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Our train for Verona left at 9:45, so we just had time to shower and have a quick cappuccino before heading off to the Metro to meet Christina. Back in the day, we would have not booked our hotels until the day before we got to the next city. That is what we did on our first three trips to Europe. I would make use of bookings.com and get some amazing deals. Sometimes we did get some not so desirable hotel but 80% of the time we did pretty well and the price was always very good. The downside was that we had to pay as we went. Now when we travel I predominantly use hotels.com and prebook everything and prepay, so we do not have to worry about credit card holds, etc. as the only thing we pay when we check out is the city tax. The point of that aside is to say that checking out is a breeze as all we do is give back our key and pay the few euros of tax.
We met Christina at the Metro and headed towards the train station. The Colosseo metro does not have escalator’s or an elevator, so
the lugging of luggage began. Fortunately, only down the stairs and not up.
We arrived at the train station in plenty of time before our train left. When we were in Rome 13 years ago, it seemed smaller and not as developed, but now the lower level is full of shops. It was a bit confusing as none of the screens with the train departures were on that level, so we just had to guess on which platform area to go to. Once on the platform, the station looked more familiar but more modern. Gone are the old arrival and departure boards that rolled letter by letter line by line with each new update. Now it is all electronic. Up to this point everything was going smoothly, then our track was announced. We headed to coach 1 (yes, we booked first class, once you are over 50 comfort becomes more important that saving money).
Prior to the trip we had been telling Christina how nice and relaxing it was to travel by train in Europe, they are more comfortable than Amtrak and the service is better. Well, our first train trip did not prove our point. Once we
got to coach 1, it was not first glass but Business Executive. The conductor was rattling off instructions in Italian but looking right at me, so I thought she was speaking to me, I kept saying that I didn’t understand, I don’t speak Italian. Then she broke out here English and said I am not talking to you sir, but others. Then why are you looking me directly in the eye why you speak. The frustration level was rising, because train leave on time and it was about to depart and we did not know which car we were supposed to be in. Finally, she said car one had been taken offline and we needed to go to coach 4, still first class same seats. So as instructed we went to coach 4, which was jammed full, and not first class, the boiling point hit and a bit of ugly American unfortunately broke free from me.
Long story short, after much frustration and a little cursing we finally were directed to Coach 2 and barely found any seat before the train was away. Once we did get situated, it was the train travel we had been bragging about, excellent
service, coffee and beverages included and very comfortable seats. I was able to get two blog entries typed but not posted.
The trip to Verona was about three hours, Christina did things on her phone, Jerry napped here and there and I blogged and enjoyed the passing countryside. The trip was very relaxing and a great break for my feet.
Verona We arrived at Verona around 12:45, the initial plan was to take a buss to pick up our Verona Card and then walk to our hotel. Given all the luggage between the three of us, we decided to take a cab to pick up the Verona Card have him wait then on to the hotel. Much better decision, easier than lugging the luggage around on the bus.
This is a city I do not want to drive in. The streets are narrow, full of pedestrians and a series of one-way streets. You have to be a local to figure out how to get where your going. The taxi driver negotiated the streets like an expert with only a few curse words for other drivers.
The hotel here was a step up from Rome. Hotel
Accademia, a very centrally located near all of the major sites and everything was in walking distance. The service from the moment we arrived to the moment we let was 5 star. Jerry’s and my room was ready so we were able to take our luggage up and freshen up a bit. Christina’s room was not quite ready so she stored her luggage.
With the hotel check in taken care of we started our walking tour. The Verona Card was good for 24 hours and would allow us entry to most every site we wanted to see. Unfortunately, we only managed to use it at one, because we ran out of time. Verona in 24 hours is not really possible, unless your just run from site to site.
We did go into the Duomo, but everything else ended up being a walk by, including Torre Dei Lamberti, which was going to be the first climb to a view. The vibe in Verona is much different than Rome, it was almost an immediate bit of relaxation, the pace slowed, vacation mode kicked in. On the way to the Duomo, we stopped for a bite to eat. We each had
a panni I had a couple glasses of white wine (vacation mode is definitely kicked in). After lunch we continued our walk around the city.
Verona is a return to city, not in the near future, but definitely some place to come back to and spend a couple of days to see the remaining sites. Things we didn’t get to go into was the Roman Theatre and the Arena (where the summer Opera’s are performed.) It is actually still standing from the time of the Roman Empire and in much better shape than the Colosseo, has to be if it is still in use. As we strolled we walked by one of the original gates to the city, several palazzos and through piazza after piazza. It was just a nice relaxing afternoon.
The downside to Verona, at least for Jerry and me, it is a shopping mecca. Upscale shops everywhere, must be the 5
th Avenue of Italy. After, our self-guided walking tour, we went back to our hotel to relax and prepare for dinner. Christina finished checking in to her room, I had a welcome drink, a glass of prosecco. The room was larger than in Rome and
very comfortable. A full-size shower with tub, that is luxury after Rome. Jerry did not do the full unpack but did take out our hanging items and steamed a shirt in the shower to rid it of wrinkles.
Dinner
We all met in the lobby to go to dinner, the original plan was to stop and go in the Roman theatre then on to dinner. We walked along the river Adige towards the theatre. When we got there, only 30 minutes remained before it closed, we decided not to rush the visit and did not go in. Jerry did take some nice pictures of the ruins. We then proceeded a few more streets to the restaurant.
Osteria La Fontanina We found this restaurant, simply by using google maps for restaurants near the Roman theatre. I checked out the website before making the final decision to reserve this spot. It was in Italian so could only get a sense of the place from the pictures. It just looked like a very quaint family run establishment. To our huge surprise it turned out to be a Michelin stared restaurant. We arrived a bit early and they
were still setting up for the evening we just spent the time watching the people pass.
When it looked as if they were ready for business we walked up. They were all very friendly and offered us our choice of in or outside seating. It was a nice evening so we went with outside. When they presented the menus is when we discovered that they had received one star from Michelin. There were so many good choices so narrowing it down was very difficult, we all did pretty much stay with reginal dishes. We did not have to order Prosecco as they just poured it right after we sat down. It was a very pleasant evening from start to end. Even the bread basket was a step above previous dinners.
We did not do the normal sharing of appetizer’s etc., we all just did are own thing. I started with a glass of Sauve La Frosca 2014, one of the reginal wines of Veneto. It did take us a bit to decided but we finally were ready to order. Will change things up and do the food person by each person.
Christina Crispy Nuvola
Venison carpaccio
Dish of the Night– poached egg in a pastry shell with morteveronese cheese and black truffles. It was a beautiful presentation and you could actual taste the truffles.
Ravioli stuffed with eggplant parmigiana
Roasted octopus on fennel cream with citrus foam
Jerry Venison carpaccio with foie gras crème Brule – This was an exceptional dish, and the foie gras creme Brule melted in your mouthBigoli with anchovies, sweet tomatoes, broccoli bread crumbs and cream of mozzarella cheese.
Tuna filets from Sicily over piquillo peppers with capers, olives and basil. Tuna was perfectly medium rare.
Chris Scallops with fresh local pea puree cream and caviar – The flavors were intense and the scallops perfectly cooked and cleaned.
Black spaghetti with olive oil from Garda lake, garlic, red peppers, calamari and zucchini. This was the best pasta of the trip. The pasta cooked perfectly, and the calamari was not just chunks but spiral’s like pasta.
Guinea Fowl with smoked potato puree and porcini mushrooms. This was the house specialty and a very traditional Verona dish. Everything blended together perfectly and it was an outstanding dish.
With dinner we had an exceptional bottle of Amarone wine.
This is also a reginal wine and is fully body and went with both Jerry’s and my dish perfectly. We finished dinner with dessert, Christina had a mascarpone tart with fresh berries and Jerry and I had chocolate therapy, I won’t descript it you can just see how much therapy we received from the picture.
With the best meal of the trip complete, we strolled back over the river and to our hotel. Verona is a sleepy little town and the streets were fairly empty. As we arrived back on the main street, it was in stark contrast to earlier in the day. No longer crowded with shopper with too much money, but not quite and empty.24 hours is simply not enough time for Verona, if we had it to do over, we would add a second night to give us enough time to see everything. It is definitely worth a repeat trip.
Step count was very low today 120.
The dish of the day was Venison carpaccio. The Black spaghetti with olive oil from Garda lake, garlic, red peppers, calamari and zucchini was a very close second (Christina in fact picked it as dish of the
day).
Tomorrow morning everyone is on there own and then off to Venice for 2 nights.
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