VERONA, VENICE, AND FLORENCE

NOTE: SORRY FOR THE DELAY, HOPE WE DID NOT LOSE ANY OF YOU!





MA MA MA MY VERONA

Sunday, September 21 @ 22:10

The city of Verona, inspiration for William Shakespeare's “Romeo and Juliet”, or “Giulietta y Romeo” when in Italian, was based on the real life Della Scala family. A city engulfed in romance, with a dash of posh and pinch of glam. Known as little Rome, we found Verona to be much cleaner and more orderly. Like Rome, Verona also has a Colosseum, or arena as they call it. Unlike Rome, Verona['s colosseum is still in use today. Despite being constructed in 1 AD, this arena hosts concerts, events and operas. In fact, the city of Verona hosts a summer opera series that is hard to beat. In addition to opera, they also host a showing of “Aida” every year. While visiting the Arena on our Verona Card pass, we were privy to the set up and practice of a concert for an Italian pop star. Though we were only in Verona for a day and a half, I believe we all fell in love with this city.

Amongst the sites we saw, perhaps the most interesting was Juliet's house, where you can actually walk on to the very balcony where she was courted by her beloved Romeo. The entrance to her house is through a portico which is covered with generations of graffiti and messages from admirers and star crossed lovers alike. Not to be undone, we peeled away a blank corner of one of our maps in order to draft love letters, for both us and our parents, which in a moment of improvisation we stuck to the wall with a piece of slightly used chewing gum. Another point of interest was the Piazza Erbe. We were lucky enough to have arrived in time to spend a full Saturday roaming the city. This gave us the opportunity to enjoy the market in the piazza. There were several vendors selling Murano glass pieces, spices, fruits, Pinocchio dolls in every form and fashion, shirts and jackets with the Italian name or logo emblazoned upon them, gelato and even big, fuzzy stars and stripes Uncle Sam hats (?). After a long day of wandering around and getting lost in a shroud of romance, we decided to conclude our day with a climb up 368 steps to the top of the “Torre Fiore”. From the top of the bell tower, you had an incredible view of the entire city of Verona, nestled in a lush little valley in the northeastern corner of Italy.

Upon arriving in Verona we did not have a reservation for lodging. Being so awe inspired by the Cinque Terre region, we had extended our original two day stay to four days, which in turn completely modified our entire Italy tour. We had originally only secured lodging for the first half of our trip which we hoped would allow us flexibility, once here, to stay wherever we felt inspired. It kind of worked. We were lucky enough to find a small hotel, EuroHotel, in Verona to spend the first night. However, we did not have lodging for the second night, which would be our transition into Venice. So, we used the hotel's free internet service to book a hotel behind a restaurant in a small little town known as Ronco all'Adige. On the map, it appeared to be only fifteen or so minutes away from downtown Verona, was located in the country, and at a price of only 100 Euros for four people, we could not resist. Knowing we had such a secure reservation and it was only a few minutes away, we decided to stay in Verona and enjoy this delightful little city for as long as possible. By the time we were ready to leave, it was growing dark and we caught the last bus to the hotel. Upon arriving, we studied our maps, researched the internet, asked everyone and their mother for directions, and set off for our next stop. I really do not want to get into the details of our “fifteen” minute trip from Verona to Ronco all'Adige, but let's just say that it took us two and one half hours, exhausted all of our cell phone minutes, and frazzled every one of our nerves! We have all decided to just pretend that night never happened and never, ever talk about it again. After making it to Hotel Tolin, at almost 11:00PM, we unpacked, settled in, celebrated with a night cap and slipped into our beds and off to sleep. We awoke the next morning after a much needed sleep and found ourselves in the gracious and hospitable hands of Alberto and his fifth generation farm, restaurant and hotel. We enjoyed a conversation with Alberto that meandered somewhere between Italian and Spanish as we relished the free breakfast comprised of fresh fruits and juices produced right in the farm behind the hotel. It was a very pleasant treat and I think we all wished we had a little more time to linger in that small town. However, we had a date with Venice.





TAKING IT EASY IN VENEZIA

Friday, September 26 @ 17:30

We arrived in Mestre, the largest city outside of Venice and the location of our hotel, around noon. The sky was overcast and gray and the air was cold and crisp. Having had a much better experience driving into Venice, we were anxious to exploit what remained of our day and immediately started to plan our attack. After a very insightful and enjoyable conversation with Maruizio, the hotel clerk, we decided to take him up on his offer of a private car ride to the dock, a private boat ride to the island of Murano, and a tour of a local glass blowing factory, all for ten Euros each. We set off bundled in warm clothes and were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the private dock of the furnaceria. We were whisked inside and treated to the creation of a hollow glass vase and a solid glass horse by a glass blowing master. On the way into the factory I noticed the sound of clanking against the outside of the building every time a wave would crash. As it turned out, it was a pile of old brilliant shiny pieces of glass that must have been tossed out through the adjacent window as refuse. Begrudgingly, I was unable to get down to the area it had compiled to grab a handful. As expected, once the display of glass blowing prowess was completed, we were again whisked into the adjoining gallery where we were witness to both amazing, and gaudy, pieces of authentic Murano glass. You may ask how I know it was authentic. Well, it was not because we were in the actual factory, but rather because I noticed the prices. Our host, a dapper middle aged Italian man in a linen suit did not seem all too disappointed, or surprised, that we walked out empty handed. Good thing too. As it turns out, the prices of authentic Murano glass very greatly. And as we notice, the further away from Murano you were, the cheaper the glass became. We bought ours in Verona!

The visit to the island of Murano was interesting. We noticed that there did not seem to be many people living on the island and every single store, which occupied virtually every space at ground level, was full of every different Murano glass impressions and objects that you could imagine. They ranged from elaborate chandeliers to Bart Simpson. Idalis and I felt a strong similarity to the city of Porto, in Portugal. There seemed to only be tourists on the streets, most of the buildings were crumbling and in disrepair, and the overall feeling was slightly gloomy. Some of that feeling may have been a result of the weather, but still a somewhat peculiar place that seemed to exist solely to attract the almighty tourist dollar. A quick, and free (as we could not figure out how to purchase tickets) jaunt on the vapporeti and we were on the island of Venice. We used the remainder of this day to scout out the island, visit the Ponte Rialto, and get a bite to eat at a local, and somewhat out of the way, restaurant. We sampled the local wine known as Frizzante, which my parents grew to appreciate! We took the local bus back to our hotel and retired for the evening.

The next morning we awoke bright and refreshed and ready to spend an entire day exploring Venice. Much like Murano, the island of Venice appears to subsist on tourism. However, there seemed to be a lot of locals and people actually seemed to live on the island. Again, lots of Murano glass and Italian regalia, of all sorts. The redeeming value of Venice is the incredible and picturesque vistas around every corner. In some cases, it is breathtaking. Like a lot of Italy, Venice is incredibly romantic. There always seems to be the sound of glasses and cups gently clanking, a soundtrack assisted by the various musicians playing every kind of instrument imaginable and the sweet smell of home cooking. A full day in Venice was enough to afford us time at each of the major sites, Ponte Rialto, Ponte di Accademia and Piazza San Marco, visits to several different piazzas, stoops, churches and bridges, and ware us out completely. The floating city of Venice was certainly a sight to behold and a stop that I am glad that we were able to make.





A “FRENZY”IN FIRENZE

Friday, September 26 @ 18:16

Another typical awakening where we each take turns in the restroom, try to be dressed and ready before the hotel stops serving breakfast and then return to the room to empty out one last time before the next leg of the journey begins. This time, it was taking us to Firenze, or Florence. Florence is part of the Italy trilogy that also includes Rome and Venice. Not originally on our list of destinations, it was added when we decided to stay in the area north of Rome and abandoned our plans to drive down to the Amalfi Coast. Florence is, in one word, crazy! Narrow streets and even narrower sidewalks, hundreds of bikes and mopeds buzzing everywhere and lots of people. A city inhabited with hundreds of, what appeared to be, young, American students, probably studying art. We stayed in a really cute little bed and breakfast, or bed and bed as it was called. The two separate rooms that we occupied appeared to be recently renovated. Each room had its own bathroom and it was conveniently located close to the historic center of the city. We had reserved the rooms because the internet advertised them as having parking. Unfortunately, the parking was in the street and cost one Euro per hour, Miami Beach rates!

We did A LOT of walking. There really is no functioning metro system and it appeared as if the city was constructing a new lite rail system that was not yet completed. The only true form of transportation was the bus lines, that were a bit confusing, and taxis, that were a bit expensive. So, we decided to walk everywhere. Had you seen any of us, you might have agreed that we were approaching our threshold for sightseeing. As a result of timing, I think that Florence was the city that will hold the dubious honor of doing this group in! Unfortunately, we did not really have the time or energy that is required to really peel away the layers of Florence.

Florence is a city that is surrounded by, comprised of and known for art. It is everywhere, in the parks, the plazas and even the streets. Any street that you walk down or any corner that you turn is bound to have a statue, a fountain or a sculpture. Unfortunately, I am not up on my art history and we lost the pages for Florence from our guide book. However, suffice it to say that there are incredible pieces of art by incredible artists on display in Florence, as well as the largest collection of marbleized male genitalia known to man (please notice “italia” in “genitalia”!?) Of all the things that we did see, and we saw a lot, the highlights were being able to cross the “Ponte Vecchio”, behold the cathedral, Santa Maria del Fiore, otherwise known as Il Duomo, and gaze down upon the city of Florence from the beautiful Boboli Gardens.

With the conclusion of our visit to Florence, so concluded our trip to Italy and two glorious weeks with my parents. We drove back to Rome, without incident, and were lucky enough to find the hotel and return the rental car all during rush hour traffic in a town that is nearly impossible to navigate. We checked into our worst hotel yet, the “Hotel Acropoli”, or “Hotel Acrapoli” as we called it, and laid our heads down on the four mangled and uncomfortable single beds that crowded the room. I do not think that anybody slept very well. My Mom and Idalis stayed up talking, my Dad fell asleep fast but woke up really early (2:30AM, I think), and I got only a couple hours of sleep due to all the noise outside and my new earring that was killing me. I would also imagine that everyone's minds were full of all the amazing places we had been and things we had seen. We also knew that with the breaking of the new day we would be separating, yet again, and bidding each other farewell. This time was a little harder as it would be more than a month before we would see each other again. The departure was anticlimactic and our terminals were located so far apart we didn't even get to enjoy the final breakfast together that we were so looking forward to. We said good bye to my parents at the shuttle stop for their terminal, T5, and stood waving as they drove away. We were full of emotion, as I am sure they were, but also excited to move forward, as I am sure they were. It was an enchanting two weeks and we can only hope that we helped to make my parents stay a comfortable and enjoyable one. We love you both very much and will always cherish this time we had together!