Verona, Italia

Ninoska was flying out today (Sunday) and we covered a ton of ground in Venice over the last two days, so I wanted to see somewhere new since I'm not flying out until Monday morning. I looked into some nearby cities, and was able to snag a ticket for 9 euro to Verona. in addition to their pasta & gelato, Italy has the trains thing on lock. they're frequent, cheap, and nice (as far as chargers and comfy seats) which hol and I experienced on spring break a few months back (months?! cripes) so I was pretty excited it was cheap and only an hour and a half to see another city.

I arrived in Verona, figured out a bus to catch and hopped off in what seemed like a busy place. I think Verona is the first place I haven't used google maps once, and didn't have any sort of itinerary or places to see. I had a little lunch, and went to the arena, which looks like a smaller colosseum similar to Rome. fun fact: the Verona colosseum was built before Rome, and competes with Rome and Milan as far as theaters and monuments go in the arena category. I hung out in there for a while, the sun was out so I parked it on some steps from the first century and enjoyed the sunshine. after that I walked down a crazy busy street of shops, popping in and out mostly window shopping. let's be honest, I don't have room in my backpack and probably not in my suitcases to go home either. I kept walking, taking a turn here and there when I felt like it. in doing this, I stumbled upon a few monuments. I won't lie, I have no idea what they were called but essentially a duomo, a basilica, a chapel/museum and a big bridge that had what looked to be an important building on the other side. the sites were really neat but I honestly just enjoy the average Italian building because they're colorful, usually have an interesting architecture, and flowers, terraces and/or shutters to complete the overall look. solo travels mean a lot of photos of buildings and monuments, as I'm sure you can see with the photo trend in this post.

I have a decent sense of direction, so after walking for a while in the opposite direction of the station I made my way back towards the piazza arena, snagged some gelato, hopped on a bus and waited a few minutes for my train. I'm pleased with the quiet simplicity of the day trip, and not having to pull up google maps once. just pretending to blend and be a semi-European. does my blonde hair give me away? I can be German..

ciao & cheers, jkro