in continuing with the alliterative trend, my next stop was verona. i left with another couchsurfer, daniela, in hopes of catching the first train into the city to meet two other girls and tour the city. the morning was interesting.. a sort of comedy of errors, if you will. we were dropped off at the train station only to find that the train had left ten minutes earlier. and the next train from this tiny station? three hours later. greaaat. we quickly decided to hop the next train to vicenza (backtracking) in hopes of catching an earlier train from there. when we arrived we happily discovered that there was another just 20 minutes later. we dutifully went to the track, awaiting its arrival. it never showed. no reason, just didn't run. so we were faced with waiting until 11.30, what we had been hoping to avoid. to pass the time and get an errand out of the way we decided to head towards an internet cafe. so we set out towards the city, luggage and all. the first place we were directed to (luckily daniela spoke italian) was closed on wednesdays. naturally. the next place had only one broken computer so we were directed to another on the main street. eventually we were able to get what we needed, but only after allowing the proprietors to make copies of our ID (apparently this is standard practice in italy). all this, and it wasn't even a tuesday!
at any rate, we eventually made it to verona, though we had no way to track down our other friends. daniela and i spent the morning wandering the city and only managing to find its most touristy locales. stop #1: juliet's house. obviously this has tourist trap written all over it, especially bearing in mind that juliet is a
fictional character. it's basically a very old house that dates to juliet's era with a courtyard and balcony. some local entrepreneur took it upon himself to fill it with period furniture and film memorabilia and charge people 8€ to go inside and take their picture on the stone balcony. well done. additionally visitors have taken to drawing graffiti (romantic graffiti?) and hearts all over the walls and stairwell. the whole thing was amusing to see but perhaps not one of the more authentic corners of the city.
daniela and i walked through the city until the early afternoon when she had to leave and i met up with amanda, another couchsurfer, and a random italian man who had started guiding/following her. it was very bizarre. he just followed us, occasionally advising on where to go when we tried to explain what we were looking for. he seemed perfectly content and didn't blink when we would intermittently laugh at the strange situation. in this way we walked around the city, seeing its various bridges, castles, and piazzas until we headed back to the train station. nothing really stood out as remarkable, it was just a nice little italian town that probably has shakespeare to thank for the bulk of its tourism.
at any rate, we eventually made it to verona, though we had no way to track down our other friends. daniela and i spent the morning wandering the city and only managing to find its most touristy locales. stop #1: juliet's house. obviously this has tourist trap written all over it, especially bearing in mind that juliet is a fictional character. it's basically a very old house that dates to juliet's era with a courtyard and balcony. some local entrepreneur took it upon himself to fill it with period furniture and film memorabilia and charge people 8€ to go inside and take their picture on the stone balcony. well done. additionally visitors have taken to drawing graffiti (romantic graffiti?) and hearts all over the walls and stairwell. the whole thing was amusing to see but perhaps not one of the more authentic corners of the city.
daniela and i walked through the city until the early afternoon when she had to leave and i met up with amanda, another couchsurfer, and a random italian man who had started guiding/following her. it was very bizarre. he just followed us, occasionally advising on where to go when we tried to explain what we were looking for. he seemed perfectly content and didn't blink when we would intermittently laugh at the strange situation. in this way we walked around the city, seeing its various bridges, castles, and piazzas until we headed back to the train station. nothing really stood out as remarkable, it was just a nice little italian town that probably has shakespeare to thank for the bulk of its tourism.
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