The Day in Verona!

Verona was a really great place for a day trip because it is only an hour from Padova by train, with no transfers. There were six of us on the trip to Verona, which I thought was a perfect number, very comfortable for getting around and eating, etc. We took the train into Verona around 10:00 am and got in around 11:00, which was perfect timing. Unfortunately, it was a blustery and rainy day, but We made the best of it. Katie had read in her Italy for Dummies book that there was a deal on something called a “Verona Card” which allows someone, for 8 Euro, to have free public transportation for a day and get into a list of about 15 attractions for free. We made the very wise decision to invest in a Verona Card and we were off. The first thing we managed to do right was take the bus into the center of town. We didn’t know exactly where we should get off but we knew the Attractions we were most interested in seeing and aimed ourselves toward the historical center. The first place we went was the Castelvecchio, which we chose mostly because it was raining really hard out and we wanted the attraction to be inside. When we got inside the Castelvecchio museum, we realized it would have cost us 8 Euro just for the admission to this one museum, which made our Verona Card that much more worth it. There were a lot of really cool artifacts in the Castelvecchio, and the building itself was antique and an important place in Verona, so the combination of those two things was really great. The art was pretty standard Italian religious artwork, but there were a few pieces that stood out. The best part of the Castelvecchio to me was the beautiful view it provided. As you move through the museum you weave in and out of the castle, and when you reach the top you are on the roof with access to a bridge over the river, where you can see the whole city and the mountains beyond. When we got there, it had stopped raining, and the view was absolutely stunning. I took lots of pictures and really enjoyed just basking in the beauty that is Verona.

After we were done in the Castelvecchio, we were pretty famished. By this time it was around 1:30 I believe, maybe even later, and we were ready for some food. As we exited we split up to two little side of the road places. The one we went to was dynamite! It was a little kebab place, and we had “Kebab Panini” which is where they have a rotisserie of lamb (I think it was lamb) and they shave pieces off and put it in a pita with pickled cabbage, lettuce, tomato, onion, chili sauce, yogurt sauce, ketchup mayonnaise and they top it off with French fries. Oh my god it was the most amazing piece of food I had ever had at that moment.

So calorie-licious. So after we scarfed down our food, we decided we wanted to head over to La Chiesa di San Zeno. This church was pretty grandiose, and it was on the other side of town, but thanks to people who have a better sense of direction than I do, we managed to navigate our way over there in the rain. (Keep in mind we had six people and only three umbrellas.) Along the way we got a cool tour of the ins and outs of Verona: we walked along the river and through some of the neighborhoods. When we arrived at San Zeno, we found that it would have cost us 5 Euro to enter if it weren’t for the Verona Card (Score!) so they gave us a little pamphlet in English and let us in. It was stunning inside. The size of it was probably the most overwhelming, but there were so many different areas to see, it was just breathtaking. The art inside was intricate, and the aura of the whole place was very spiritual (As I suppose can be expected in a church). San Zeno is the Patron Saint of Verona, and he came from Africa I believe, which is kind of an interesting tidbit. There was a really jolly looking statue of him in the church as well as his body, which I guess is standard in Patron Saint churches (I also have visited Saint Anthony’s in Padova and Santa Lucia’s in Venice where both of their bodies lie).

After San Zeno’s, we decided to head in the direction of Juliet’s House. Because Shakespeare set Romeo and Juliet in Verona, it has become sort of notorious for that reason, and although Juliet is NOT A REAL PERSON… yeah… they have this house where supposedly the Cappelato family lived which is supposedly the family that Shakespeare based the Capulet’s on… it was all sort of strange. Anyway, we had a little trouble finding it and we waited quite a while for a bus that only ended up taking us a few blocks, but finally we arrived at the Casa di Giulieta. It was packed with tourists in the walkway, which leads into a little courtyard where there is a statue of Juliet. I guess it is customary to write your name and the name of your love on the wall of the walkway, or on a piece of paper to tape to the wall, or on a piece of gum (ew) and there was a wall covered with all of this stuff. The courtyard was packed full, but to get into the house you have to pay 5 Euro (Unless you have the Verona Card!) so the actual museum in the house was not that crowded. It was pretty lame though, because again, Juliet is not a real person. Basically the house was full of memorabilia about the play, and there was a room with the actual bed and actual costumes from the 1968 movie version of Romeo and Juliet, but for the most part, it was sort of silly. We were able to go out on the “balcony” where “Juliet” might have been if she were real, but it was all sort of a joke thing. I definitely would not have paid 5 Euro to see this stuff, but since it was free it was fun to enjoy. There was a silly machine where you could send a free email with your picture and a picture of Verona, so we all did that in the lobby, and then the piece de resistance. In the courtyard, the statue of Juliet is much like the statue of Saint Peter in Venice. You’re supposed to rub Saint Peter’s foot for good luck and you are supposed to rub Juliet’s boob for good luck (yeah, ridiculous I know). So we took a few pictures of that and then we were off to the center of town again.

We were planning to eat at a restaurant which we had heard was good, but when we got there we found out it didn’t open until 7, and we didn’t want to wait that long, so we thought we’d see if we could get inside the Arena. Unfortunately, the Arena was closed for the day because they were doing a live outdoor opera of the Hunchback of Notre Dame (HOW COOL!!!). I was sad that we couldn’t see inside and even sadder that the Opera didn’t start until 9:30, otherwise I totally would have wanted to stay and see it, but it was still cool to see the outside of the Arena. After that we decided to have a gelato and head back to the train station to go home.

Our train left a little late, but we got back in one piece and decided to find a place to eat in Padova. We ended up at this place called Fly, an American Bar (whatever that means) and we stopped there for some grub. It was very delicious, I had a pizza with prosciutto crudo right on top, and one of the other girls Katelyn had a fabulous looking calzone. Plus, there were lots of cute guys watching soccer there, so that was fun too. I was really cold so I ordered some hot chocolate, but it turns out that hot chocolate in Italy actually means heated up chocolate pudding that you eat with a spoon (who knew?). So that was a new and interesting experience. And that was my day in Verona