I met Sharon in the Verona P N train station and we taxied into town to a lovely hotel in the centre of the ’old’ part of town (my perspective of what ‘old’ is has changed somewhat), dumped the bags and dragged ourselves reluctantly out into the streets of designer shops.. oh all right, we went wandering the historic sites and tourist attractions first – and there were a few obvious ones which were all in walking distance.
Just at the end of the street we tumbled upon the Arena di Verona (who could miss it), seriously, take a look at it! Slightly different from others I have seen (being a connoisseur of Roman Ruins) in that it is constructed from bricks, not marble. This arena dates back to the 1st century AD and was the ‘in’ place for gladiators. It’s now the ‘in’ place for opera and there was a tasty menu of the performances coming up over the next few months. Not being an opera fan, or perhaps just because I haven’t been exposed to the joys of opera, I didn’t recognize the various operas but if you happen to be in Verona in the next few months…
We found the Dal Cappello house in another street around the corner from the main piazza –the house, famed for the Romeo and Juliet story was owned by the Dal Cappello family. Other star-crossed lovers had added their names to the walls of the house, and a collection of padlocks (a la the wall of padlocks near the first town in the Cinque Terra villages) had been started on the gateway. *sigh*. Such romance.
There is an amazing castle with huge walls near the arena, but at that point is was nearly nine o’clock, we had been wandering for nearly 4 hours and were starving. The local Trattoria won out.
But speaking of designer stores, there are a lot. ‘Zara’ had arrived in Verona the night before with a grand opening, and was tucked in next to the serious grown up designer stores. And for future reference it isn’t easy to try clothes on in a small cubicle if you have your dog with you – it tends to get tangled up in the curtain. I only mention it in case you were thinking of trying it…
Exhausted from the opulence of these stores, we caught the train to Treviglio where Sharon is based for a month – an arduous task if ever I saw one. The apartment is in the ‘old’ part of town (cobbled streets, piazzas, church bells tolling) and is totally delightful.
At seven we promenaded to Sharon’s friend’s house – and spent the evening deep in philosophical conversations regarding happiness, contentment, pois, and cultural appropriateness. And that was only after one glass of champagne. We wandered back into the village in search of food (which we found) and in search of the eclipse of the moon (which we didn’t find, even though the sky was clear). The food was divine, and the company superb – four displaced women, all in their 50s – all with a clear ideas on life and the meaning thereof – a Kiwi in Treviligo for 30 years, a Welsh woman living in Bergamo and Sharon and I. Suffice it to say it was a late night. At 1 in the morning we were reliving our Kiwi childhood with a set of pois which lit up when twirled….
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