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Published: April 19th 2008
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Balcony at Casa di Giulietta (House of Juliet)
Feuds and vendettas between the city's noble families provided the basis for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, set in Verona. For the last leg of our journey we visited two cities: Verona and Venice. After leaving our hotel in Pisa, we made the three and a half hour drive up to Verona. It was the longest stretch of driving we had to do all trip and we managed to drive it successfully without getting lost. After checking into our hotel we drove into Verona for the rest of the day. While we were in Verona, we saw the Arena (the third largest preserved amphitheatre in Italy, built in the first century AD), the local market, and the Casa di Giulietta (house of Juliet). Underneath the balcony at the house of Juliet, there is a bronze statue of Juliet where many tourists stopped to take a picture with her. For some reason that we do not understand, most people taking a picture with Juliet posed while grabbing her right breast.
After our day in Verona, we drove to Venice for the last three days of our trip. When we first got to Venice, we were amazed by the city built on water. The first thing we did was to get a map and try to navigate around the city. Venice is
Us in front of the Arena
Located in Piazza Bra, it is a large Roman amphitheatre. It was built in the first century AD and is the third-largest of the surviving Roman amphitheatres in Italy. An earthquake in the 13th century destroyed most of the exterior arcade, but the interior is sill intact.Verona made up of several small islands connected by little bridges and many little alleys. It is very confusing and getting lost is a certainty. The fastest way to get around in Venice is, not surprisingly, by boat. The ‘bus’ system is by water bus and the taxis are boats as well. Even the police travel by boat. We took the water bus on the first day down the length of the Grande Canal to get a view of Venice from the water, but for the rest of our time there we walked, weaving in and out of alleys filled with various food and clothing shops. We spent some time in Piazza San Marco and Palazzo Ducale which are squares next to each other that are filled with pigeons. We bought a bag of food to feed the pigeons and the birds completely swarmed us flying onto our arms and onto our heads. Since we were in Venice, we of course had to book a gondola ride! The day of the ride was a sunny and warm day until the time for our ride. It started to rain about 10 minutes into our ride and lasted for the remainder. After we
got out, the sky started to clear and it became a nice warm day again. Just our luck! But, the ride was fun nonetheless and we got a true taste of Venetian life coasting along the water. Overall, life in Venice is very laid back and calming. Walking along the water each day was very soothing and beautifully scenic.
In closing, there are a few things we noticed about Italy that we thought we'd mention. Every restaurant serves an assortment of pizza, pasta and bread. Vegetables are not very prominent on the menu (unless it's on your pizza). We've lovingly dubbed Italy as the Carbohydrate Country. However, pasta happens to be Bri's favourite food and Will didn't go a single day without eating pizza. The food is fantastic!
Let's move onto the 'crazy' Italian drivers! We were warned many times before our trip that we may want to reconsider driving through Italy due to the crazy driving. 130 km/h is a typical highway speed going with the flow of traffic. Lines painted on the road to define lanes are merely suggestions. Motorcycles and Vespas drive up the middle and on the shoulder to weave in out of cars. It
is wise for a slower driver to stay to the far right of the lane so that cars can easily pass up the middle of the road while there is oncoming traffic. Stop lights and signs are merely suggestions as well. The moral of the story is: if the path is clear then go!
Believe it or not, as chaotic as the driving seems, there are very few accidents! It's what you would call 'organized chaos'.
Our two weeks in Italy was unforgettable. We would have loved to see the southern part of the country (Naples, Pompei, Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast, etc), but obviously 2 weeks just isn't enough time to see everything! Maybe we'll get a chance to go back to Italy some other time, but for now we are just cherishing the memories we made over the past two weeks. Viva Italia!
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Christine
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wow-sounds awesome!
You guys have a lot of really awesome pics....especially the ones of the leaning tower and the pigeons! Looks like you had a blast!! I'm so jealous!!! ~Hout