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We are back in Verona after two years and I have just now caught my breath enough to make an update. The last time we were here, I took Italian lessons for 3-4 hours a day, with minimal homework – a grammar lesson in the morning and a group conversation lesson in the early afternoon. This time, I am doing six hours a day of lessons: two hours of grammar followed by two hours of conversation and two hours of one-on-one tutoring. I am learning much faster, but end up with very little time to do anything besides eat and sleep! Fortunately, these are my two favorite things in the world, so I am having a great time. David is learning with me, taking two hours a day of Italian in the morning, so we get to have a lot of fun conversations about what we are learning.
I am studying to improve my spoken fluency so I can get around easier, but I am focusing on my translation abilities. I am lucky enough to have people at InClasse who are willing to work with me very specifically to achieve my objectives! Gaia reads a 1575 fencing manual with me painstakingly for an hour every day, explaining all the archaic (and not so archaic) words and expressions. To get an idea of the amount of patience this requires, think about reading and explaining the KJV to someone with a pretty shaky grasp of English! It’s working, though, and I’m learning quickly how to read wacky Italian that has sometimes more in common with Latin. It’s exciting to get a translation project underway, and the material I’m working through is fascinating. In brief, it’s a philosophical discussion between historical figures who dispute what is the “most worthy,” arms or letters.
In between lessons, we are finding time to explore and eat. We are staying in a comfortable one-bedroom apartment with air conditioning and a washing machine (this is a big deal for a 5-week stay in the summer!) We are near Piazza Bra, where the Roman Arena is in the historical center of Verona. However, one of my favorite views of the city is still over the Adige from the Castelvecchio bridge:
We miss having our daily commute involve walking over this bridge like it did two years ago, but we are pretty happy to be in a more central location. Now it’s only a five-minute walk to school, seven to Piazza Bra, and fifteen to the nearest supermarket.
We had a lovely anniversary weekend in Venice. Seven years! We took a gondola ride this time. Unfortunately, the few pictures I did take didn’t really come out too well. Here’s one where we leave the gondola wharf near St. Mark’s:
We also took a rare opportunity to take each other’s pictures in the main doorway to St. Mark’s Basilica without a crowd – strangely, because it was a little flooded, there weren’t a bunch of people there in the evening. David made fun of me for getting my feet wet on Friday night, but he caved and did it himself on Saturday
Venice was a lot of fun, and we enjoyed being there when it wasn’t 100+ degrees out (like last time). This time we gravitated more towards walking, eating, and shopping than touring, but it was still a really fun city to be in.
This week in Verona we have been really busy with school, but I think we have adjusted to the time difference, so that at least is easier.
Here is our apartment in Verona:
and the inside:
I’ll put more pictures up later, but for now I need to get back to translating!
Florence
So David and I spent Friday, Saturday, and most of Sunday in Florence. For people with such low energy levels, we did a lot of stuff!
On Friday we decided to skip class and go directly to Florence. After a little stress about possibly missing our train or having it be full (we were only about 10 minutes early and I think we got the last two seats) we made the 7:55 a.m. departure. We shelled out the extra 10 euros each for a seat on a high speed train, so we got there in about an hour and a half instead of four hours.
We slowly realized on the way to Florence that we weren’t going to stop at the downtown train station. After ascertaining from a reluctantly helpful fellow passenger on the coffee shop car that we were headed to a different station in Florence (I think she felt sorry for me because I spilled a cappucino all over myself) I was prepared to exit in a random suburb of Florence. We did, but fortunately were able to catch a regional (as opposed to high speed) train back into the center of town with no hassle. After disembarking, we entered into a crowded piazza and then made our way down a shady and slightly less crowded side street. We walked through the leather market, which is pretty much what it sounds like – a couple dozen stalls set up with people selling various leather products (coats, wallets, and purses primarily). There were also signs out advising tourists that it was against the law to buy fake products – kind of bewildering until you saw the chutzpah of the people setting up, sometimes right in front of these signs, with obviously funny business going on with their cheap “designer” handbags.
Our B&B was great – air conditioned, a comfortable bed, clean room, and a bathroom that was actually the size of 2 closets instead of half of a closet. David did a great job finding a nice and afforadable place to stay,just a few blocks away from the Duomo. Werested up a bit from our train ride, and then we set out to find the Stibbert Museum.
outside of the Stibbert Museum
The Stibbert has the best collection of arms and armor in Florence. It’s about a 30 minute walk from the Duomo, which is in the historical center of town. The way out was kind of sleazy – lots of graffiti and dog poop on the sidewalk. I was glad when we made it to the hill that the museum was on. It’s a huge renovated mansion from the 19th century in the middle of some very quixotic and interesting grounds.
We had almost an hour to kill before the next tour left, so we walked around the greenery, saw the pond with a little temple in the middle, and enjoyed the local wildlife.
We had to kill a little time wandering around the Stibbert grounds before the tour
When our tour left, we were completely enthralled by the collection. The first few rooms had beautiful armor on painted mannequins from as early as the 14th century. Then, we found a room in which one wall was entirely covered by a glass case containing dozens of rapiers. David and ignored the rest of the room and admired the weapons for as long as we could before we were hurried along. Same story for the next two rooms. Then we were shown some boring Boticellis, some clothes that Napoleon wore when he was crowned king of Italy, and other dull and unswordlike things. We really wished we could have skipped that part of the tour and spent more time with the swords. We also wish the swords were more clearly labeled – it was really hard to tell which sword was from what period, though we could always hazard a decent guess based on the morphology of the weapon.
We skipped home, singing happy songs about how great the swords were, even while quietly mournful about our lack of time with them. Then, we hung out in the air conditioned room for some of the hottest part of the day and looked up information about places for dinner. We set out to find a place to eat and explore the city.
our very limited shot of the Duomo which is actually very cool
We were completely shocked by the Duomo. As we walked down the street, we suddenly emerged into a piazza completely dominated by an amazing green, white, and pink building. We were stunned by its beauty and presence and had to take a few minutes just to sit down on a nearby step and admire it. We wandered to the southern part of the historical city, across the Arno on the Ponte Vecchio bridge (the only bridge that survived WWII). The bridge is crammed full of jewelery shops, the majority of which are still operated by the descendants of the artisans from the 17th century originally granted the space. After checking at our preferred restaurant and finding a one-hour wait, we walked back into downtown to a little place called I’Che C’e’ C’e’ – “it is what it is.” I had the best meat sauce I’ve ever experienced there on some penne – David had spaghetti with meat sauce. I actually didn’t realize it was possible for it to taste as good as it did. Afterward, we went back home and went to bed early.
On Saturday, we made it our mission to seek out antique bookshops. We found a couple open, and one even had a book related to fencing. Unfortunately, it was from the 19th century so we weren’t really interested. There were more closed bookshops, which gave us the excuse to walk all over the centro storico (historical downtown) of Florence.
This is the view of Santa Croce church from the top of the Duomo
On the way, we stopped in at Santa Croce church where Michaelangelo, Machiavelli, and other luminaries are buried. We also went into the Duomo and admired the frescos. Then, we actually were able to climb up to the top of the dome, almost 500 steps high. We climbed up between two layers of the dome and were only feet away from the gorgeous frescoes that adorned it. The stairs were narrow, dusty, and steep, but we had a real feeling of accomplishment when we made it to the top. We took lots of pictures of Florence from this excellent vantage point.
Here I am at Machiavelli's final resting place, in the Santa Croce church
In the late afternoon, we went over to see the David. The line was only about 15 minutes long – earlier in the day it was probably closer to an hour. We were both surprised at just how imposing and impressive the David is – the statute itself is huge, and the attention to detail is incredible. The veins are sculpted into the back of his hand, his face is expressive, and his stance is contemplative. It was another sit-and-stare instance.
For dinner we went to the place we wanted to go the day before – this time with reservations in hand. My pasta with truffles was probably very good, but I guess it wasn’t really my thing. The house wine was excellent, however, and they may have had the best cheesecake I have ever tasted. It was amazing. We made it home and went to bed early again – walking 5-7 miles every day around a city will make you sleep really well!
On Sunday we went to mass at the Duomo, complete with Gregorian chant and some parts in Latin. The majority was in Italian. We were polite Protestants and stayed in our seats when the Catholics took the Eucharist, but otherwise we particiapted as much as we were able. Possibly some more thoughts on this service later.
Another picture from the top of the Duomo
After mass we went to the Bargello museum, but their armory was closed so it was a waste of time. Then we went to the Uffizi museum and stood in line for an hour and a half. They also didn’t have swords but we looked at everything anyway. The highlight of the experience for me were the Caravaggio paintings – including, but not limited to what Jasper Fforde calls “Frowny Girl Removing Beardy’s Head.” Then we caught the train home, footsore and exhausted, and were treated to the loudness of bratty children the whole way back, a few seats over. Overall, a great trip, though not as relaxing as our time in Venice.
- David, still perky after almost 500 steps up the Duomo, poses in front of the Santa Croce Church
Sunset over Ponte Vecchio
Sunset in Venice on our first night
Venice is kind of a romantic cliche by this point. One of my parents’ favorite songs has a chorus that puts having (or not having) interesting travel experiences in the perspective of a long, good marriage: “So we never went to Venice / and strolled the streets alone / but we built our worlds together and we got the best of both.” David and I are blessed enough to both build our lives together and to stroll the streets of Venice which, despite its status as a major tourist destination, was actually even more romantic and awesome than we expected.
We arrived in the afternoon around 3:00 or so, after a very worried couple of hours. There was a strike and so we didn’t know if there would be any trains going through to Venice – a girl in my class had her plans to go to Paris ruined, because she was unable to take the train to get to the right airport. Fortunately, it’s such a popular route there were still trains leaving. We took the high-speed train and paid the extra 10 euros each for the quick (about 70 minute) and comfortable trip. We called the B&B proprietor after we arrived, and he met us at one of many Renaissance churches in the city and led us to our room. Our room was big, air conditioned, and had a great bathroom with a jetted shower. He also left us a half-bottle of prosecco (Italian sparkling wine) as a gift. It was really a great blend of hotel professionalism with the personal service of a small B&B. Everything in the room spoke of an attention to detail – high thread-count sheets, nice pictures, recently remodeled interior but exposed wooden beams in the ceiling. The air conditioner worked great, which was pretty amazing for us since we had both just spent our first summer week ever with no air conditioning in 90-100 degree heat. We luxuriated in the air conditioning until it got a little later outside, and then we set out to enjoy the city.
Even the birds were hot in Venice the weekend we were there
It had cooled off maybe to the mid-80s by the evening when we went out, around 7. We had read about a specific osteria in our trip guide that we were curious to try, so we went in that general direction. Our B&B was close to the train station, so we struck out to the north-east of the city. We knew not to count on finding this specific place to eat- Venice is a complete maze, full of dead-ends, impassable canals, and completely arbitrary street names and numbers. It is, in short, my dream city to test my sense of direction and challenge myself to get to places in interesting ways. To our extreme pride, after only an hour or so of wandering we found our osteria. It was off the main tourist beat (if there is something off the main tourist beat in Venice) and had some interesting local food. We had prosecco with dinner and an antipasti (appetizer) of mixed sea-thingies. I ate a tiny octopus and some sardine that was in vinegar and onion. There were other things I didn’t recognize but ate anyway in a spirit of adventure. Then my spaghetti with clams and David’s calamari in a tomato sauce with cheese came. We decided to switch and enjoyed each other’s dinners immensely. For dessert we went to the Alaska gelateria and picked up some gelato. We decided against trying to find the ghetto because we were tired and we made our way home. On our way, we enjoyed the moonlight on the canals and the sound of the water lapping as boats cut through the water. We paused at several small bridges to look at the canals and we took interesting back-alley routes with barely enough room to extend the elbows. The entire city feels extremely safe and is always active.
Here's a view of a bridge over the Grand Canal from a city bus
Saturday morning we went up to the dock and got on the city bus – which happened to be a large boat. We took it all the way down the Grand Canal (the big s-shaped canal cutting through the middle of the city) and enjoyed watching Venice unfold in front of us. St. Mark’s Square is the city’s major tourist hub and for good reason – it has one of the most resplendant churches in the world(allegedly containing the bones of St. Mark himself, stolen in the 9th century from Muslims) and a huge ducal palace which was the seat of Venice’s ruler during its stint as an independent nation.
9th century Venetian Christians smuggling away St. Mark's bones in a barrel of pork products in order to get past Muslim customs
In the morning we went to the ducal palace and we were like kids in a candy shop, looking at the biggest array of antique weapons we’ve ever seen. After this, we ran back to teh B&B (a 20 minute walk that actually took closer to an hour and a half because of the nature of going anywhere in Venice) because we were supposed to meet with the B&B proprietor to make arrangements for our dinner that evening. It turns out that we didn’t really need to rush back since he had already put the vouchers in our room, which was a little frustrating. We enjoyed another nap in the air conditioning over the hottest part of the day, and then we fortunately decided that we should probably go to St. Mark’s Basilica and see what all the fuss was about, even though we felt lazy.
The major tourist hub of Venice. This picture shows the Basilica and part of the Palace
We took another water-bus to get to St. Mark’s, this one was much faster since it wasn’t going down the grand canal and making lots of stops. The basilica line was shorter than it had been in the morning, and moved extremely fast. Admission to the main part was free, but you had to pay a little extra to see the treasury and the place where they keep St. Mark’s remains. Both were definitely worth it. Fortunately, we met the modest dress requirements and were not required to drape flimsy squares of red fabric over our shoulders or tie them around our waists to cover our legs. The basilica is indescribable, but I’ll just mention a couple of details anyway. Gold. Gold. Gold. Everything was plated in gold. Amazing frescoes, amazing mosaic floor patterns, and sheer opulence. Apparently the very wealthy Venetians tried to outdo each other for over a millennium on donating to make this church one of the richest in the world. In their treasury, there were various relics from different saints. It was a little strange to see so many dried up hands. They also had Egyptian and Persian urns vessels from centuries B.C. and incredible examples of Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque craftsmanship in huge candle stands of gold, various reliquaries, book covers for important books (like, for example, an early manuscript of the gospel of Mark). I’ve never really enjoyed museums before, but maybe that’s because the museums I’ve been to just don’t have stuff this cool. I also think that there’s something just more enjoyable to me about the artifacts that I see in a church. I can “read” them – I know what the various scenes they depict mean, who the people are, what the message is, etc. I have much more context for trying to appreciate what people are doing with the things they make.
Here's a typical alley in Venice
After St. Mark’s we went to another museum, but it only had a few examples of arms and armours – you can’t win them all! By this point, it was getting closish to time for dinner, so we headed back to the B&B and changed. Dinner was included in the price of our stay (we got a great deal on the whole weekend) and we sat inside and watched the World Cup with the waiters, while the other customers enjoyed the outside seating. It was fairly yummy and we had 3 courses. I had amazing Gorgonzola gnocchi (you can’t go wrong with Gorgonzola out here). The salmon for my second course was a little disappointing -it had lots of bones and was basically just baked and not very flavorful by California standards. Overall, a great deal and a good meal, though.
Probably my favorite meal in Venice, with the best Chianti ever
Sunday we wanted to go to mass but chickened out because we didn’t want to do anything too Protestant or rude and we weren’t sure of the etiquette beyond not taking communion. Instead we had our breakfast and took a morning nap in our room. Then we wandered out to a da Vinci museum (kind of a generic one that just had a lot of wooden replicas of his inventions that you could play with. A little bit of a rip-off but I was actually glad to get a better idea of how some of his ideas worked). Then we went back to a lunch place I had noticed in our wanderings the day before. We had very yummy pizza and INCREDIBLE chianti (the best I’ve ever had) in a garden setting with outdoor tables framed in vines and shaded by trees. It was very enclosed and bower-like.
David is skeptical about something but I can't remember what. He liked his pizza. This is still the bower restaurant
Then we went to the second-coolest church in Venice (purportedly), Santa Maria Dei Frari. We also really enjoyed this huge, rambling church. There wasn’t a crowd here and we took our time looking at the nifty statues and frescos. I’ve got a much better feel for what 14th-century frescos look like now!
We decided we didn’t want to get back to Verona late so we caught an afternoon train back. The whole adventure may have been one of my favorite trips ever – everything went really well, and we got to do everything we wanted to do at our own pace. Also, Venice is not interchangeable with any other city in the world. It is unique and fascinating, totally worth the July heat and the crowds of other tourists. I would like to go again some day, maybe in late March or in September when it’s slightly less crowded and the weather is a little cooler. Who knows, maybe we’ll actually spring the 120 euros for a gondola ride next time?
I’ve had a number of everyday encounters with Very Nice People in Italy. Each time I go to a restaurant or ask someone for directions in my broken Italian, people try to understand me and try to help me. There have also been several Incidents of Extreme Niceness over the last couple of weeks that have really stuck out to me as being out-of-the-ordinary even in Italy.
1) The Generous Whistling Man:
We stumbled home after 11:00 on Wednesday after working with Maestro Rapisardi through dinner. Since we don’t keep any food at the house and grocery stores usually close early out here, we were desperately hoping to find a restaurant open but beginning to resign ourselves to going to bed (very) hungry. But, the little bar under our apartment was open! We actually hadn’t been here before and we were worried they might only have coffee and alcohol. They did have some little sandwiches and mini-pizzas, though, so we each ordered one of these and a big bottle of water and go to sit down. He cheerfully brings us our food, then runs back out with an extra plate of little toasted pieces of bread with different spreads on them. He disappeared back inside and then also brought us out some pickled vegetables! He didn’t charge us for any of the extra food and just seemed anxious to feed us. Shortly thereafter, when Antonie dropped us off at home after visiting Castle Coira, as she attempted to turn her car around on the narrow street outside our house, he ordered her out of the drivers seat, got in, did a beautiful turn-around, and parked it facing the correct direction for her. The next morning, I had my morning coffee downstairs and he gave me unasked a glass of water to go with my coffee and he made himself a shot of espresso and drank it with me and chatted. This is actually even nicer than it sounds because in Italy you don’t have guarantees of free water. Generally at a restaurant you order large bottles of water that add 1-3 euros onto the bill. You definitely don’t get water without asking for it the way you do in the States. After we had our coffee, he jumped on his bike and rode off whistling a happy little tune.
2) The Incident of the Leading Landscapers:
On our way to Castle Coira, we got a little turned around when our GPS wanted us to go in a bus/taxi only lane. The two men working on the side of the road waved to us and explained that we shouldn’t drive in that lane (I think that fines are involed). They offered to speak German and French with us when our comprehension was less than perfect on how to get back onto the Autostrada (which is a much more involved procedure than getting on an interstate in the US). Eventually, they hopped in their car and led us a couple of kilometers to the autostrada, then waved at us where to get on!
3) The Helpful Helpful Host:
We stayed out a little late chatting with a Maestro di Scherma in Padova, and then were unable to call our B&B whose check-in closed at 9:00. We drove all the way out there anyway, arriving around 10:30 to a dark home. THey left us a note on the door telling us to call the same number that hadn’t worked before when we got in. We banged on doors, rang bells, and desperately tried the useless number that we had been given over and over again. In desperation, David and I walked down the narrow, dark road back towards the Autostrada towards a restaurant that I had seen earlier. It was less than a kilometer away, but it felt longer because it was dark and scary and I had no idea if we’d be able to find a place to sleep that night. Also, we were still wearing our sweatpants, though I had tried to dress up my under-armor by putting a button-up shirt on over it that didn’t completely cover it, and I forced David to put a t-shirt on over his under-armor shirt. When we got there we were conscious that everyone was pretty nicely dressed – we were definitely bringing down the joint. I asked the host if it was too late to eat, and he said that the kitchen was closed except for pizza (which actually was perfect). Then I explained to him in broken Italian how I had arrived to find the B&B closed up tight and no one answering the number and I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to get into my room and have a place to sleep tonight. He took my note away from me and told me to go eat and not to worry. He stopped by our table after our pizzas arrived and told us that he had gotten in touch with the B&B proprietors, they would meet us at midnight at the B&B, and he would give us a ride back there after we had finished our dinner. Not only did he figure out how I could get my room, he went the extra mile to make sure we weren’t walking along that narrow, frightening road after dark!
ps – as i write this post,the Very Nice Whistling Man brought me out some more free yummy pickled veggies, some potato chips, and some bread with spread!
pps – The Very Nice Whistling Man was apparently worried because I tried to order half a liter of prosecco (the usual way to get wine on tap) but he didn’t have prosecco on tap, but only by the glass or bottle. I told him that two glasses were fine. But then he offered to open a bottle and pour half a liter of it for me into a carafe, and I said that glasses were fine. Then he brought us our glasses, but was worried that the prosecco wasn’t cold enough so he brought some more, colder prosecco and poured it into our wine glasses to top them off and then brought us a little bowl of ice!
Learning a language is a lot like learning to fence. In both cases, it can be a bad thing to get positive reinforcement for doing the wrong thing. I was riding high after my first day or two in Verona when the friendly shopkeepers would give me what I wanted when I asked them for things in Italain, but I’ve come to realize that when it comes to expressing myself I have a long way to go! Without my classes at Idea Verona I might just feel good about my ability to communicate with people by pointing and saying “questo, per favore.” But with a skilled instructor who won’t let me get away with sub-par expression, I am able to do much more (or at least see that I have the potential to do more) than I would have noticed on my own.
Verona is starting to feel like a small town. It’s easy to get around the whole city on foot and we’re starting to get fairly familiar with the two main city centers (piazza Erbe and piazza Bra). We go to new places every day to eat, but so far I haven’t been blown away by anything. It was so hot Thursday we decided just to eat some cheese and drink some wine while watching TV – the heat really takes away one’s desire for heavy, hot meals.
The last two nights we’ve needed to stay up late to watch soccer games. I’ve been nodding off and fairly miserable at them because we’ve had to stay in town all day and they run from 8:30-10:30 or so. This is pretty tough when you are still dealing with jet lag! Thursday we had a quiet evening at home. I’m kind of getting used to the extreme heat in a house without air conditioning. I’m also getting more used to Ornella, our landlady. I was a little offended at first because she is pretty picky about how she wants things (she starts complaining “le scarpe, le scarpe!” if you leave your shoes in the leaving room for more than 5 minutes) but she does our laundry and dishes, which I certainly didn’t expect. I think the landlady situation is just a little different in Italy than in America – she comes into our room and moves our things around, but still gives us plenty of privacy when we’re actually at home. And, we usually figure out at some point why she moved what she moved. The free wifi also isn’t bad.
The siesta tradition suddenly makes a lot more sense to me. Why wouldn’t you want to sleep through the hottest part of the day and then stay up late and get up early when it’s cool? The lack of air conditioning out here also makes 9:00-10:00 dinner times a natural option. The problem is, David and I are siesta n00bs – so far we’ve way overindulged and ended up waking up at 4 a.m. unable to sleep. As I write this, I’ve been waiting for it to get light out for the last hour or so so that I can get up and do stuff. Our internet connection isn’t working, and this makes it harder to stay distracted. As I suspected, I’m completely unprepared for this trip – I even forgot to print out the directions to the language school I’m going to tomorrow! I also really wish I’d brought my Italian dictionary, since some really basic verb forms are escaping my memory. After one day, I’m already experiencing a psychological split, wherein I attempt to translate all the thoughts that cross my mind into Italian. It’s kind of driving me crazy, but hopefully it will help in the long run.
Here's the outside of the apartment building our B&B was in. It's basically in the middle of people's homes, a 3-bedroom flat that has been converted to a B&B.
We got into Rome around 11:00 and found out that we *love* Italian customs! If you don’t have anything to declare, you just walk on through! There were no lines to speak of, and the tourist bureau was really helpful in explaining our best transportation option to us. Our B&B was pretty basic, with its own teeny tiny shower in the teeny tiny bathroom. But, there was a TV that was playing World Cup soccer and airconditioning – an amenity you really can’t just assume, even in such a hot climate as Rome.
This is the high speed train we took to Verona
I actually felt pretty safe in Rome, even though our neighborhood kind of smelled like pee and had lots of graffiti. We didn’t carry any valuables around, and our only experience with crime was when the cashier at the restaurant we went to tried to get away with changing our meal to something more expensive. The high-speed train was incredibly comfortable – I wish airlines had coach cabins that nice!
So far I’m interacting with everyone in Italian, which feels really cool. It’s definitely helping me get over some of my anxiety over not having perfect grammar. I also notice that I gesture lots more than the Italians I’ve met – is this more of a southern Italy thing? Apparently rubbing your forefinger and thumb together when you ask about wine is the sign for “fizzy.” One of the best things about here is the delicious sparkling wine always on tap. It’s way refreshing and tastier than beer. They don’t use flutes for it, just regular wine glasses and decanters.
I’ve been really disappointed in the coffee so far – I get better espresso in the U.S.! I remember when I went to the U.K. I was really surprised by how delicious their espresso was, but here all the espresso-based drinks i’ve had taste stale and thin, like the beans were ground far too long before they were actually used. Oh well, I’m still searching. I’ve only had cappuccini at 3 different places. On the plus side, we did have the most incredible filled croissants ever yesterday. I’ve never liked them and when I found out they were the only breakfast option at this place I was ready to leave. But David wanted to try them, so he got a cream-filled and I got a marmalade-filled one. They were incredible! Still really hot from being taken out of the oven, just perfect. Also, the pizza has been an incredible source of cheap and delicious food, generally costing betweeen 5-7.50 euro and with amazing, amazing cheese. Eating out in Verona is a lot less expensive than in San Jose, which is really good for us because we’re too intimidated to use Ornella’s kitchen.
Castelvecchio bridge
By the time Monday morning rolled around, I had learned to expect no air conditioning from anywhere I went. Most of the restaurants don’t even use fans, and Verona is unseasonably hot this year. It’s averaging about 10 degrees higher than its usual Julys – for us, in the 90s most days with humidity in the 50s. So, getting to Idea Verona and realizing that they have air conditioning was pretty incredible! Also, they don’t mind David using the Wi-Fi in their air-conditioned computer lab! This is one less major thing to worry about.
The lady at the tourist information desk was surprised when I told her I wanted to see swords, but she came through for us with a couple suggestions. We’re hoping to spend some more time visiting Verona’s museums and cultural attractions over the next week or two as soon as we’re feeling less tired and footsore. There is a weapons exhibit at the Castelvecchio we’re looking forward to seeing!
Our second day started around 4:30 in the morning I think. Â We are seriously jet-lagged. Â We had breakfast in our room, and then made our way to the train station. Â Even though the area in Rome that we were in wasn’t that nice, it was incredibly convenient to be only a few blocks from the station. Â As we were walking around the station trying to figure out how it worked and where everything was, we again congratulated ourselves for being so smart and allowing a lot of built in time to our schedule. Â We were also quite glad that we had made our reservations for the train in advance! Â We eventually managed to active our Eurail passes and locate the right platform for the train. Â The trip itself was pretty uneventful. Â We enjoyed looking out of the window, and visiting the restaurant car. Â I passed my time by reading the guidebook, and looking at the scenery, and Dori spent some time writing a list of Italian phrases that I could use. Â Things like “I need my wife” Â It was nice being on a high speed train, and the trip only took about 3 hours.
We found our cab and made it to the place we are staying where we were greeted by our hostess, Ornella , who was very welcoming and made us lunch. Â The apartment is very nice, we’re on the second floor of a newish looking apartment building about a mile and a half from Idea Verona. Â We have our own bedroom, but we must share the bathroom. Â Unfortunately the flat does not have air conditioning, but there are fans and a little balcony off of our room that provides some air flow. Â The heat and humidity here is going to take some getting used to. After lunch, we again crashed for a four or five hour siesta.
The castle is way bigger than it looks like in this picture
When we woke up around six, we decided to head into the city for a tour. Â Just for fun, we decided not to look up any directions or take any maps with us. Â The good news is: 1. Â We made it to the city. Â 2. Â We made it home – though we did get a little lost at the end, and 3. Â The whole trip is a lot faster if you have a map. Â We ended up going very far out of the way to get to where we were going. Â On the other hand, we got to see a lot of really cool stuff that we wouldn’t have otherwise.
I don't remember the name of the plazza.
Verona itself is unlike anything I have seen before. Â We came in from the north, and one of the first parts of the city that we saw was castelvecchio. Â The castle looks amazing and I can’t wait to visit the museum inside, which I understand has an arms and armor section. Â From the castle, we continued into the city, which is filled with old buildings, small roads, and lots of cafes which line the sidewalks of the larger streets. Â Many of the areas of the city feel very isolated from each other. Â With the buildings so close, it’s hard to tell if there is anything nearby at all, and then all of the sudden you turn a corner and there is a gigantic plaza filled with people and statues and food, and you’re still trying to figure out exactly how it got there.
We had dinner at a place called the Cappa Cafe, the sandwiches were good, the sparkling wine was on tap, and it was all relatively inexpensive. Â I don’t think we made it back home until after 11. Â We’d have gotten their sooner, but we made it to within a block of the apartment and then got completely lost. Â Fortunately, there were a couple of ladies out walking their dogs who helped us find our way. Â Overall, I think it was a successful first excursion into the city of Verona.
Verona at Night
Day one:
Our flight left at 11 on friday morning.  Since we both wanted to catch the end of the Brazil game, we decided to leave San Jose pretty early.  This turned out to be a good thing since after about a half hour in the car, we realized that we left Dori’s purse at home.  Amongst other things, the purse had her passport in it, so it was imperative that we go back to retrieve it.  We made it to the airport with no further incident around 9ish, but accidently went to the international terminal instead of the domestic terminal.  After a quick hike over to the right terminal we went through the kiosks and got our bags all checked in.  Well, almost.  We handed the guy our bags, and asked if he could mark it as being fragile (since we were bringin CA wine as gifts for the Italian Maestri).  He asked what was in them – Dori said “Fencing gear” and I said “Wine” at the same time.  Oops.  United no longer lets you check wine unless it has been professionally packed, so, we had to trek back over to the international terminal to pay $45 to get the wine boxed up and ready to  be shipped.  We kept telling ourselves how glad we were that we had left plenty of time to get to the airport, and had packed reasonable light.  There was a bit of confusion when we went to check our bags again because it appeared that we had already checked two bags.  Fortunatly we were able to get this resolved in plenty of time to make it to our gate.
waiting for the plane to take off
Our first flight was pretty smooth.  We even langed in Chicago a little earlier which helped make the hour long layover a little easier.  I always hate having to get around at the Chicago airport, it’s huge and it takes forever to get to the other terminals.  We really didn’t have anything to worry about though – the first announcement we heard after we got on the plane was that one of the air conditioning units was broken on the plane and that it would take about an hour to fix it.  For future reference, sitting for an hour at the back of a plane with no A/C is not very fun.  Once we took off though, everything went smoothly.  I spent most of my time kind  of in a daze, switching between reading, watching tv, trying to sleep, and wishing I had one of those cool chairs in first class  reclined all the way flat.
Our arrival in Rome was pretty smooth. Â The last time I went flew into Europe, it was in London, and I kept expecting to turn a corner and see this gigantic line of people waiting in line for Customs that would take 2 hours to get through. Â The most we had was a 5 minute line to show somoene our passports. Â When we found customs, there was a sign for people who didn’t have anything to declare, so we went to that. Â As soon as we got there we realized we’d already gone through and were done. Â So far, Italy is awesome!
We took at shuttle from the airport to the B&B that Dori reserved in advance for us. Â Rome is kind of a strange place. Â When you drive through it, you see this bizarre mixture of old buildings, new buildings, ancient architecture, and graffiti, all coexisting with each other. Â We’d go down these pretty tight roads, and then all of the sudden, there’s this huge open area over on the right that has very old stuff in it. Â I keep wishing that I had a better idea of what all of this stuff was. Â It would be way cooler to have more of a context to appreciate all of the old stuff in. Â On a side note, I wonder if anybody ever visits europe and see this really cool looking piece of architecture that looks really neat and old and they get all excited about it, but then someone tells them that it’s only like 30 years old or something and just wasn’t taken care of well. Â I think that would be amusing.
This is Dori being awesome.
The B&B Dori booked for us was the Casa Di Amy which is just a few blocks away from the train station. Â The room was nice. Â Simple, and small, but clean and nice. Â After we got settled in, we went down to find a place to east. Â The lady at the B&B suggested a place called the White Chicken. Â The food was pretty good, we each ordered a pizza. Â They had sparkling wine on tap, which is just kind of awesome. Â We got a half liter for 7 euro, which was pretty cool. Â We also got a half liter of water for 3 euro, which was less good. Â I haven’t mentioned it yet, but Dori is seriously awesome. Â I’ve never heard her speak in another language before, but I’m really impressed with how much she has picked up in the year since she started studying Italian. Â She does all of the talking and I mostly just follow her around and watch her interact with people. Â We’re pretty sure that the guy at the White Chicken tried to cheat us, but Dori would have none of that. Â He told us the price (in Italian), I handed him a 50, and he gave me like 6 euro back. Â Dori looked at the receipt and quickly realized that he had given us the wrong one. Â He said he must have gotten the table wrong, but the fact that there was no hesitation in at all after Dori corrected him kind of made us wonder if it was on purpose. Â Either way, Dori is awesome, and we only had to pay 29 euro for the meal.
After the meal we went back to the B&B and pretty much collapsed. Â I left on the TV so that we could watch the Germany v Argentina game. Â I was dozing on and off for most of it, but I managed to wake up each time Germany scored. Â What happened to Argentina!?? The looked so good in their earlier games but the completely fell apart. Â Germany’s second and third goals looked like they could pretty much ignore Argentina’s defense.
After our nap, we woke up feeling reasonably refreshed and went out for a walk and to find some food. Â We’d originally intended to visit the Colesseum, but I don’t think either of us felt up to that. Â We ended up wondering around a bit, got lost, figured out where we were, and then found a bar that we could watch the Spain v Paraguay game. Â We got there for the second half and it turned out to be pretty exciting. Â I couldn’t believe the two penalty kicks right in a row that were both saved. Â I do not think that there were any Paraguay fans in the bar that with us. Â That’s fine with me though, I didn’t really mind seeing Spain win.
That pretty much did it for our first day, we went back to the B&B, packed our stuff up to be ready for the next day and went to bed.
