Verona
 
 
 
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Verona


After parking and checking in, we needed food. But we didn't want to eat much cause dinner was coming up. So, nervous about our lack of Italian skills, we entered a sandwich shop, Lin-Wei gestured at a sandwich, and we fired some Euros at the guy behind the counter. After giving us our sandwich, he bid us farewell with the standard, "Gratzi, Ciao". But he said it, yelling, like this, "Gratzi-ah, Choooooaaaawwww!" He freaked me out. We didn't buy any more sandwiches there during our stay in Verona.

You may be wondering why we were out on the town instead of resting, since we didn't get any sleep the night before. But the rule with Lin-Wei is that you have to stay up until at least 9:30pm (sorry, 2:30pm central) the day you arrive, or there will be d-i-r-e consequences, the likes of which you only dream about in the depths of your deepest nightmares. Or at least that's the impression she gives. So we were out on the town.

 
An old bridge, of some historical significance. I'd explain it, but it's in Italian, and you wouldn't understand.
That day we explored the square a bit more, saw the Hotel Bologna, climbed a tower and got some great views of the city. We also checked out the river area. We waited as long as we could for dinner, since none of the restaurants seemed to open until at least 7pm, but we found a pizza place open around 6:30, and grabbed some dinner. I had my first glass of Italian wine, and the food was decent.

After dinner we pretty much headed back to the hotel, and killed time until, with a gentle sigh, the clock struck 9:30, and I was out like a light.

Day 2

Verona has an ancient coliseum, which was part of the reason we were in Verona. The other reason is that some NICE guys had recommended it to us. So we wanted to get there early in the morning, before the tourists got there, but we had to get ready first. I showered, and while I was waiting for Lin-Wei, I was informed that we were out of toilet paper. Now, the bathroom also had a bidet. But a tense reply from the bathroom informed me that the bidet was not an option. A quick glace at my guide book confirmed that there was no phrases for the procurement of the item in question, so I headed down the stairs to the front desk. I did have the words for "Le Toilette", so I kept repeating , "Le Toilette! Le Toilette!" while making unrolling motions with my hand. I got a blank stare in response. I tried "paper? paper? Le Toilette!", and that seemed to have an effect. He stood up, and pointed to his rear, with a question in his eyes. A quick, "Si!", and I was in possession of a roll.

 
You could hear a gnat fart in here.
We got to the coliseum when it opened, and headed up the stairs to take in the history. But the Veronans had decided to make use of the landmark, and had filled it in with metal chairs and stairs. It looked pretty ugly, and I was pretty disappointed. But we explored it nonetheless. We tried to get past some yellow tape that was blocking off some cool parts, but a guy by the stage yelled at us. It was around then that Lin-Wei dropped her water bottle. And let me say, the acoustics in that place are fantastic. It sounded like she dropped a piano in there. It rolled down the metal stairs, making a crashing noise each level it dropped. Everyone in there turned to look at us, and by everyone I mean the only other person there: the guard. He started to head up towards us. The bottle finally rolled under a set of chairs, and we attempted to quickly locate it. We had trouble finding it! But the guard was really cool. He finally found it and returned it, smiling, to Lin-Wei.

Verona had a cool castle that we explored next, and then it was time for lunch. We found a cool place in the main square, and has some pizzas.

 
The happy face of addiction.
And joy of joys, they also had coke. Sweet delicious nectar of life. But at €3 a pop, this fix was going to cost us. But it was worth it.

And then began our walking tour of Verona. First we went to Juliet's house (Romeo and Juliet was based in Verona. Legend has it you can rub the right breast of the statue there for luck. Next, we went to an old cemetery, with some oddly placed graves. This must have been the bargain one, being in the road and all.

Lin-Wei wanted to explore around the town wall, so that was next. It was a pretty cool hike, and half-way around we decided to explore it from the inside. It went up this huge hill, then around these curves, and we found ourselves quite far from the center of town.

 
The images are still burned into my brain
We continued to skirt the inside of the wall, heading up a hill. The terrain got pretty rough at this point, with no buildings around, and a bunch of low tress and shrubs on the left of the path. And it was there that we found the naked people. I only caught a glimpse, and what I saw was large and fatty...I mean, it wasn't pretty, so I immediately turned around, grabbed Lin-Wei, and headed back the way we came. I'm not sure what was going on up there, but the trip around the wall was done.

We were totally lost at that point, but much like finding our hotel, we kept walking, and eventually we ended up on the road back to the town square. Touring was not quite complete for the day, as we stopped off at an old Roman theater. Pretty nifty, that was. I don't have a picture of the theater, but I have one taken from the theater. Afterwards, we found an Internet cafe, got caught up on the news, had some dinner, and retired to bed. The next day we were driving to the Italian coast and the Cinque Terre!

 
Once our European rental SUV car got to Verona, Al said "let’s name our car". So I said the first name that came out, "Go Blue". B/c it was Blue and b/c it goes places and because I like naming things after my university nick name. We call him Blue for short.
Al and I are pretty much addicted to Coca cola. We buy it even tho it was expensive in Europe
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