My Verona

Flipping through my pictures just now, I'm reminded of how absolutely adorable Verona is. So far, it ranks as one of my favorite Italian towns. The classical, romantic, historic and just plain tranquil feeling Verona has is well worth a trip. The arena in the center of Verona is the third largest in Italy and offers some lovely views from the top. From there we went to Juliet's house and took pictures with Juliet's statue. I opted out of grabbing her chest - I think it's supposed to be good luck or something - but was amazed at the number of people getting so up close and personal with a bronze statue that thousands of people manhandle each day ... GermX anyone? Apparently you can no longer write letters to Juliet and place them in the wall (only in mailboxes), but you can scribble messages in the dark little tunnel that leads into the courtyard - ah, yes, romance lives on. We grabbed lunch at a cute little Trattoria that served several dishes with donkey in them. I did try the donkey ravioli and will have to put that experience in the 'Done it once - no need to do it again' column. They definitely use a good amount of spices with the donkey meat ... I'm just not sure if they are trying to cover up some kind of heinous flavor or not. We did find a fantastic gelato place (line out the door to prove it) on the river before heading back to the train station. All in all, a wonderful place to visit.

Juliet's Balcony

Little messages of love ... aka graffiti

The arena

Looking down on the market in the center from the arena

Some fantastically costumed street performers

Along the river ...

Locks on one of the bridges. I believe the reasoning is that two lovers place a lock on a bridge to show how enduring their feelings for each other are - I just wonder who keeps the key on the off chance that things don't work out ...

Many of the churches in Verona use alternating layers of white stone and brick. I also love the painted ceilings you see everywhere in Italy.

Juliet

On to the Cinque Terre!

After Florence, we hopped a train (or two) over to Cinque Terre. The weather was a bit cloudy and rainy on the ride there until we passed through a long tunnel and came out into sunshine and blue water! We stayed at a little hotel in Monterosso which meant we got to take the train through the other four Terre on the way down. The weather was pretty rainy most of the time there, but we did manage to hike the trail between Monterosso and Vernazza before it closed - che bello! You walk through some of the world's most vertical vineyards and see amazing views of the coastal towns and ocean. We grabbed some lunch in Vernazza (octopus stew!) before taking the train to Corniglia. I have to say that the zig-zagging hike up to Corniglia from the train station gets the heart pumping but doesn't really take you anywhere that interesting. Corniglia is a quaint little town, but the best part of this stop would have to be hiking down the other side of the town and finding a lovely little dock where the waves were crashing against the rocks and the water was a beautiful shade of turquoise. Since it was starting to rain again, we returned to Monterossa for the night.

Items checked off the 'To Do' list:

• Anchiovies on bruschetta - not bad but way too salty (even for me ;) )
• Delicious octopus stew which Kris said looked like hot dogs
• Sciacchetrà - a dessert wine made from dried grapes. Quite strong and reminds me of a port
• Limoncello - definitely does not taste like a Lemon Drop; more like straight vodka with some lemon and sugar
• Pesto Pesto Pesto - this region, by far, has the best pesto I have ever tasted. I wish I had stocked up! I believe they grow their own type of basil (like the Genovese Basil we can grow at home) and have a particularly great environment to grow it in. Simply delizioso.
• Red Pepper Pasta - yummm. I love spicy food and found pasta that actually had red pepper in it so the pasta itself is spicy. Fantastic.