Saturday...yet another spontaneous trip :) Just another reason to love Padova, for its prime proximity to really cool little towns. Just like Bologna, I didn't know what to expect from Verona. Little did I know I was about to have one of the very best days of my trip so far!!!
Amanda, Laura, Anita and I headed to the train station and arrived in Verona around noon. It's only about an hour ride from Padova and cost us only 5 euro one way. I was pretty skeptical at first...the streets near the train station were pretty ghetto. Then about 15 minutes into our walk we arrive at the gates to the city, and my first impressions were immediately wiped away. It's beautiful!!!
We started out by visiting the Roman Arena, which is a mini version of the Colosseum in Rome, but still very large and intact. It was so cool to see the inside passage ways and imagine what it was like back in the days when gladiators were fighting in front of thousands of spectators! Laura and Amanda wanted to search for secret passage ways but we had no luck. Also, we randomly ran into a guy we met in Padova who is studying abroad from Spain! They are in the process of building a stage for the Alicia Keys concert on May 2nd. When we heard she was coming we couldn't believe it! The thought of a concert in the ancient arena setting, especially all lit up at night, was just too much to resist! So we booked tickets and will be going back to Verona on May 2nd to see her in concert. One more thing to check off my list of things to accomplish in Europe (go to a concert).
After this we met up with our friends Hana and Lance for lunch and then began shopping. They had an awesome market and I ended up getting a really cool present for my dad and grandma :) Can't wait to bring home presents!!! Then we went to Giulietta's Balcony (Juliet's balcony). For those of you who are not Shakespeare fans...Romeo and Juliet was set in Verona! So they have this entire house including a balcony and a statue of Juliet dedicated to it. Obviously this is not the real place (since the play is fiction)...but I learned that the house was once home to the Cappuletti family, and there is a myth that this is how the Capulet's (Juliet's Family) were derived. It was fun to see and made me want to read the play all over again! There is also a myth that if you touch Juliet's left breast it will bring you good luck, so there was a pretty long line to do that (funny fact!). Also, the passage way into the courtyard is COVERED with love notes posted up by visitors as well as random phone numbers (maybe guys looking for love?). It was really cool to see this because there are THOUSANDS of them!
Next, Amanda and I decided to climb the Tower de Lombarti, the tallest tower in Verona. We went right at sunset and it was gorgeous...until the bell started ringing literally right in our ears. I think I jumped about 10 feet in the air when this happened! The view was amazing, even better than the tower in Balogna; Verona is just an incredibly beautiful place. Amanda and I decided we had to get a copy of Romeo and Juliet while in Verona...so we left the tower and started searching. We asked a bunch of people and they kept pointing us in different directions. After the 4th bookstore, we finally found it! It is perfect, with scripts in both Italian and English. The book shop owner even let us in after the store was closed. She didn't speak a word of English but we just kind of used hand signals and used the little bit we know. She even put a seal on the inside with the address of the bookshop, proof that we actually bought it in Verona! I'm just a big nerd, but this is probably my favorite purchase of the trip so far, even over my new purse and scarves :)
By this point, we just couldn't bare to leave yet. So we all met up again for dinner and decided rather than catching the 7pm train we would wait for the 1020 one. So we went to this resteraunt and sat outside just about 100 yards from the Roman Arena. It was gorgeous and entirely lit up! We each split a pizza and just sat and relaxed. Probably one of the funniest parts of the day was when these 3 Italian guys approached us during our dinner. Their names were Mateo, Fabbio, and "Fra". We couldn't understand "Fra" and Amanda asked him his name again and he said it was inbetween Frog and France...we were hysterically laughing at this point but felt bad because he didn't understand why anything was funny. Then when they asked where we were from we said Seattle....the Space Needle? And they said "You go to space there?!!" It was great. (Side note: everyone we talked to in Verona knew of Seattle because of the "Supersonics"!!).
So here is the best part of the night...we are sitting there just laughing and having a good time, when we realize it is 10 pm!!!!! Our train left at 10:18. We threw some money on the table and took off running. We got to the station just as the train was pulling up (by some miracle, because it is about a 25 minute walk there). We didn't even have time to stop and buy tickets so we just ran on out of desperation because it was the last train of the night. So I had my first (and hopefully last!) experience as a stow away on an Italian train. Luckily, they randomly check for your tickets and we some how were not checked! It was an adventure to say the least, but loved every minute of it. Can't wait to go back to this amazing city on May 2nd for the concert :)
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