O Romeo, Romeo

Verona

We had high hopes of waking up and catching the early train so we could have all day to wander around while also getting home early so I could get some homework finished before we headed off to Paris. 

Dun. Dun. Dun.... Plans went awry
Somehow we slept through both of our alarms and ended up waking up about an hour after the train had left. Luckily the train tickets we purchased were the kind where you can get on any train you just have to validate it before getting on (which will become important later). We planned to get on the next train that left around 10:30 so we leisurely got ready and had breakfast. Again we lost track of time and once we realized what time it was we were rushed to get to the train station and ended up running. We made it barely in time and then got confused as to which train was the right one and missed the second train as well. 

Third time is the charm. This time we didn't leave the train station but just waited on the grass out in front and were right on time for our train. Verona is a quick train ride from Milan and the weather was beautiful. We followed my Rick Steves guide for the walking tour, had appertivo and finished a beautiful day off with some of the best gelato! (I know I keep saying that, but really this time) 

Roman Arena "mini Colosseum"

For those of you who don't know much about Verona, it has many influences from both the Romans and the Venetians. You can see much of the influences in the architecture as well as the statues and piazzas. Hence the mini Colosseum from above. Verona is also often associated with the house of Juliet, complete with a balcony and bronze statue of Juliet. 

Juliet's Balcony

Touching her right breast for luck

Tombs of the Scaligeri family
Scaligari+Verona=Medici+Florence

Roman Arena by night

Exhaustion from the day before finally hit and we were ready to go home. We hopped on the train and both of us fell asleep in the seats before the train even left the station. Remember how I said that stamping the train ticket is important.. well we completely forgot and the conductor got a little mad with us but luckily he still let us ride after I showed him my ticket coming from Milan that morning. Oops, i'm just glad that I had someone else there with me to laugh about it afterwards.

 We took the rest of the week easy as a little breather before we took off for our next destination... PARIS!