Verona

 Today was a walking tour of Verona.  If you will recall, this is where Romeo and Juliet lived.  But it has a famous, old Roman arena where plays, usually opera, are performed at night.

This was offered for breakfast - a giant-sized container:

  There are a few people out there who would love it.

So we gathered outside our hotel this morning to have our guide guide us to another guide’s meeting point.  Before we left, we had this picture taken of 3 of us:  Eleanor, Tim and me.

The 3 of us attended Park Street Collegiate in Orillia (obviously Tim at a much later time than Eleanor and me).  Eleanor is sending this photo to the music teacher we had as we all played for him in the high school band, and he remembers us.

This is advertising for the opera, Aida (which, by the way, we’re seeing tomorrow night).  Nice job.

And this is the old Roman arena in Verona.  Something to learn…the word “arena” is Latin for “sand”.  The floors of all the Roman arenas had sand on them in order to absorb the blood of the gladiators who died and of the animals that were killed.  Pleasant thought, eh?

Dan standing in the doorway/entrance to the arena.

And this is inside.  Now it is used for all these operas and other productions.  They’re setting up the stage for the Barber of Seville opera playing tonight.

When we left there, we went to see the balcony and statue of Juliet.  The myth is if you touch her breast, it brings you love and luck in the future…I’m good.

Then we got to Romeo’s house, and someone asked where his statue was.  There isn’t one.  I said I’d rather touch Romeo…just sayin’.

This is Castel San Pietro on the hill by the same name.  I don’t have all the details, but essentially, Verona was built by the Romans, then after that, it was it’s own “state”, then the Venetians took over, then Napoleon took over part of the city south of the river and the Austrian Empire parts north of the river.  It was amalgamated as part of Italy, which began to be formed in 1861.  So there you go.

Lots of other photos of buildings and statues.  But we were drained by this point.  It was hot (around 28 C.) and we were thirsty and hungry.  So 6 of us sat down at a local trattoria and had something to quench our hunger and thirst.  When we were done, I went off to buy some wine that we’re bringing home - specifically some Amarone as it is made in this area of Italy (Valpolicella).  And that’s the reason I didn’t buy this Barolo…nothing to do with the price.

Made my way back to the hotel, which was quite a walk, and saw this along the way.  Those are wine bottles above this restaurant.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent at the hotel, and we had dinner here again tonight.  We’d have to walk quite a way to dine elsewhere.  I also capped it off with a Grappa - had to try it here.

 It’s the little glass in the middle.  Tasty, but definitely strong.