Wherefore Art Thou?

On Wednesday, Flavio, a friend of the family I am living with, was traveling to Padua for a business meeting, and offered me three options (oh, look, there's a handy little map at the top of the page that includes all of these places!):

1) I could go to Padua,
2) I could take a train from Padua to Venice,
3) He could drop me off in Verona, which was on the way.

I chose option three! I was discouraged from going to Venice since there wouldn't be much time to spend there- I am told that it is necessary to be there overnight.

First of all, band people- remember being in the busses in Rome and talking about how COMPLETELY CRAZY the drivers were? Well, imagine being in one of those cars instead of the safety of a giant bus! Flavio's driving wasn't nearly the scariest part, but being so much closer to the other crazy drivers was a little bit terrifying at times.

According to Flavio, "Every Italian man thinks he is a Formula One driver whenever he gets into a car." I nodded, gulped, and immediately scrambled to find my seatbelt. And the parking in crazy! It isn't necessary for everyone to be parked facing the same direction along a curb, and most people aren't even in remotely straight- just wherever at least a corner of their car would kinda-sorta fit. Or, you know, not fit at all, like when Flavio double parked while he ran into a Tabbacheria. I spent the whole time I was sitting in the car wondering what I was going to do when the owner of that white car came up and started yelling at me in Italian. Luckily, that didn't happen! The trip to and from Verona was an adventure in and of itself, though. Flavio speaks very broken english and doesn't have a large vocabulary, and my Italian consists of about 20 words, most of which are the names of colours. But we managed! At one point I commented on how big the mountains were that we were passing, and I'm going to paraphrase his answer into a very sassy "girl, those are just the foothills, you don't even know!"

Flavio had given me a map of Verona the day before, so I had a little bit of time to look at it and try to figure out what my tourist priorities were. I didn't know how much time I would have, and I was pretty much planning on pulling out another Florence-like super-tourist mode. I was starting to re-plan out the itineraries that were given in the map to save time and see things in an order that better suited my priorities. However, that wasn't at all necessary- as he dropped me off, Flavio said that he thought he might be back around six, if not later- that was a good seven hours away! We set a meeting place, and I was off on my own!

The first place I went was Ponte di Castelvecchio- a beautiful brick bridge attached the the castle. There were street musicians that were fantastic to listen to as I took in the view and ate the sandwich I had packed! It was also a great place to people-watch. I enjoyed having a few minutes to sit still!

Eventually, I found my way up to one of these higher walkways in the bridge to get a slightly different view. The stairs were very steep and narrow, without anything to hold on to. I watched this woman slowly struggle her way down... then you better believe I walked right over and scooted down the steps on my butt! I attracted a few stares, but hey- I didn't fall and crack my head open on the bricks, so I'm considering it a victory. That's how that works, right?

After a while, I went inside the museum part of the castle and purchased a Verona Card. It was only €15- Definitely not what I was expecting after paying $50 for Firenze Card in May! I ended up saving about €18 in museum entrance fees. Plus, it's so much easier to just hand over a little card than to dig money out of my wallet nine or so separate times!

The museum itself was rather underwhelming to me- if you're really into medieval sacred art, you'd probably like it. Me, not so much. It was cool to walk around in, but I didn't do more than just glance around when I entered each room, seeing if there was anything I recognized. There never was. The was one room of weapons, which was pretty cool, but otherwise, the displays were kinda "meh."

However, in between sections of the museum, you walk through parts of the castle! These stairs go up to the top of the tower, but that was sadly blocked off. Later, I passed through a walkway that was a bit higher up on the staircase- right where that second gate is, and was disappointed yet again to not be able to climb the tower. Some areas had walkways out over the roof, which was very cool, and another was a walkway that went along the river for 50 yards or so. All of these different places offered great views! The best part was that there weren't many people in the museum- I bet most people didn't know that it was more than just the art, otherwise I'm sure it would have been a lot more crowded.

When I left the castle, I made my way to the Arena. Unfortunately, I made it there at the same time as several tour groups, so I had to wait in line for a few minutes. I didn't spend much time there once I got in- I really just climbed to the top and walked around the top couple rows of seats, looking to see if there was a unique view somewhere along the way. There really wasn't. The arena was set up for some kind of concert- when I walked past it again later that day, it was closed to tourists and there was very loud music coming from inside.

Juliet's tomb was far off the beaten path, but I had plenty of time and an English teacher friend to whom I promised photos. It was part of a museum, but I really don't recall anything from the museum part... not particularly interesting at all. There weren't many people, which surprised me... but it was pretty far out of the way, so I guess that's why. When I got to the tomb part, I was actually all by myself, which was a little creepy even though there weren't actually any dead people. It was pretty dark, so my photos didn't come out well, but here it is anyways!

From the tomb, I walked back around the arena to go down Via Mazzini. Flavio had told me about this street the day before, which is good, because it wasn't included on the tourist itinerary on my map! It was a long, beautiful street, with all kinds of stores for different designer labels. I'm not terribly interested in clothing, so I was really just walking by and glancing into windows, cringing at the thought of prices, and half scoffing at the people who were SO FREAKING EXCITED FOR CLOTHES. There were a lot of shoppers, individual tourists, and large groups of tourists here as well, and it wasn't a terribly wide street, so it was a little claustrophobic. Luckily, no cars drive on the street- it is for pedestrians only. It was cool to see, but I really just wanted to get to the other side, where I could go to another museum.

And then I found the Disney store. And it was a WONDERFUL Disney store. Lots of stuffed animals. A whole wall of mugs that I wanted every single one of. Action figures and such from every movie. DVDs. Some t-shirts and costumes, but not many (whereas the Disney store I'm used to has pretty much only those things, with a few toys from the most current movies thrown in here and there.) There was even a little touristy section in one corner with Shirts and figurines that had Disney characters with Italian flags incorporated into the design, and some things that said "Verona" or "Italy" on them. Moral of the story: I stopped being super judge-y of the high class shopping and turned into a six year old. It happens.

My next stop was Casa di Giulietta- Juliet's house. Wikipedia just failed me for the first time ever when I tried to find out more about how the location was chosen- there isn't an article about it in English! What I've pieced together from the crappy Google translation is this: It was created in 1937-1940, and modeled after a movie that was released in 1936. The movie was designed after a painting. The balcony was created with marble remains of the fourteenth century, and came from Castlevecchio. The site itself was chosen because a family called Capelletti lived there, and this is known because their coat of arms was found at the site. There was a family called Montague (maybe, more specifically, Montecchi), but there is no record of a feud with the Capelletti family.

But anyways. Here's some different perspectives of the balcony from the courtyard and from higher up in the museum:

Throughout the day, I looked for people who were attempting to take selfies and offered to take their picture in exchange for them taking one of me.

The rest of the museum was paintings of scenes from the play, paintings of shakespeare, and costumes and props from the movie. The whole place was, of course, decorated to resemble the period of the book. One room was dedicated to"letters to Juliet." Apparently that's a thing. Was no one paying attention in eighth grade when they first read the book? It's not exactly a love story to look up to! In fact, if I had to pick one character that I'd most like to be, I'd pick the chick Romeo ditches, because SHE SURVIVES THE PLAY. But apparently not everyone feels this way, and so they write letters to Juliet. Every letter is translated and answered by "Juliet's Secretaries," a group of young volunteers. Here's the address, in case anyone is interested... just don't tell me you're writing, because I'll make fun of you. A lot.

Club di Giulietta
Via Galilei 3
Verona 37100
Italy

I think there is also a way to send email. There are several computers set up in the museum that are set up to send emails, and there is even a mailbox to drop off written letters. In addition to the "official" letters to Juliet, there is also graffiti EVERYWHERE in the courtyard! To try to keep the graffiti at bay, the museum started putting removable panels in the tunnel that leads to the courtyard that are meant to be written on. Every so often, the panels are replaced, and the old ones put into storage, where they are then cycled through a display inside the museum.

In addition to writing on the removable wall in the tunnel, some people choose to put a lock on the gate at the far end of the courtyard, and more still leave pieces of paper tacked to the wall... unfortunately, this is usually done with chewing gum. I left a sticky note that simply said "choose love." That's more important to me than any expression of a relationship!

The last part of the courtyard was a bronze statue of Juliet. Lots of people were always crowded around taking pictures with her- apparently it's not a highly protected work of art, because people were climbing right on up, hugging her, and butting their hand on her boob. Yeah. I dunno. People are weird. The bronze there is a different colour than the rest of the cast from so many people touching her.

After I left Casa di Giulietta, I had a moment of panic where I searched frantically for my phone to see if Flavio had texted me with a meeting time to leave- after all, I had spent so much time in so many places! Imagine my surprise when I learned it was only about 1:30! I actually had some time to slow down! I found myself some gelato (duh), and found a nice corner of Piazza Erbe to people-watch for a while.

When I finished my gelato, I walked to Via Arche Scaligere 4, which has been designated as Romeo's house. It's not a museum like Juliet's or anything, just a plaque with a quote from the play next to a plain wooden door. It, too, is covered in graffiti.

I continued on my way to Arche Scaligere. I still have no idea what it is, but it was cool looking. They had laminated fact sheets to borrow as you walk around, but I forgot to pick one up when I entered, and felt awkward going back, so I just appreciated the aesthetic qualities of the collection. It was a lot of very intricate, very beautiful gothic sculpture. Though I'm about 99.6% sure they have something to do with dead people. Probably important dead people. You can Google it, I'm too lazy.

...Ok, I got curious. These are, in fact, tombs. Five tombs of the most important members of the Scaligere family, who ruled in Verona in the 13th and 14th centuries: Cangrade, Mastino, Cansignorio, Alberto, and Giovanni. THE MORE YOU KNOW.

Anyways, they were pretty cool. Three had these big tower things built around them, one was just a sarcophagus with no tower thingy, and one was built into the wall of the building it was next to, which I just learned is a church.

Speaking of churches, my next stops were to San Anastasia and the Duomo. Both beautiful, of course, though I don't have much more to say about them. The usual Italian artsy churches- sculptures, frescoes, other paintings, and this creepy hunchback dude.

It's strange to me that this is so normal here. Like, the Duomo in Cremona was closed to tourists this morning because of church services. People actually go to church in these places like it's nothing unusual. "Don't mind me, I'm just gonna go chill next to some famous artwork. Be back later." It blows my mind.

After the churches, I was about ready to call it a day and go find some pizza when I remembered the Torre dei Lamberti, the tallest building in Verona at 84 meters. Some perspective- that is approximately the distance from the goalie box on one end of a football pitch the the goal on the other end. At least, it is if my googling skills are worth anything. Another perspective- it is 268 steps to the top. I decided to save a Euro and skip the elevator, which would have saved me the first 243 steps. After the place where the lift lets out, it is another 46 steps to the first lookout area.

The moment I set foot on that first platform, I knew there was going to be a problem. That is SO. HIGH. UP. More importantly, I recall the railing as being slightly below my center of gravity, though I could be making that up since I was pretty much scared out of my mind even without that thought. There are two big bells at that level. After I had slowly worked my way around the tower, inching my way up to the edges to snap a photo and then hurrying back to where I couldn't see the height. Around that point is when I noticed several people looking up and covering their ears. The bell was going to ring. AND WE ALL KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE LOUD NOISES. Seeing another set of stairs, I took a few deep breaths, and started up those, hoping to get away from the bells.

Welllll, the bell rang when I had reached the first landing in this section. And it was a bell that was on the second platform- not even the ones that were there next to me. I jumped a foot, which scared me even more because DEAR GOD IT WAS SO HIGH UP and I no longer had the "protection" of four solid brick walls around me- oh no. Wide open. Once the bell stopped, I went back to the first platform to catch my breath before trying again, but it really didn't help at all. I SHOULD have given it up and just went back down, but I was

determined to get to the top! I tried again, holding on to both railings and going one step at a time, walking both feet onto the same step before taking another one. Stop laughing, I was terrified! Soon I came to where it was enclosed by brick, but that barely helped because now, there was no elevator in the middle to take up all that open space, so it still felt very insecure. When there were landings, I was literally hugging the wall until I got to the next spot with a railing. Three separate guys asked me if I was okay. It probably took me ten minutes to climb 79 steps. I was hoping that the beautiful view would help take my mind off it when I reached the top, but first, I had to catch my breath and stop crying. Yes, there were tears involved. When I got to the top, I found the most secure place I could, sitting with my back against a pillar, facing in, and sat there for quite a while with my head down. One woman came over and asked if I was okay, if there was anything she could do, if I was there by myself. She and her husband were about to head down, and offered to wait a couple minutes so I could go down with them. So once I found some landmarks (the Arena and the Castle) and snapped a few photos (the view really was beautiful, I was just 100% unable to appreciate it!), the three of us went back down the stairs together. When we reached the lower platform, I thanked them profusely in as many languages as I could come up with (I could tell they weren't native English speakers), and continued on my way. Once I was back where the lift ran in the middle of the tower, it was much easier, though I was still very glad to reach the bottom!

After that, I decided that I deserved more gelato because why the heck not? I also grabbed a slice of pizza, and went back to chill in Piazza Bra for a while.

I finished my day by purchasing a copy of Harry Potter e il Prigioniero di Azkaban, and going back to the bridge to find somewhere to sit and read. An group of Japanese tourists showed up, so of course I immediately stopped reading and started people-watching. One of them took a picture of me sitting up on the higher ledge on the bridge. I asked him to email it to me, so we'll see if anything ever comes of that!

On the way home from Verona, Flavio and I stopped at Sirmione, where Lago Garda is. It is so, so beautiful! I have a large number of pictures from there, mostly because Flavio kept taking my phone and telling me to take pictures with various things behind me, including but not limited to: the sunset, the castle, the lake, nuns, and a swan. This is my "you KNOW swans are mean, right?" face:

"Get closer! get closer!" "Um, how about no?" I finally just went and took my phone away. I tried to slowly move a little closer to get a picture of just the swan, but then it started moving VERY determinatedly (is that a word) towards me so I ran away.

So all in all, a really wonderful day! I have some pictures on facebook, but I didn't want to just photo dump, so I put all of them on a picasa album which you can visit HERE