Verona and Venice

We've driven in a lot of countries, but Italians are by far THE CRAZIEST drivers I have ever encountered. Driving into Verona was not really a good idea, but we didn't realize that until too late. The old, narrow streets mixed with construction and inability to read the road signs was bad, but their traffic patterns were out of control. Picture a 4 way intersection without stop signs and all lights green at once, throw in some extra roads and hot blooded Italians and thats what driving in Italy is like. Whew... it was stressful but we came out only mentally scarred.

Verona was a very pretty city with a small town feel. The third largest colosseum in Italy is located in the center of town, and still functions as a stage/arena (they were setting up for Madame Butterfly while we were there).

Verona is, of course, the hometown of Romeo and Juliet. While there is no proof that this is Juliet's house and balcony, there is no proof that it is not - according to our good friend Rick Steeves. Apparently there was a fueling family the play was based off in Verona, and the above house is located on a street which was occupied by hat makers- hat = cap = Capulet. Thousands of tourists have left graffiti and notes along the walls leading to the balcony, and for a small fortune you can walk up and stand on the balcony. Personally, I would rather have a couple who didn't off themselves as role models.

This is the river that runs through Verona

A Roman settlement was built along the river that has been uncovered and preserved. In the photo above you can see they put up scaffolding for concerts in the area of the old stage. There is a museum with Roman artifacts recovered from the area as well as statues preserved from the early years of the town.

After two nights in Verona we went to the Army post in nearby Vincenza; we spent a night there and left our car in a lot on post before taking the train to Venice (about an hour).

The picture above is of all the gondolas at night. I heard some statistic that each gondola is worth like 40,000 Euro!!

A similar view as the picture above, but this one was taken from the top of St. Mark's cathederal- LOTS of tourists!

Cameron on one of the many bridges crossing the canals. We had to lug our luggage up and down stairs like these multiple times as we got a little lost. (P.S- GPS don't work so well along all the canals/narrow streets/tall buildings!)

This is the view from our hotel's "dock". Historically the docks would paint the poles different colors as their family seal. In the right of this picture you can see the red and white striped pole.

I leave you with this gem of maturity from Cameron... one of his meals in Venice had octopus so of course, he wanted to confirm if the tentacles would really stick to a glass...