http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Europe , Italy , Veneto , Verona en-us Sat, 12 Dec 09 07:27:37 +0000 Sat, 12 Dec 09 07:27:37 +0000 The timing of my departure Friday Dec. 11 coincides by design and not by chance with one of the most treasured traditions of my childhood in Verona. On the night between the 12th and the 13th December Santa Lucia Saint Lucy accompanied by her donkey and carrying a bag of goodies and toys visits the houses of children and if they have been good that year she will leave them presents....or http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-459187.html I will be travelling this month to my beloved Verona. This is a picture of Piazza Erbe one of my favorite spots in Verona. Piazza Erbe has changed over the years. When I lived in Verona and was attending high school I would walk through the crowded piazza where merchants had parked their semipermanent structures and packed as much stuff as possible in their cramped stores. You could find cl http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-458688.html Day 4 SaturdayVerona to PadovaWe had a great night's sleep...it rained all night but now the sun is out and we have had a great walk around Verona...had coffee and brioche at an outdoor cafe three tables on a narrow street next to the Dior shop.....bought cheese roasted chestnuts and a bottle of wine at the open air market....We are at the only internet cafe in town...no wifi here...The town http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-447762.html Day Two Milano to BergamoForgot to say in last blog that we saw much marble being cut in the mountains coming in from Switzerland.This morning we walked in the light rain to the Duomo. On the way we stopped coffee and a chocolate brioche in very modern caf where I got locked in the bathroom We arrived at the Duomo where we paid to climb the 250 steps to the wet marble roof where one can http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-447750.html Verona our first weekend trip of the semester was incredible We caught a 1000 am train out of Venice and arrived in Verona a little after noon. It was our first train ride over here in Europe and it actually went surprisingly well Once in Verona we grabbed some pizza sadly we were kind of craving true Italian food since mediocre cafeteria food is pretty much all we get and set out to exp http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-447205.html Dias 56 a 59 Antes de chegar Europa a Itlia no era um dos destinos que eu mais aguardava. Talvez por no ser um pas exatamente ldquoeuropeurdquo e sim mediterrneo o que a confere caractersticas mais similares s nossas no me parecia algo muito interessante. Ao longo da viagem no entanto fui conhecendo cada vez mais pessoas que idolatravam ldquoIl Bel Paeserdquo como se l f http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-444350.html Tuesday 6th OctoberWest to VeronaOur concerns of last night that the incoming backpackers might be a noisy lot were realised during the night or some early hour of the morning.For a while there were argumentsshouting and loud talking in the vicinity of our mobile home with wafer thin walls and our sleep was disturbed.Thensleepand the next we knew it was time for the early morning departures fro http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-444126.html After our blissful time in Liguria we sadly packed the cars and headed home towards Verona.Riccardo and Guilia worked in the afternoon so I spent most days hanging around town doin waaay too much shopping there's awesome shopping in Verona and eating gelato.Verona is a gorgeous Italian city complete with moat Roman coliseum and illustrious history the city's former residents are the inspi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-419869.html Apologies for the lack of blogging but work has been plenty and sleeping is consuming the majority of my free time. Anyway this past weekend involved a journey north to see my first real opera a performance of the Barber of Seville in Verona's Roman Theater. Best possible way to be introduced to opera. The adventure started off right with a stop at the Autogrill near Bologna for lunch. Ther http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-418544.html After our crazy weekend we all opted for a nice slow day on Tuesday and just had class and then spent some time downtown shopping seeing a few sights like the inside of the bell tower and the arena and having a little dinner. A much needed relaxing day. On Wednesday we had our last day trip to Vicenza. It is a very very old town with a lot of architecture from famed architect Andrea Pallad http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-405193.html Since I last left off things have finally slowed down a little bit. For the rest of my birthday we went across town and climbed a ways up to a castle area to take photos of the sunset but unfortunately the sun was covered with clouds and didn't make for very good photos although we got some great ones on the way up. We then went to a more local place on a side road for dinner where we had wei http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-402926.html Hi allI'm in Italy finally I suppose to start off here's a brief story of getting hereWednesday my mom sister and I left Des Moines for Chicago and got to our hotel shortly before 4. We immediately took the L downtown much more confusing for me than the Metra but no problems. We arrived shortly after 5 and went into Water Tower Place where you know me I found this betsy johnson dress http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-401399.html so done with trip i am at point of mental unstibility. i was on my way to rome and had to switch trains in verona but when i went to make the reservation the person in front of me got the last seat and now they are on strikeonly for 24 hours . and on top of that when i tried to get a hold of someone my phone died then i found out there are no outlets in the train station then noone spoke enou http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-385492.html No we haven't gone back to Italy...I simply realized I didn't do the Verona blog. A gross oversight since that was one of our favorite days in Italy I nearly didn't go to Verona because that was the morning that my hippiriformoussciatia issues really made themselves known. I was in a lot of pain and I knew that if I stayed home there would be enough room in one car for everyone. Howeve http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-381337.html We both took sabaticals in Sept. of 2002 and left the familiarity of home for 6 months of travel in Europe. We started by flying into Munich only frequent flyer we could get and immediately trained to Verona Italy. We visited Verona Assisi and then to Montebaluna to visit Mary's cousin Favio Burrato and his family This was the start of 6 months of our lives that we will never forget. This http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-361121.html What can I say about being in Verona for two days with only a few people that I actually like and a few more that I cannot really be around for longer than 10 minutes without wanting to cut of my own ears other than awkward. A weekend spent pondering why people say the things they do and how I could possibly survive the weekend without going crazy. I couldnrsquot not go to Verona partly because http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-346506.html So I arrived at the station and then had to wait a half hour for the bus. Vic texted me and asked me to meet her at the Roman Theatre. So I took the bus there and then as I got off I called Vic from under the theatro Roma sign. As I called I had an inkling that she was near the Roman arena which is also used as theatre and someone who had never been to Verona which Vic hadnrsquot would ea http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-346231.html So I havenrsquot made an entry in about a month and as Irsquom sure you can guess I have done A LOT since Oktoberfest. I suppose the best way to catch up is to make several different entries and since Irsquom typing this one on a cruise Irsquoll just probably post all of the entries at the same time. With that being said Irsquoll start with the wedding between Diane and Fabio Pas http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-342266.html Have limited web access have got to Verona moving to Venice Thursday 30th October 2008.Will do full update when possible. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-339688.html text may follow http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona/blog-334302.html