Romeo and Juliet of Verona 6 Sept 2011

Did I mention that there was a strike on the day we left Venice to Verona? There was a country wide strike by all the public transport of Italy. We could only book our tickets one day earlier as the confirmed trains were not release d till the day before. We were informed of the situation when we first arrived in Venice at the ticket office and again at the tourism office. I had a bit of an issue with the man at the ticket office as he refused to provide information on the confirmed trains and dismissed us to the information office. The man was rude and arrogant, he kept asking me if I knew what a strike meant and what happens in my own country when there is a strike. His behavior was entirely uncalled for as he could have simply inform us that he did not know the confirmed trains and politely ask us to seek more information from the information office. When I asked him if he knew, he simply refuses to say yes or no, and said we can buy our tickets or go away, the counter is not there to provide information even after we told him we are there to by tickets for the confirmed trains. For those of you who know me, you can imagine me being furious with such treatment! I promptly left the ticket office to ask for the confirmed train details and to ask for procedures to lodge a complaint. I felt discriminated and treated like a child, it was entirely unacceptable service from a ticket office that encounters so many tourist each day.
When we purchased a ticket from another counter, the lady there was much nicer and polite. Most of the time the people we encounter are exceptional but there is always a few that spoil it for everyone.

Back to the day of the travel, turns out not many people were aware of the strike, I have a sneaky suspicion that man had something to do with it, selling no show train tickets to unaware tourists. There were many people milling around the station waiting for possible trains.

We got on our train and left for Verona without any hassle. The lucky thing was that Vincent had booked a hotel very close to the train station and within walking distance. Otherwise we would have difficulty finding a bus to the accommodation!

It was still too early to check in so we left our luggage at the hotel and took some information about Verona from the reception desk. There were quite a few places of interest we wanted to visit so we decided to walk to city central to find out more information. The map provided by the hotel is not very detailed, all we know is the information center is close to arena in the central area.

As we set out, we walked for 15mins before we realized we were lost. This is the comical event of our day. We approached a lady crossing the road to ask for directions. Unfortunately she did not speak any English and was evident by her facial expression that she did not know how to walk to city center either. This is when the funny old lady came in. She must of been in her 70s, she was wearing a pink nightdress, walking by slowly in her sandels. As the first lady tries to point us in the direction to go the old lady poked her head in to listen, as soon as the first lady finished she abruptly said "no!" and talked in rapid fire Italian. Obviously she didn't think much of this lady's instructions.
The old lady then decides to tell us her directions whilst the other lady walked off a little indignantly.

This funny old lady told us repeatedly with very elaborate Italian on the way to go. Now, none of us know a word of Italian and my simple Spanish doesn't help either. In the end she realized we didn't understand her one word she decided to take us part way there.

She walked with a slight hobble and promptly start to cross the very busy road. There was no pedestrian crossing on this side of the road but she didn't seem to be concerned. She signaled for us to follow her, as she walked she talked and gestured, I think she was reassuring us the cars are still a distant away and to ask us to keep close.

Eventually we understood slightly which way she wanted us to go, and at the end I understood what she was saying due to the similarity between Italian and spanish. I believe she was saying that it is not far and we are young so it will be fine.
As she watched us walk off she waved to us before again crossing, in my eyes, very recklessly across the road again. She was a funny little character and I will not forget her anytime soon.

Finally we arrived at the old Medieval town of Verona.

The arena in the centre of town.

We actually could not find the information centre on our first walk around the town, there was no signage and asking some of the locals did not help. A little disheartened and mighty hungry we thought to eat at McD and to use their wifi to search the information office's address.

This is a time when technology fails but God shows his care for his people. Before the meal we said grace and to ask God to help us find the information centre as soon as we step out of the McD. Yes, my prayers can be quite specific sometimes.
Once we ate our meal, we promptly took out our smart phones out to try connecting to the wifi, we could not connect to their router. Even using the laptop and having our computer expert here did not solve the problem. What else could we do? After resting enough we stepped outside and went on the hunt again for the centre.

Right next door to the McD was a hotel, Dominique decided to try again to ask the reception for directions. She spoke perfect English and gave clear directions on it's location. See what I mean by God's care for his people?! He always listens to His people's prayers! Praise be to God!

We soon realized why we were unable to find the centre. The signage was not visible from a distance and slightly shadowed by the walls, we actually walked very close to it earlier but missed it. Even with clear directions we did not see the signs until nearly directly in front of the place.

We got some information on the sights of the city and things to do the next day, then headed out.

For those of you who studied English in high school you may have studied the Shakespearean drama, Romeo and Juliet. Where was this play located in? In Verona of course!

The story goes that there really was such two families, here is the house of Juliet and the famous balcony!

There was a little shop in front of Juliet's house that sews writing onto aprons and other clothing. This was their free sample for me.

I believe this must be the Piazza where the two families often fought and argued.

There was a market in the middle of the square. This little dog was lying under the fruit crates. He didn't seem to like being photographed because when Vincent took a shot with his camera he barked at him!

The owner said much the same to confirm once he realised why his dog was barking.

Hm.. Wonder what this was for?

Not nearly as interesting is the house of Romeo.

We wanted to visit the medieval churches in Verona but they all charged money for entrance and do not allow photography. The outside of one of the churches.

We took a walk along the Fiume Adige. The rustic houses next to the river was especially beautiful in the afternoon light. Most especially is these hanging flowers. I would love to have some of that if I had a balcony back home.

As it was still early we took a short walk around the shopping area before heading back to our hotel to check in. When we walked back we were informed we were at the wrong hotel, although same company, our hotel is about 800metres down the road.

After a whole day of walking our backpack seemed to be a lot heavier than usual as we made our way there!

The walk really exhausted us so we decided to eat close by and just sleep. The great thing about this hotel is their great and affordable restaurant downstairs. So far the best pizza I've tasted in Italy aside from the pesto pizza!

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