Leaving Venice
We took a large boat through the lagoon back to the parking garage where we boarded the bus and headed to Verona, the home of Romeo and Juliet.
Verona
When we got to Verona, we had to crowd into a public bus from the bus parking area to get to the downtown area. We were walked past the arena, and down a popular shopping street to a central piazza where we were released to explore the rest of the city on our own.
Our first stop was to visit the famous balcony of Juliet. Though there is no proof that this balcony was the famous one from Shakespeare, the city had turned it into a popular tourist destination. One of the traditions was to touch the breasts of a statue located on the grounds in front of it for good fortune in romance. When we got there, there were a lot of people around the statue taking pictures and posing. We saw an old man getting scolded by his wife because she did not want him to touch the statue’s breasts. It was funny but it also slowed down the line of people awaiting their turn at the statue Eventually Lisa was able to wiggle her way up to the statue so that we could get a picture.
We were then headed out to see some more attractions when suddenly the streets were blocked by a large parade of school-age young adults marching down the street protesting global warming and other social issues. We spent some time watching them as I was fascinated by this little bit of modern culture that we were able to see.
We then just wandered around some of the less crowded streets of the old city center. We stopped at a gelato shop before meeting back with the group. We then all boarded the bus and continued to Milan and our hotel.
Milan
After settling into our hotel, the Starhotels Ritz, we jumped back on the bus and were taken to the Brera Art District and had a guided walk through the Brera Gallery. The guide was obviously a passionate art lover and really tried to have us connect emotionally rather than intellectually to all the art.
Afterward, we went to a street-side cafe in the district and enjoyed some risotto with saffron along with some beer and wine.
