A picture perfect day in Verona

Well Cindy and I decided to test our Amazing Race ability and venture off to Verona in our rental car. We weren't given any clues to find, no money to start with, nor was Phill there to greet us when we made it! We hopped in our super car and took off for the great beyond. We had fantastic directions from our hotel manager. He said just follow the signs to Milano and we will find Verona. Well we did just that and sure enough we found Verona but we didn't find any Starbucks selling any Verona coffee (go figure). We used the Rick Steves travel book that we bought and followed his self-guided walk and it was fantastic. Here is a photo of the Roman Arena that was built in the first century AD.

The Arena was used for Roman gladiator battles and medieval executions (none scheduled for today) and is now used in July and August for the annual opera festival.

While searching the city for wonderful sights I found my perfect Juliet on the balcony of her parents house. I took a photo of her and will carry it with me often.

Okay, this is Cindy now. How can I top Bill's comments??!! As Bill said, today's visit to Verona was FANTASTIC! We enjoyed our walk around this city, a quieter place than Venice, but similar in the number of churches and plazas (or, as they say here, piazzas.) We strolled through several. One, right next to the Arena, had a statue of Italy's first king, Victor Emmanuel, on horseback.

One of the stops on the walking tour was a bridge that was originally built by the Romans but had been destroyed during World War II. The people of Verona picked up the marble remains from the river bed and rebuilt the bridge. We had a beautiful view of this hillside, which is such a typical sight around here.

One of the things that struck me on the drive between Venice and Verona was the way the restaurants are built spanning the roadway. We were on the Autostrada, which is a tollroad.

I have to add one thing about our day out. Cindy and I found a really nice sidewalk cafe to have lunch on the Piazza Erbe. I have bad news about lunch -- I had only one glass, yes one glass of wine. I do have good news. We stopped at a little Gelateria and yes you guessed it, they sell all flavors of Gelato and even better news, they have these things all over the city. I got to move here!