Verona

To get a free train ride since we had passes, we had to stop in Prado, and then literally run through the train station to get on the train exactly one minute before our next train left. Then we switched again in Bologna. Once we finally arrived in the Verona train station, and we were starving. We thought “what’s cheap?” McDonalds!! Plus, it reminded us of home. So we ate in McDonald’s. It was not that cheap, but it was so worth it. We found something amazing while we were ordering our food: boxes for donating to the Ronald McDonald House!! We took pictures donating change. For those of you who don't know, my sorority's philanthropy is the Ronald McDonald House.

Then we left the train station for our hostel. We were given no directions and we were walking around Verona alone at night. Real smart. Thankfully we found 3 women who pointed us in the right direction. Then we asked a guy for help, but he didn’t know where we were going, but then another guy actually took out his phone and mapquested our hostel for us. The last thing Angie said before we walked in the door of our hostel was that she was giving it two thumbs down. But fortunately that was the worst part of Verona.

A dog greeted us at the door, which was automatically a good sign. The hostel was actually more of a B&B. The guy who worked there showed us to our room- which was basically like a loft on the third floor. There were beds, an armario, a TV, a desk, and a mirror. The guy gave us a map and told us all about Verona and Romeo and Juliet. I guess they were actually real people. Their families, the Montagues and the Capulets, hated each other. The story isn’t real though, like they didn’t die for each other. I’m not sure if they fell in love. They were just an inspiration for the story. Juliet actually was from Verona, but Romeo was from Vicenzo, which is where our hostel guy was from. He told us to buy the Verona Pass if we were going to more than one attraction tomorrow because it can save you money. Then he left and we just watched TV and went to sleep. We watched the Cosby Show in Spanish.

The next morning, we slept in until 9:30am. Verona is a small town and we knew this day would be more relaxed than Rome or Florence. We bought the Verona cards and then went to a store that advertised boots for 10 euros. Angie and I each bought a pair of Italian boots. Then we headed for the Arena. It’s a big historic thing- it’s super old and looks kind of like a mini version of the Coliseum. We got in with our Verona Cards and went exploring. Basically, there was an oval courtyard with sand/dirt on the ground. Then there were stone steps going all the way up. We climbed all the way up and took pictures. Then we wrote ΑΔΠ in the sand and took more pictures.

The next stop was Juliet’s tomb. Remember, she was a real person. We got into the museum part, free again with the card, and walked around this building looking at paintings and sculptures of Romeo and Juliet. Then we tried asking the people how to actually get to the tomb, which didn’t go over well, because we don’t speak Italian. We figured out we had to go into this courtyard, go down these stairs, and there were tombs for Juliet and her family.

That wasn’t as fun as we thought it would be so we decided to go to the place we were excited for most- Juliet’s house. Now for those of you who have seen the fabulous movie “Letters To Juliet,” you should. Like legit, go rent it now. It’s amazing. That means you Lauren… But trust me, the Verona part of the blog will be much more exciting if you do.

Juliet’s house was a little different than the movie. We almost walked past the house because it’s in like an alley. There was graffiti all over the walls. But we walked through the arch and saw the balcony. The movie does not show you the 2 souvenir shops on the left side of the plaza in front of the house; but the movie does show you a wall that is not there in real life. The famous wall, the wall that thousands of women flock to each year to stuff letters into, was gone. We think it used to be there, and it got too popular after the movie, so they took it down. But honestly I have no idea. We did go in the house, which was very pretty. They had old stuff that was used during the time of Romeo and Juliet and during the movie. Not the Leo DiCaprio one, the other one that I’ve never seen. In the house there is a room that contains 4 computers and a red mailbox. You can handwrite a letter and put it in the mailbox, or you can email Juliet. The computers also explained about their lives and the life of Shakespeare, which I obviously could not care less about. My favorite part of the house was taking pictures on the balcony. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the house, and I felt like I was in the movie!! But I wish there was the wall from the movie and I thought it would be a bigger deal.

After the house, which was my favorite attraction but still sort of a letdown from the movie, we went looking for Romeo’s house. I know, he didn’t even live in Verona. It doesn’t matter, we couldn’t find the house anyway. Since Verona is so small, the maps don’t exactly contain a lot of street names. We ended up at the river, which was what we wanted to see next anyways. Our hostel guy told us about some famous old bridge being important for some reason but I can’t remember. We stopped along the river for a photo shoot. The pictures were so pretty. The 3 of us agreed that, if we had to live in Italy, we would pick Verona. It’s a small, cute little town that has mountains and a river and beautiful views. Everyone was so nice too and I felt very safe there.

letters to juliet

balcony

by the river

the town of verona

We crossed the river to get to this place called the Roman Amphitheater because we were told there were amazing views of the city. We made a pact not to look at the view until we got to the top. That was a lot harder than it sounded because we walked up, couldn’t figure out how to get higher, took an elevator, walked through a museum, and finally figured out where we were. Then we looked at the city. It was so beautiful, but 24 hours ago I had been looking at Florence, and you really can’t beat Florence. We sat up there and talked for awhile and took pictures. We talked about how much we loved Verona, but also Florence and Rome, and how every city had something different to offer.

roman ampitheater

the view

We headed for the train station while it was still light out to look up times for tomorrow morning. That took about an hour, but on the way, we saw the sunset. And some lady gave us directions in Italian and we actually understood them. On the way back it was dark, but we found our way back way easier than we had the night before. We wanted dinner, but found it cheaper and easier to go to an Italian grocery store and buy random food. We got oranges, apples, crackers, cheese, 3 huge water bottles, iced tea, wafers, and a bar of chocolate. All for under 10 euros, but we did get made fun of by some Italian grocery shoppers. I’m sorry okay, but in the US we don’t have to weigh our own fruit and print out a sticker… We ate it in our room while watching, wait for it, The Secret Life of the American Teenager (in Italian), and then House and Grey’s Anatomy, IN ENGLISH!! Ahh best day ever!! And I don’t watch either of those shows… I fell asleep in the middle of the second Grey’s episode.

sunset in verona on the way to the train station

me on juliets balcony