Mecca for English Majors

June 6, 2007

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene...

We certainly laid our scene today in the beautiful and not-so-touristy town of Verona today, which I recommend highly if you want a lovely side trip from Venice. Hillary and Bekah weren't feeling well, so Crystal and I headed out after a sumptuous buffet breakfast for some sightseeing. Bus 13 took us to Piazza Bra, where we visited the Arena.

Built in 1 AD, the Verona Arena was the third largest in the Roman world, its 466X400ft body made up of pink marble. It held 25,000 spectators, and it's still used today for concerts and performances. We hiked to the top and walked along its rim, capturing some stunning views of the town on our cameras. After an interesting method of getting down (Joy doesn't do heights, so sitting and scooting seemed to be the best bet), we headed down the Via Mazzini, the shopping district, got lost, and headed back through the Piazza to the Via Roma.

Via Roma is a street just beyond the river-front, and we headed into the Chiesa di San Lorenzo. It had heavy Romanesque architecture and beautiful golden candelabras, but the best part of the excursion was meeting two Canadian women who wanted to go home with us when they found out we had the movie Casanova. We smiled politely and refused, practically fleeing when they wouldn't leave us alone. Just a little ways down the street is the Castelvecchio, a castle built from 1343-1356 by the della Scala family as a residence and a fortress. The bottom floor housed early Christian statues and sculptures, and the second floor presented late medieval and early renaissance paintings. I wasn't particularly impressed with the artwork, but Crystal and I had fun trying to sneak pictures when we weren't supposed to--we're so easily amused :)

We met up with Hillary and Bekah in the Piazza Bra after sharing a bench with two old German women and a ton of pigeons attempting their mating dances, and we ate at a self-serve restaurant that reminded me highly of an Italian K&S (fond memories, Granddaddy). We shopped in a tiny open-air market at the Piazza Erbe, which has a high arch famous for the whale bone dangling from it. It has been hanging there for 1,000 years, apparently, and it will only fall when someone who has never lied walks beneath it. It sure stayed up when we went under it!

Juliet's house was next on our list, and it was kind of a disappointment except for the Juliet statue where you rub her right breast for romantic luck (the men sure enjoyed that one) and the Greek man inside who wouldn't stop taking our pictures. He was hilarious! He took our picture with a bust of Shakespeare, at first, and he kissed me on the cheek when I offered to take one of him with his wife. The second floor of the house has Juliet's balcony, and he kicked everyone off so he could take a picture of us on there. The rest of the house had dinky little paintings and a couple of costumes, so not too much to see. If you're reading this, Catherine, then we got a couple of pictures of gnomes for you there! (though I don't know why there were gnomes in Juliet's house...)