Blogs from Verona, Veneto, Italy, Europe - page 5

Today I am 60 in NZ (50 in my head) but here in Verona, Italy, I am 59 (49 in my head). We packed and went down for breakfast prior to heading to the train station. Was that REALLY chocolate gateau in with the cold cuts of meats and eggs? It's been great Verona, but time to head to Siena for my Coming of Age? birthday celebrations. Took a taxi to the station for our train to Bologna (an amazing station there, five stories underground!!) speedy fast train to Florence (Firenze) - no views, just tunnels and snippets of views. Was looking forward to the free wifi on the train to upload a few stories but alas...not working. At the Florence stop, I was completely blown away when my son Greg and his partner Irene walked ... read more

Bella Italia on Lake Garda and Verona 5 October 2013 After the 1st night at Bella Italia camp site, we decided to make it our base while we drove back east, to Verona. This city of over a 260,000 people is famous for Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliette as well as a well preserved, Roman Amphitheatre. Kerrie had already visited Verona but only briefly, so she (as were we) keen to visit the city again. We arrived mid morning and found a park close to the cold city wall. We had no trouble finding the Amphitheatre and went in to have a look through. The Museum was closed so that made the decision not to visit, easy. It is a well preserved amphitheatre and was being set up for an opera (we thought). Gemma and I ... read more

The A4 motorway took us to our next stop in Lake Garda, as we motored we noticed that Italian drivers don’t indicate and as we stopped for coffees we noticed that Italian drivers stand at the counter in the fuel stations for a glass of white wine! How very different from South Mimms, the wine that is, not the lack of indicating. Coffees in Europe are so small too, is it just Britain and America that serve coffee in huge cardboard buckets? I wasn’t overly impressed with Lake Garda when we arrived, the area we stayed in was dominated by theme parks and was quite over developed but in fairness we didn’t really explore the other shores of the lake as our main reason for choosing Garda was its closeness to Verona. Stepping off an extremely ... read more

Viva Verona At the end of our trip to the Italian lakes we had a couple of days in Verona which is a city I have always wanted to visit. My first impression on a hot Sunday afternoon was how busy it was! The place was packed, we followed the main tourist trail past the roman amphitheatre and through the shopping district to Juliet’s Balcony and then into the main square. My impression of it was like being at a football match or a concert where thousands of people are all making their way in the same direction to the same destination, it was mayhem. We decided to head across the river to the old Roman Fort on top of the hill that offered a breath-taking panoramic view of Verona’s old town and out here the ... read more

Today we had a long bus trip leaving Florence and headed to Venice. We went designer outlet shopping on the way, I decided not to buy the $400 Prada bag as I thought food may be a priority over an expensive bag. We also visited Verona where we got to see Juliets balcony! From there we headed to Venice, theres not much to write on this blog because most of the day was spent in the bus but tomorrow we get to explore Venice. I will try and put a few pictures up when I can. Ciao!... read more