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Published: January 31st 2010
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Il Duomo di Verona
This was where the bus literally dropped us off right in front of. It's absolutely beautiful Today a few of us decided to take the train up to Verona, which is about an hour and a half from Bologna in Veneto instead of Emilia-Romagna. Verona is where Romeo and Juliet took place and it is absolutely beautiful. It's a very small and manageable city, and with the purchase of a map we were able to navigate the city easily. upon arriving there at the train station it is necessary to take a bus into the center. Luckily, Verona is small enough that you can sort of guess where you need to stop--because none of the buses announce the stops, and only stop at stops when people push the buttons or where soemone is waiting to get on. So we sort of guestimated when to get off, but ended up in front of the Duomo. Unlike in Florence, where the Duomo is the absolute center of the city, the Duomo in Verona was not the center of the city, but it was beautiful and close to the center. So we wondered from the Duomo up to Piazza dell'Erbe. Verona has beautiful buildings. I kind of died a little looking at all of them, with their beautiful ivy-covered balconys.
Balconies
I love all the balconies here and the streets. As it's claim to fame, Verona takes great pride in Romeo and Juliet--everywhere you went, especially in the main piazza, there was some kind of reference to them. The main piazza--Piazza dell'Erbe--is beautiful and crowded on each side with restaurants (expensive tourist traps) and little stands selling everything from postcards to beautiful carnivale masks (it took quite a lot of willpower not to buy one to add to my collection, but I figured I would hold off until going to Venice) to plates with famous pieces of Veronan (word?) architecture. We explored and photographed the piazza before heading off along a main road to find Juliet's blacony. To get to the palazzo with her balcony and her statue, you need to walk through this small tunnel that is covered in love notes in every language. It was something so simple but moving and amazing. The palazzo is relatively small, and Juliet's balcony is not that high up, but it was beautifully carved. It wish I could have just had a moment to take it all in--but there were tons of tourists, so that took away the moment a little bit. But we all took photos at the statue of
Juliet and it was great (it makes me like romeo and juliet more haha).
After seeing Juliet's balcony, it was about 2, and given that we had been up since like 8:30 and had little to eat it was definitely time for lunch. It was difficult to find a place that wasn't a tourist trap and very expensive. We called Alessandra, who had done a Jan term in Verona last year and she led us to this osteria called Osteria di Giuletta e Romeo--which sounds like it should be a tourist trap, and when you first look at the menu and see that the price is 15 euros it definitely sounds like it. However, looking closely at the menu you see that the 15 euros covers a first and second course--which is really good. Especially, as we learned, since each course is HUGE. After hearing the ravings from those who had been to Verona about the city's specialty--pasta with donkey meat sauce (i know, i know, it sounds weird)--Will and I knew we had to order it. It was so so so good. Epically good suggestion. After that I had chicken and potatoes, and they decided that even though
Love Wall
Part of the covered tunnel to get to Juliet's Balcony i ate a giant plate of donkey pasta, i was clearly hungry enough to eat two giant chicken breasts and roasted potatoes. Yeah. I was hungry, but not that hungry. However, eating dinner that night was not really a necessity either.
After lunch, we decided to head towards the colosseum. Yes, Verona has a colosseum. Who knew? On the way we also saw a castle. This is why Italy is great. You walk down a street and can a church built five hundred years ago. A castle built eight hundred years ago. And then a colosseum built two thousand years ago. The US gets excited when we have things that are three hundred years old.
Verona is definitely worth a trip. The city is relatively small, and although you do need to take a bus into the city from the train station, once you get off everything to do is within extremely reasonable walking distances, and walking around the city is half the fun. Definitely, definitely plan a trip there.
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Daddy
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Totally enjoyed reading about Verona
Hi Laurie - it's Daddy. What a wonderful idea to "blog" your adventures in Italy! I really enjoyed reading about your trip to Verona - the city sounds beautifull and interesting. I could see it all through your description - nice job. Lovees. Daddy.