VeRoNa FoR a DaY

Thursday Sept. 11th

We spent the day doing a tour of Verona. We walked once again, though the castle walls into the city, to meet up with our high energy tour guide Christina in Plazza Bra. She was your stereotypical “don’t mess with me” Italian, and kept going off on rants about the illegal tour guides who kept interfering with our travels.

The first place we went to was the Coliseum, and we watched as they were setting up for another performance that was going to be held soon. Outside of the arena (fun fact: ren = sand) there were some guys dressed up like Spartans, so I got my picture taken with one because I thought it would make Nick laugh.

The architecture of this city fascinates me. The entire city is recycled- it is an entire city lliterally built on top of the original city. There are several alleys where you can look down the grates and see down below, some of the original constructions. In the buildings and cobblestone walkways, you can see fossils or reused stone blocks in the modern structures. All of the buildings are attached or really close together, but each have a unique touch about them. No two buildings look one bit the same. There are also lots of signs on the buildings around the city showing the flood lines from the past. It reminded me of my visit to Cedar Rapids this summer.

We visited the wealthy residences of “Big Dog” and saw the tombs outside of some of the chapels. Having the tomb right outside of the structures was simply to have an everlasting way to take credit for their sponsorship. We walked around the markets, and I bought a scarf and a necklace. It is also interesting here how the water fountains work. Same as in Germany. We are used to the little stainless steel water fountains in the states, but here they are all stone fountains with water spouting up that you can drink from. They look more ornamental than anything else, but they are actually for public drinking. You also have to pay to use the bathroom in Germany, Austria, and in Italy… and water isn’t free, unless you fill your water bottle from one of these fountains. I didn’t even think twice about these things in the states.

Our tour also took us to the residences of the Montagues and the Capulets, as this is the location of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. We got to go to the famous balcony, and in the little tunnel pathway leading to it, the walls are filled with love letters to Juliet. They are plastered to the walls with all sorts of things such as gum, and my favorite, band-aids. We came back later when it wasn’t as crowded to put up our own letters, and took pictures next to the statue of Juliet. Apparently if you go and rub her left breast it is supposed to bring you good luck. Personally, I just thought it was awkward…

After the tour, we ate lunch at a nice little restaurant with a very friendly waitor. Four of us all got different things in order to get the best variety, so I ended up trying lasagna, tortellini, potato pasto, and a bit of spaghetti.

We explored further through the town and went shopping in a few little stores, but there really wasn’t too much to do in Verona that wasn’t covered by our tour. We spent the rest of the day exploring and bargaining in the markets, and then stopped to rest for a while in the main plaza.

Cody and I sat down next to a statue where a bunch of people had congregated, and the out of nowhere we felt a wet splatter fall on us. At first we thought it was just some of the water spraying our direction from the fountain, but then we started throwing a fit of disguist when we realized it was actually pigeon shit all over us instead. Awesome… Luckily, some nice Italian boys sitting nearby had some Kleenex to help us out. We all had a good laugh, but wow, that was pretty disgusting… the rats of the sky, that’s what I call them.

We went back to the hotel for a fancy dinner. This hotel is really nice, probably because it is a hotel, and not a crappy hostel. Our room is air conditioned, has our own private bathroom, and since we are in a nice corner room, we have a beautiful view over the city. It is really pretty looking over all of the clay tiled roofs and vineyards (we have a high up view) overlooking the city, especially at sunset.