Verona Beyond Shakespeare

We had to have our bags outside our door by 7:00am, which left us time to eat breakfast before we all assembled around 7:45am for our departure from Como.  As we anticipated purchasing wine during this trip, we brought along an extra suitcase.  We originally planned to bring our full-blown wine suitcase (which we used in South Africa), but we decided it was too much to deal with.  Gate1 only agrees to handle one suitcase per person, so we would have had to lug the bag around with us.  We also didn't know how much time we might have to actually sample and purchase wine, so we instead brought along a much smaller hard-side carry-on bag.  It has wheels and is very portable, and is the normal one I take with me on short work trips, as I can carry it on board.  Anyway, as we had this bag, it allowed us some extra time in the mornings we moved hotels, as we could put our big suitcases out, but keep our overnight bags and sleep clothes behind.  That meant we didn't have to worry about getting everything packed up and in the hallway so early.

The weather was crystal clear this day, and we'd been told to expect heat. We'd been hearing a lot about how "cool" it had become, compared to the heat wave Italy (and much of Europe) had just endured.  Temperatures were near 100 degrees across Italy, even up in the Como area.  That said, with no clouds to hide the sun, this was perhaps our warmest day and the only really uncomfortable day we had for outdoor sightseeing.  Still, I reminded myself that we escaped the really bad stuff by a few days.

We drove southward and around the sprawling city of Milan, which is the commercial capital of the country.  Traffic, both commuters and trucks, was fierce, but it left plenty of time for Johnny to talk with us about overall plans for the remainder of the trip, and to begin much of the history and current affairs he'd be sharing with us during our trip.  Personally, the best thing about the tours we have taken is the commentary and history we get from our guides, and Johnny proved to be outstanding in this regard.

On the bus, we had a chance to connect with some of our fellow travelers with whom we had not yet had a chance to talk.  There was an extended family of six from Canada, all of whom I had assumed were Indian.  We only learned the true familiar situation much later in the trip, but this group had an interesting story, but they were also the most unprepared for such a trip.  Turns out they all were ethnic Indians, born and raised in Uganda, until Edi Amin expelled all of the Southeast Asians (the merchant class) from that country in the 1970's. They all became exiles, first being sent to Pakistan and ultimately to Canada.  With Uganda's ties to Britain and the Commonwealth, the UK Government took responsibility to help settle the hundreds of thousands of displaced citizens. 

We were ultimately headed to Venice, where we'd spend two nights, and our only stop (aside from restroom breaks along the way) was in the city of Verona.  Both of us had visited Verona, albeit separately.  I visited with my family in 1980, and had no memory aside from seeing the (in)famous "Juliet's balcony."  Katherine visited when she took a tour of Italy with her family friend, Sarah Tintor, back in 2002, but she had very little memory of it.  We learned that, of course, the Juliet balcony is a complete tourist trap, dreamed up by an entrepreneur in the 1950's.  All of that, and my distant memory, had me not relishing the visit.  I was, however, very pleasantly surprised.  The city has large parts of its medieval walls still standing, and the old city -- built within a natural "u" of the river -- was very nice.  We met a local guide, who walked us into the pedestrian-only old city and provided a great tour.  We also saw the Roman Forum, which has been restored and which regularly hosts concerts of all kinds.  There were also lots of signs that the city had hosted the G7 Summit earlier in the year.

Verona, From Across the River

Boys Will Be Boys

Roman Arena in Verano

Cooling Off at Lunch

Gelato! (always look for flat containers, as these are the best)

We had free time to get lunch, sightsee, and shop.  As I mentioned, however, it was very hot this day, and we tried our best to stay in the shade as much as possible.  We found an outdoor cafe which had large water misters, which really helped cool things down.  We had a very good lunch.  And, you know it's hot when Katherine has a large beer!

As we assembled with the group later that afternoon, we started the walk back out of the old town, to our bus.  We were ahead with Johnny when all of sudden he was called back.  He was gone for quite a while, and we later learned that one of the older women (from the Canadian group) had collapsed.  It was presumably because of the heat.  They put her into a cab and sent her ahead to the bus to cool off.  She was extremely overdressed and had not been drinking water.  By the time we all reached the bus, she seemed fine.  It emphasized my earlier point, though, that they were not really prepared for how active a trip this would be.  Several other things that happened with that group during tour also made it appear as though they hadn't read any of the preparatory material provided by Gate1.  

As we drew closer to Venice, it became much more industrial, and certainly not attractive.  The bus had to pull into a small station, at which they paid a special fee for the coach, as well as for each of us in the group.  They have instigated special taxes to both curb the number of tourists, but also to pay for the tremendous upkeep needed to deal with the environmental damage inflicted on Venice.  We were dropped off at a large parking complex on the mainland, from where we boarded a monorail "people mover" that took us over the lagoon and into Venice proper.  All of our bags were sent by boat directly to our hotel, which was on the Grand Canal,, pretty much directly across from the main rail station.  We had to deal with our personal bags, and here too, several folks had brought along large and bulky extra bags.  Johnny agreed to help out those he could, but the rest had to carry their own stuff.  It wasn't a problem for us, but from the monorail station, we did have to walk across two bridges to reach our hotel.  

"People Mover" Station, To Take Us to Venice

The hotel was large and, as with everything in Venice, old.  We later learned that apparently no two rooms were the same, and several folks openly complained about the size of their rooms.  Having been to Venice multiple times, we both knew that small is normal.  That said, we felt guilty, as our room was rather large, with a big bathroom.  No view, but large nonetheless, so we kept quiet, so as to not engender any jealously from others.

Venice's Main Rail Station, Directly Across From Our Hotel

Our Hotel, the Hotel Carlton on the Grand Canal

Flag of Venice

Note the Gondolier on His Cell Phone

It had been a long day, so dinner was provided for us at a restaurant on the roof of the hotel.  As I noted earlier, this trip included a higher-than-average number of dinners, all of which included unlimited wine, which was very welcome this evening.  It had cooled down quite nicely and the dinner was pleasant, even if the food was not memorable.