May 10th: Verona

*Pictures to be added soon*

My oh my, yesterday was such a busy day! We woke up early and caught the bus to the city center at 9. Elena had written an amazing guide for us on what to see in Verona, and by the end of the day we had done all of it! It would take too long to list everything, so here are the highlights:

Pozzo dell'Amore (Well of Love): This was one of those hidden gems that non-locals don't know about - just another advantage of couchsurfing. Tourist-free and and adventure to find, I absolutely loved the well and the poem written engraved on the top. And, of course, since it was a well, I threw in a coin and made a wish (my wish? that the rest of our travels would go smoothly - I think it worked!).

The poem in it's original wording:
Getta nel pozzo un solo soldino,
pensa un momento al
tuo destino,non ti distrarre, non far rumore…
eccolo…eccolo…arriva​ l’amor

Rough Translation:
Toss in the well only one coin,
think for a moment about your destiny.
Don't be distracted, don't make any noise,
for here it comes, here it comes... here arrives love.

View of Verona: We didn't want to pay to ascend the town's tower, but we did get a spectacular view of the city by hiking up a HUGE hill to a castlello (castle). Me legs were tired, but it was entirely worth it.

Giardino G (Garden G): Claudia really wanted to go to this garden, and at first I was pretty reluctant to pay for more greenery, but I'm glad I changed my mind! There was a lush green path to walk on, a great sculpture embedded in the hillside, and my favorite part: a hedge maze! (I've always wanted to do one of those, so I was really excited to finally find one.) Afterward we scored a great lunch at a cute little snack bar off of the typical tourist-beaten path (which meant, of course, the food was much cheaper, the atmosphere much friendlier and quieter, and the meal was delicious!).

Casa di Giulietta (House of Juliet): We went to Juliet's house in the morning, but it was closed until the afternoon! Fear not, though - we were able to take our pictures with Juliet's statue in peace because the other tourists hadn't arrived yet. Her chest is shiney because it is supposed to be good luck to touch her boob!

In the afternoon we returned and went inside one at a time (so we could snap photos of each other on the infamous balcony). I liked the house because I could really picture the story's romance taking place within it's walls.

Tomb of Juliet: For 50 cents extra, the tomb was included in the ticket-price for Juliet's house, so we decided to splurge and make the trek there (it was clear across town). Imagine to our surprise when we got there and the tomb was empty! It was a little sad, because there was a lot of graffiti, and I felt silly looking at an empty grave. The good news is that the grounds were very quiet and peaceful, so it was the perfect place to write me "letter to Juliet" (just like from the movie - it actually exists!). I am hoping my response will come soon!

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From all of the walking we had been doing, by 4 I was so exhausted. We had seen so many things and done so much that all I wanted to do was sit down and rest for... well, forever. No rest for the weary, though - we had to meet our host at 5:30 to get her keys (she's a waitress and works late into the evenings, so we would arrive at her apartment first), so we went to our meeting point (Mc Donalds) to sit and wait. I got a soft serve, and even though I felt like a touristy sellout, I really really enjoyed it. It was a much needed break, and then we had a nice chat with our host before she had to leave for work.

We bought her a thank you gift (which was a Disney mug because she likes Disney a lot) as well as our dinner ingredients (pasta to make at the apartment) and then we were going to catch the bus... just one problem: we couldn't find the bus stop! We wandered around for two hours looking for it and asked for help at countless places. When we finally caught the bus at 8, I was beyond tired and frustrated. It made for a grim evening and a poor end to an otherwise excellent day, but now the bad memories are fading, leaving room for only the good (as well as some funny travel horror stories of "When Things Go Wrong").

We said a fond farewell ("Arrivederci!") to Elena this morning, and now we're off to Milan!

May 8th: Verona

Upon arriving to Verona, I was hungry. The train station was very confusing, it was hot, and I was tired. But after storing our luggage (we managed to fit both of our bags into one in order to beat the storage pricing system), we headed to the city center. Although we only had an hour, we window-shopped a little bit and then stumbled upon Juliet's house. We are planning on going inside tomorrow so we didn't spend much time there.


We stumbled upon a festival happening in the city center, and the carabineri were letting people try out their motorcycles! I was pretending to be a super-bad criminal stealing their motorcycle... but you all know the truth now. On a side note, that is *not* the colosseum in the background, but rather the second largest Roman ampitheatre in Italy!

Then we met up with our new host, Elena, and her friend Marco and we went back to her apartment to drop off our stuff. At first I was nervous - she lived so far from the city center! But after several glasses of iced tea and great company (Marco spoke good English, so conversation flowed easily), I felt that I couldn't ask for a better experience. When Marco left, we switched to speaking only in Italian, which was exhausting and fantastic at the same time. Elena was very patient in trying to correct our mistakes with the language.


The cart full of cow parts. Soon to be my dinner


Unidentified cuts of meat. Only disgusting when you think about it - otherwise, it's delicious!

In the evening we went to the restaurant where Elena works to eat an authentic Veronese dinner of stewed meat. Imagine my surprise when they brought out a cart of exotic things like tongue and brains! I was still game though - I just didn't look when they put things on my plate, that way I couldn't be grossed out. Claudia, who had eaten these sorts of things before, promised me that she'd fill me in on what exactly I had consumed the next day, when there was no possibility of me losing my meal. Despite the new and exciting cuts of meat, though, it all tasted wonderful! Tongue is a little chewy and brain is a little too soft for my taste, but hey, at least I know that now instead of just guessing! All in all, a great meal with wonderful company.


Adventuring at night through Soave. The medieval castles and winding paths were really cool

After dinner, Elena's friend Matteo drove us to see the medieval town of Soave. Even though it was late, I said "Perche no?" ("Why not?") and away we went! I'm so glad I decided to go, because the town was so cute! It was empty and quiet because of the late hour, but the castle was great and it was also fun to speak so much Italian with Matteo.

Tomorrow, we will spend the whole day exploring the Verona, but now it's time for bed!