Verona

The train ride to Verona was certainly the most beautiful. It went right through the Alps. It was absolutely gorgeous. The mountains were jaw-droppingly huge and still snow capped, and the little towns all had giant ruins in them. Some even had old giant castles built into the mountains itself. The giant stone bridges between a couple gorges were also cool. You could also tell when you entered Italy - the buildings changed, the landscape got a ton more vinyards and the buildings were slightly more run down. But still cute.

When we arrive in Verona it's hot and just about to rain. We also don't get a very good impression of the town - the station is in the modern outskirts...the very ugly modern outskirts. We trek out to our B&B, which is just outside the old town wall so we haven't seen anything we like yet.

Now we've never stayed in a B&B before, so it's a new experience. The woman didn't speak much English, but she was *so* *incredibly* *nice*. I can't say a bad thing about this place because she was just so helpful. She gave us a map right off and showed us all the main highlights of the teeny-weeny town. Our room was also awesome - fully air-conditioned with a bathroom as big as our entire room in Vienna.

We wander around after a bit of a nap - see Juliet's statue and balcony, flooded with people of course (I refuse to pay for entry to the fake house). I mean, the balcony isn't even that old. It was built in the last hundred years. Maybe that makes me a non-romantic, but I like my ambiance to be genuine. It does make me want to see that movie, Letters to Juliet, though. People really did put letters there. I read later that every month or so they have to clean them all up or else the entire place would be flooded with paper. The graffiti at the entrance is also replaced, too. Rumor is that if you and your lover write your names on the wall, you'll be together forever or something mushy like that. They replace those panels every so often so more people can write their names. Does that mean that you're only together till the panels get removed? Seems kind of risky to me. I decided to pass.

We get some food at a restaurant on one of the squares - pretty good. Nothing earth-shattering, but decent. The castle bridge was the best - it's ginormous and has the best views of Verona. We got there at sunset, so it was particularly beautiful then.

Verona was cute, charming. Definitely not somewhere you'd want to be for more than a day. Maybe two if you like to sleep in a lot. I must be missing something, though, because tons of people flood here every year. Is it the Romeo and Juliet thing? Maybe it's because I've never actually read the play, but it's not even my favorite Shakespeare story. Ah well. On to Venice!