Sorry for the delay in posting/communicating...the hotel in Verona had wifi but it would not work, and the hotel staff was not very concerned about helping us. Now we are in Innsbruck, Austria (blog and pictures soon to come) and again, there is no wifi at the hotel, but I am able to get online at a nearby McDonalds. :)
Today we spent much of the day traveling from Nice to Verona, Italy. We left our hotel in Nice at 8:30 this morning and arrived at our new hotel in Verona at about 4:30. We’re staying in a small hotel in the middle of the old city of Verona, so we’re right in the middle of all the city’s history.
Shortly after arriving at the hotel, we went to get our first taste of Italian gelato at a place down the street recommended by Dr. Dan. I had a scoop of chocolate on a cone, and it was a delicious start to out two days in Italy.
At 6 pm our whole group met in the lobby of our hotel for a walking tour of Verona. Our tour guide took us to several historical and cultural sites around the city. We started off at Juliet’s house to see the wall of letters, the statue of Juliet, and Juliet’s balcony. Our tour guide informed us that the premise of the story of Romeo and Juliet is true (there was a Capulet family and a Montesque family who lived in Verona and did not get along) but the famous tragic love story is most likely entirely fabricated. Nonetheless, Verona has capitalized on the story and the tourists that flock to see the house where the Capulets once lived. I was disappointed to hear that because of the movie “Letters to Juliet,” Juliet’s wall (a wall where people have traditionally written and posted letters to either Juliet or their love) has become an extremely popular tourist attraction, and people had begun to stick letters to the wall with chewing gum. Whoever is responsible for the upkeep of this attraction did not like this new practice, so they removed all the letters and now people only write on the walls with a marker. I was hoping to see the wall of actual letters, just like in the movie, and post one of my own for fun. Jessica and I plan to go back tomorrow, hoping it will be less crowded than it was today, so I guess we will make do with simply writing on the wall, if we can find space to do so.
Also at the Capulet house, people flock to the statue of Juliet to touch her breast because, as legend has it, doing so will bring fertility. Jessica and I took a picture with the statue for fun, but we told Juliet to hold off on the fertility thing for a few more years. ;)
After visiting several more sites, such as Romeo’s house, the author Dante’s house, and the old Roman arena, the tour was over and we stopped for dinner at a pizza place that had been recommended to us earlier in the day. The pizza was very good- homemade and authentically Italian. After dinner we went for gelato, round two. This time I had a scoop of strawberry, which was also delicious. I have a feeling that we will frequent this gelato shop throughout our stay in Italy.
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