Travel Diaries [Verona]

Verona - the city of love. The city I love! This is such a beautiful place with old world charm - housing the 2nd largest arena in the world, and also the famed setting of Romeo and Juliet.

One thing we've learned on our travels around Italy, is that the Italians are the most helpful and patient people to us clueless tourists. While taking the hour long train ride from Padua to Verona, and being the second time on a train, we were feeling quite comfortable and proud of ourselves for so easily getting from one city to the next. Glancing out the window at a stop I noticed the word "Verona" and we jumped up, grabbed our bags and ran off.... onto an empty platform with no buildings in site. Looking around, trying to figure out where to go next - an Italian woman out of the blue asked us if we needed help. Being confident Americans, we said, no we didn't.  Disregarding our arrogance, she pressed on and asked if we were trying to go to Verona - and we said yes - to which she responded we needed the next stop, not this one.  We turned, and bolted back onto the train which for some reason had not left yet - and made it to the real Verona.

In Verona we bought a "city pass" that is a good deal for spending a full day site-seeing. It lets you in the Arena, Juliet's House, a tower in the main square, and many cathedrals. Our first site we visited was the huge arena where gladiators faced off against lions, emperors decided prisoners fates with a thumbs up or thumbs down, and many Christians were persecuted. It's truly impressive how massive of a structure it is and how many hundreds of years it has remained in beautiful condition - even today still hosting operas and concerts.

Gladiators were often the largest and strongest slaves of the Roman empire - so obviously Sam was a good choice to take on that role as well.

So the romantic in me was quite giddy with this picture - here I am standing on Juliet's balcony where Romeo called to her below. Alright - so this was a bit kitschy and the place was teeming with tourists... and Romeo and Juliet is not a real story... but the house is located in a real medieval style home which you can tour, so definitely a fun stop.

*Mom* Sit in the chairs for a picture

*Naomi* I don't think you're supposed to sit on the chairs... there's a sign

*Mom*  Just for a quick one it'll be ok!

*Security Guard* No Sedarse!

Pretty sure that means no sitting.

*Tower Selfie*

Below is the main square in Verona - there is a huge market of fresh fruits and tasty treats - the perfect place to get a refreshing snack.  The city is easy to walk around and one of my favorites because of it's old world charm where you got to escape the crowds of tourists.

-Naomi-