July 16th - Romeo, Romeo... wherefore art thou a fictional character

---

July 16th:

Normally I write this thought the day, but I’ve been fairly busy so it’s an end of day wrap up instead.

I got up, had the free breakfast (a bit average… but still free), had a shower and a shave… see? Soooo busy! I headed down Corso Porta Nuova to meet my friend Pia… another person who I’ve spoken with so many times on the internet without meeting in person. No first meet weirdness, but then we’ve talked for… I dunno, 2 or 3 years? Pia parked her bike and we set out in the sun for a wander. Pia gave me plenty of history about the city and its landmarks, I hope she didn’t feel that she HAD to do that, though it is alwatys nice to get a bit more knowledge (not the taxi driver one) about the place I’m visiting. We climbed a hill, got the views, crossed a bridge, looked at Roman ruins and Pia showed me a plaque that had been put up for a young guy who got killed by some quite small minded hick sounding idiots. Apparently they had heard him talking in an Italian dialect other than that of Verona and had decided to beat him to death… charming.

After this we cheered ourselves up by looking at badges (as you do) and t-shirts, then headed to a music store so that I could buy some Italian music!

Further wandering quickly led to lunch… again I have to say how nice it is to have somebody to share lunch with, so you can converse instead of just eating as a very functional action, or eating with a book balanced in one hand… which is not as enjoyable as eating with company either.

Lunch was delish; had penne cooked in tomato, mushroom, cream and herbs (topped with parmesan), and a salad with slices of salami and big wet ball of creamy mozzarella mmmm! Finished off lunch with a delicious espresso (Diana did tell me that I MUST have an espresso in Italy!) and a free glass of sorbet.

After lunch we did a bit more wandering, seeing Verona and just generally chatting.

There is a lot of tourist stuff here based around Romeo & Juliet; you can see Romeo's house, Juliet's house and tomb... I wonder if anyone has told the city council that R&J is actually a work of fiction and therefore the chance that they owned realesate in the "real world" is fairly slim!
We saw a church that was built in the 1100sAD and went on this bridge where you could climb up on a narrow ledge for a better view and photos… now marble may look like a nice thing to build ledges out of, but not the most practical… it sure is slippery!

We went and got gelato, according to the thermometer outside one shop it was 41° today… not sure if that’s true, but ice cream felt like a good idea nonetheless! Today’s flavours for me were watermelon, pistachio, and pomegranate.

We walked back into town where we parted company; Pia headed off home to do more work towards her exam and I wondered whether or not to go to the Duran Duran concert at the arena… wanted to but the €50-90 price range and the fact that they were pimping their ‘new’ album (and of course the best Duran Duran is OLD Duran Duran) led me to give it a miss.

Went and got a calzone for dinner (mmm). So tomorrow, via buses and trains I leave Italy… so that sucks, but then I’ve wanted to stay longer in most of the places I’ve visited, but of course I’d need more time or less places… I don’t have one and I don’t want the other!

Hoping to make an early start so I can start untangling the travel warren sooner rather than later.

---

Photos

me blocking the view
Up on the hill overlooking Verona

old old church
with an impressive ceilling

Pia & a tourist
see the world, meet interesting people, get a tan