Fair Verona

Buon Giorno,

We're behind on our posts -- as we are now long gone from the European continent. But just to catch you up...

It’s true, Verona is quite fair. But it’s also pretty dead if you happen to arrive on a Sunday evening, since on Monday virtually everything seems to be closed (museums, Verona's Duomo, and the Roman arena in which the massive opera productions are staged).

But without the other distractions, and with the kids tired of museums anyway (we started referring to them as the “M” word), we could appreciate the streets of this city, which was the setting for Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet. And Verona is beautiful. Touristy but beautiful.

Verona is famous for its operas, staged in the ancient Roman arena, which can seat 30,000. The sets are massive and are changed out each day using cranes. Sorry no photos. It was a Monday.

One of the famous landmarks is a whale rib, which has hung for centuries from this arch. Legend has it that the rib will fall when a “just” man (person) walks under it. Over the years, popes and great politicians have passed under that rib. And every member of our family went under that rib during our visit.

For some reason, it is still hanging.


There is also "Juliet's balcony," a big tourist draw. But we declined to visit the fake balcony of a fictional character, so no photos of that either.

Better was the fabulous shopping on marble-paved streets, athough I again failed to capitalize: The only shopping we did was for some fancy balsalmic vinegar from this shop. We are all totally into that vinegar, though.

In general, Tommy was less enthusiastic about the shopping opportunities.

But he was enthusiastic about throwing rocks in the river, as we had a chance to check out the villas on the surrounding hills.

Then, it was off for one last quick visit with our new friends in Vicenza (photos of their villa, where we stayed earlier, are below) before we headed to the mountains to begin our visit with the “Karloffs” – John, Sarah and Lucy.

Ciao,

Kim