You won't believe what happened this morning! After booking the wrong day for our Vatican tour last Wednesday we went through this week's tickets and had made sure that all the days were correct. So we walk to the train station this morning and wait for our train to appear on the board, and 30 minutes before it's meant to depart it still hasn't appeared. I then realised that for some reason our train left from a different station in Florence, not the main one. I went into crazy woman autopilot mode, threw half my stuff to mum, ran to the ticket counter and asked a woman. Within 3 minutes I'd bought us a ticket to the other station, we ran to the platform and were on a train. Somehow we made it to the other station with 8 minutes to spare. I was very proud of myself because I didn't freak out and just got us where we needed to be...yay! So we got on the train all fine but then all the luggage compartments were full and someone was in our seat, but eventually we settled in and arrived in Verona. What a start to the day!!!
We walked to our hotel which is in a really central location, dropped our bags and set out for the day. First we went to the Arena, like a miniature colosseum. There were no signs or information which was disappointing but we did have a great view of the alps! The arena is in Piazza Bra, a square full of pretty coloured buildings and part of the city wall.
We enjoyed a muffin and some fruit and yoghurt for lunch then went to Juliet's Tomb. They are fairly sure but not certain that this is the tomb of Juliet Capulet. There was a very random museum of frescoes here and little signage so we didn't really know what was happening!!! Then we went to the San Fermo Church, which like the one in Rome is built on top of another church! We received a really comprehensive brochure here so were able to understand what each fresco meant! We walked along the Adige River which was beautiful and next went to Teatro Romano, some roman ruins that were discovered in the 1800s when the houses built on top of them were demolished! There was a very interesting exhibit here displaying the ruins and a nice viewpoint too.
We next went to the duomo which had a really nice bell tower, and again a comprehensive brochure explaining everything in English (yay!). Then we walked to the Castelvecchio, a fortress used by Della Scala in the 1400s. Again there was a museum here with lots of frescoes and sculptures. But the best thing here was the fact that the castle was still set up so that you could see how it operated. You could see the moat, drawbridge and castle walls and bridge. There were also ramps and small staircases that you could walk across which really showed how the castle was manned and used way back when! There was an incredible view from the walkway at the top and we were lucky enough to be there just as the sun was setting, see the photos below. Just stunning!!
We headed back and checked in, then had dinner at a cafeteria type place which was super cheap and really nice!
It's meant to be 6 degrees and sunny tomorrow, think we should enjoy the positive temperature while we can because Switzerland (especially Lauterbrunnen) is down to a maximum -17 in some places!!!! Eek! Haha.
Love to all,
Claire
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxox
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