicious breakfast. We had cereal with homemade yogurt and a spinach pie. Verona is a very small town and its claim to fame is Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (Oh my fair Verona). Their "houses" as well as Juliet's tomb are there. Of course Romeo and Juliet is a fictional story but people claim he based it off truth. Juliet gets all of the attention and people sign the walls with love notes or their loved one’s name in a heart. The walls are completely covered. People also write on locks and lock them within the courtyard.

Walls leading into the courtyard where Juliet's balcony is

Juliet's Balcony

Statue of Juliet, apparently there is one of
these in Chicago as well.

After the house we walked a lot of city center, saw the arena, and stopped for lunch. We also did a small bit of shopping.

My lunch, I could live on these things, the mozzarella
is so creamy and light with a perfect texture, very
different than moz in the US

I ordered an iced coffee and this is what I
got, it was hot espresso topped with
chilled and frothed milk

Romeo's House

While shopping we happened on Romeo’s house. There were a few locks and some people had signed there but the sign was tiny and we just happened upon it. Romeo doesn’t get any love.

Juliet’s tomb is also in Verona. It’s not a real tomb as the story being based on truth is probably a myth but the Capuletti family is buried there. It was not free so we decided we could skip the tomb of a fictional character this time.

After a lot more walking around we split a pizza for dinner. It was much better then my first, the crust was very crunchy and the pizza had the right amount of toppings and cheese. It had artichokes, capers, olives, and mushrooms on it.

We are currently on the train on our way to Cinque Terra. We’ve been on trains all day long and it looks like we’ll be on them for awhile longer. Things keep getting delayed and whatnot and we have to make several connections. Hopefully we find the place we’re staying and hopefully they’re there. We called to tell them we would be in after 5pm (the time they stop doing check in) and we were told that was our problem and no one would be there. We think we got it resolved but maybe not!

Italy is not the most tourist friendly place unfortunately. You always have to pay for bathrooms even in the train station! Restaurants charge a cover just for sitting on top of a service charge. It’s generally 2-3 euro per person which isn’t bad and when you take into account our tipping I guess it probably all equals out but I’m still not a fan. Some people have been extraordinarily nice and friendly and others have been incredibly rude, just saying they aren’t like the Irish.

On another note, I packed like crap for this trip! I have no idea what I was thinking but basically I wasn’t! If I had it all to do over I would have packed completely differently and I’m kicking myself for not bringing certain things because I’m having a hell of a time finding them here! When I packed I was very concerned with function and having the ability to stick lots of things in pockets and to have the “backpacker” lifestyle. Man was I wrong. I was very into those pants from REI that fit tons and roll up really small etc but I hate them now. Just because you’re traveling does not mean you have to look like shit. It is possible to have a few outfits that don’t look dreadful and also don’t take up a lot of space. One of these days I'll post more on what I have to live off of.

Verona at night, we stayed at the top of this hill