After an good start to the morning we checked out of the hostel and jumped on the bus to Como. From there it was an hour train ride into Milano which also ran very smoothly. We decided to revisit the café in the train station before catching the metro to the central train station where we needed to be to move onto Verona. This turned out to be a good and a bad decision. Good because I get very grouchy when I’m hungry, bad because we missed a train by about 10 minutes and the next one was delayed by about half an hour. We finally made it into Verona, Damien still skeptical as to why we had come which wasn’t improved by the fact that the train station was undergoing renovations which had caused the tourist information office to close. After a couple of very abrupt transport information ladies a very nice Italian guy, Daniel came to our rescue. He helped me find the hotel on the map, told us which bus to catch, then walked us over to the correct bus stop and actually waited with us to tell the driver where we had to get off. What a stellar guy!
The hotel, whilst being a bit out of town is very nice (four stars) which is a bit unusual for us. Accommodation in Verona is expensive so I managed to spot a mystery hotel deal on last minute.com. Basically this means you choose a hotel based on a description of location, room types and facilities without knowing which hotel it is or any pictures and get it at a reduced price. The other great thing about the hotel is the pizza shop across the road. There you choose by the slice what pizza’s you want which you pay for by the kilo, they heat it and off you go, it was an amazing dinner!
We had a bit of a sleep in then headed down for our buffet breakfast, that’s right a buffet! I don’t think I have eaten that much in one sitting since the last time we were in Melbourne for Christmas. We had bacon and eggs, two types of croissants, fruit, slices of meat and cheese, juice, coffee and an amazing almond pastry. Finally we waddled out of the dining room, got ourselves organized and caught the bus into the historical centre to make the most of our €15 Verona Card.
Our first stop was the Arena where gladiators used to battle just like in the coliseum in Rome. Nowadays it is used for the summer operetta season which would be amazing. The modern seating and lighting takes away from the monument but it is great to see the space still being used. Next we headed to Shakespeare’s Juliette’s house. There is a bit of a tunnel that leads to the courtyard which is covered with graffiti which is all love letters and tourists writing their names. It was also very crowded, the thing to do there is rub the left breast of a bronze Juliette which will supposedly bring you a new lover. We did not get to do this as Christine did not want to join the crowds so we headed into the house to find the very famous balcony where the fictional Romeo called to Juliette. The house has been converted into a museum with antiques and art works. We stood out on the famous balcony took a couple of photos and then it was time to move on. 
After a sit down and some fruit we pushed onto the next tourist attraction the Scavi Scaligeri Centro Intern Di Fotografia. This is an extensive area of medieval and Roman ruins under some of the cities squares and palaces which were excavated in the 80’s. The building is a series of rooms which leads you through the various ruins including Roman roads with underground sewerage systems. The ceiling spaces were punctuated by skylights where you could see other tourists peering down and wondering what was below. The space also doubles as a photography exhibition space which we thought was a great idea.
By this time our caffeine addictions had kicked in and we both needed a sit down, tick box tourism is exhausting! We decided to tackle the Torre Dei Lamberti next, which is a bell tower built in three stages attached to the Palace of Commune. With the Verona Card you got in for free but had to pay extra to use the lifts which gets you to the 243 step mark. Being the tight asses we are we climbed all 368 steps. This was easier than I thought, power up a hundred at a time then have a quick breather to recover, repeat, we were up in no time. In fact we were up the top in time for the bells to strike 3pm. I nearly fell off the window sill I was standing in because it was so loud and I wasn’t expecting it. There was a poor little boy who was about three years old who got such a fright he cried for the next 10 minutes (little sook). After some happy snaps we headed back down and had shaky legs by the time we were back on the street. 
The final tourist attraction for the day and our favourite was Museo Di Castelvecchio which was the fortified palace of the Scaliger family built in 1354-55. The castle was set next to the river and had it’s own matching bridge which was very cool. After joining the tourist masses taking our own photos of the bridge we headed onto the museum. Again we were impressed with the way the Veronian’s use these historical places as gallery spaces. The museum was full of amazing art works which had either been taken from churches for preservation or the churches had been destroyed. What made the Museum so special was the original fresco walls in some of the gallery spaces and the fact that you could walk some of the castle walls. 
We finished our very touristy day by eating at a very touristy restaurant where all the tables were set up in an alley way. Damien had a nice homemade spaghetti with Duck stew whilst I had a very tough rabbit stew with polenta. On the plus side the house wine was very nice. After dinner we discovered that the bus numbers change after a certain time. This is probably fine for the locals who expect it but VERY confusing for dumb tourists like us. We did manage to get nearly all the way home on a bus before the driver yelled at us to get off and then walked the rest of the way in the rain.
Only half a day in Verona a so much still left on our Verona Cards! We had another awesome breakfast, finished packing, dropped our bags and headed into town again. Our first stop was the Teatro Romano e Museo Archeologico which is the old Roman amphitheatre which doubles as a museum for lots of other old stuff they have found. I think we have been spoilt with all the ancient Roman ruins, monuments and artifacts we have seen as it takes a lot to impress us these days. I did like all the Mosaics’ they had on display and was impressed by the glass cabinets. How can something as fragile as glass last for hundreds of years??
From here we wandered along the river to the Duomo which was another big and beautiful church. It is amazing how-not sick of churches we are. As they all seem to be, this one was beautiful, but different to many. The interior of the Duomo was painted with murals in quite bright colours, which is unusual as so many churches these days look quite dark. Our last stop in Verona was at the Gallery of Modern Art which had an exhibition of Chegal who is an impressionist and surrealist artist. Then it was time to return to our bags and take the train to Venice where we are meeting Melinda, our Aussie friend from London.
The hotel, whilst being a bit out of town is very nice (four stars) which is a bit unusual for us. Accommodation in Verona is expensive so I managed to spot a mystery hotel deal on last minute.com. Basically this means you choose a hotel based on a description of location, room types and facilities without knowing which hotel it is or any pictures and get it at a reduced price. The other great thing about the hotel is the pizza shop across the road. There you choose by the slice what pizza’s you want which you pay for by the kilo, they heat it and off you go, it was an amazing dinner!
We had a bit of a sleep in then headed down for our buffet breakfast, that’s right a buffet! I don’t think I have eaten that much in one sitting since the last time we were in Melbourne for Christmas. We had bacon and eggs, two types of croissants, fruit, slices of meat and cheese, juice, coffee and an amazing almond pastry. Finally we waddled out of the dining room, got ourselves organized and caught the bus into the historical centre to make the most of our €15 Verona Card.
Our first stop was the Arena where gladiators used to battle just like in the coliseum in Rome. Nowadays it is used for the summer operetta season which would be amazing. The modern seating and lighting takes away from the monument but it is great to see the space still being used. Next we headed to Shakespeare’s Juliette’s house. There is a bit of a tunnel that leads to the courtyard which is covered with graffiti which is all love letters and tourists writing their names. It was also very crowded, the thing to do there is rub the left breast of a bronze Juliette which will supposedly bring you a new lover. We did not get to do this as Christine did not want to join the crowds so we headed into the house to find the very famous balcony where the fictional Romeo called to Juliette. The house has been converted into a museum with antiques and art works. We stood out on the famous balcony took a couple of photos and then it was time to move on. After a sit down and some fruit we pushed onto the next tourist attraction the Scavi Scaligeri Centro Intern Di Fotografia. This is an extensive area of medieval and Roman ruins under some of the cities squares and palaces which were excavated in the 80’s. The building is a series of rooms which leads you through the various ruins including Roman roads with underground sewerage systems. The ceiling spaces were punctuated by skylights where you could see other tourists peering down and wondering what was below. The space also doubles as a photography exhibition space which we thought was a great idea.
By this time our caffeine addictions had kicked in and we both needed a sit down, tick box tourism is exhausting! We decided to tackle the Torre Dei Lamberti next, which is a bell tower built in three stages attached to the Palace of Commune. With the Verona Card you got in for free but had to pay extra to use the lifts which gets you to the 243 step mark. Being the tight asses we are we climbed all 368 steps. This was easier than I thought, power up a hundred at a time then have a quick breather to recover, repeat, we were up in no time. In fact we were up the top in time for the bells to strike 3pm. I nearly fell off the window sill I was standing in because it was so loud and I wasn’t expecting it. There was a poor little boy who was about three years old who got such a fright he cried for the next 10 minutes (little sook). After some happy snaps we headed back down and had shaky legs by the time we were back on the street. The final tourist attraction for the day and our favourite was Museo Di Castelvecchio which was the fortified palace of the Scaliger family built in 1354-55. The castle was set next to the river and had it’s own matching bridge which was very cool. After joining the tourist masses taking our own photos of the bridge we headed onto the museum. Again we were impressed with the way the Veronian’s use these historical places as gallery spaces. The museum was full of amazing art works which had either been taken from churches for preservation or the churches had been destroyed. What made the Museum so special was the original fresco walls in some of the gallery spaces and the fact that you could walk some of the castle walls. We finished our very touristy day by eating at a very touristy restaurant where all the tables were set up in an alley way. Damien had a nice homemade spaghetti with Duck stew whilst I had a very tough rabbit stew with polenta. On the plus side the house wine was very nice. After dinner we discovered that the bus numbers change after a certain time. This is probably fine for the locals who expect it but VERY confusing for dumb tourists like us. We did manage to get nearly all the way home on a bus before the driver yelled at us to get off and then walked the rest of the way in the rain.Only half a day in Verona a so much still left on our Verona Cards! We had another awesome breakfast, finished packing, dropped our bags and headed into town again. Our first stop was the Teatro Romano e Museo Archeologico which is the old Roman amphitheatre which doubles as a museum for lots of other old stuff they have found. I think we have been spoilt with all the ancient Roman ruins, monuments and artifacts we have seen as it takes a lot to impress us these days. I did like all the Mosaics’ they had on display and was impressed by the glass cabinets. How can something as fragile as glass last for hundreds of years??
From here we wandered along the river to the Duomo which was another big and beautiful church. It is amazing how-not sick of churches we are. As they all seem to be, this one was beautiful, but different to many. The interior of the Duomo was painted with murals in quite bright colours, which is unusual as so many churches these days look quite dark. Our last stop in Verona was at the Gallery of Modern Art which had an exhibition of Chegal who is an impressionist and surrealist artist. Then it was time to return to our bags and take the train to Venice where we are meeting Melinda, our Aussie friend from London. 
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