Verona, Italy.....enough said

After months and months of planning the weekend finally came: me and Paige (friend and fellow Kappa from Mizzou, studying in Florence) were able to plan a trip together!  We finally decided Thursday afternoon that Verona would be our destination.  I knew nothing about the city other than it was the home to Romeo and Juliet (but who cares, right?).  So the next morning I boarded a train at 9:00 a.m. and headed on my journey.  After a long day of traveling, I finally arrived in the city around 5:00 p.m., but the journey was well worth it.  Our hotel for the weekend was one word: charming!  Everything about this little paradise, from the exceptionally helpful staff, wonderful rooms, amazing showers even the free guide books was easily worth the money.

After throwing down our bags we headed to the center of the city were we were AMAZED to learn this very weekend was the city's 1st annual CHOCOLATE festival.  The streets were lined with vendors from around Italy selling their wonderfully delicious delicacies and the aroma was enough to convince me I was officially in love with Verona.  The vendors had thought of everything from chocolate bonbons to fresh chocolate covered strawberries and we made it our goal for the weekend to ingest as much of the goodies as possible (after all we had to ensure the festival would be a success!)                                         

So after our quick little chocolate feast we wandered around the city falling in love with the beautiful winding streets and picturesque Palazzos.  We found a fun little bar where we were able to observe the happenings on the street while devouring free appetizers!

The next morning we woke up extra early and began our quest to conquer the city.  We started by climbing all 360 stairs in the bell tower, and although we were heavily perspiring by the end the views were well worth the hike.                            

After this we headed over to climb some more hills.  Now, apparently it is my duty while in Europe to find every perv on the continent.  We had just begun to ascend the stairs of one particularly steep hill (in the middle of the day, and in a very public area mind you) when what should I see.....a middle aged man playing with his.....  

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That's right folks, I couldn't believe my eyes either!  A man with his play things exposed for us to see!! (EWWWWW).  I started running up the stairs because I felt very awkward; however, Paige had not seen the ding-a-ling yet so she started yelling for me to slow down.  I turn around to grad her attention and there it is again, in all its naked glory (double EWWW).  Yet, we didn't let Mr. Peek-a-boo ruin our day; rather, we wandered around the city exploring just about everything worth seeing.                                    

We headed back to our hotel after an exhausting day then got ready for our big evening.  We grabbed a quick drink then headed over to the city's theater where for only 12 measly euro we were granted a private box (1st row) to a Mozart concert...soooo amazing!  Although we were defiantly the youngest audience members by about 53 years, the show was well worth the money.                                                                                                    After this we kicked it up a few centuries and wandered over to a live concert in Palazzo Erbe by an up and coming young singer (Syria).  It was such a high energy crowd and an awesome way to end the night.

Sunday morning is ladies day in Italy, which means that all museums are free for women.  (What a wonderful city, chocolate AND women's day).  We decided to check out Juliet's home (not worth spending money on) and then headed on the Colosseum (def. worth money).  By this point we had just enough time left to grab a little more chocolate then head back.

Now the ride back was an interesting tale.....

On my first leg to Milan a young lady decided to stand in between the two cars and belt out some Italian tune. I'm sure it is a wonderful tune; yet, her voice genuinely sounded like cats being murdered and our whole train car was in hysterics at the Shakira wanna-be.  On the next leg of my journey, I was fortunate enough to sit in between two larger Italian women who continually conversed across my lap and directly across from me was a Missionary's daughter who tried ever so hard to engage me in talk of my beliefs and thoughts on God....guess the headphones in my ears didn't clue her in I wasn't interested in life talks.....

All in all this was one of my favorite trips yet; and I would gladly talk longer to anyone willing to listen of all the tiny city of Verona has to offer!