January 7 - 13, 2009 Verona, Italy

The things one just doesn't know - like where one will be the next day, and where Romeo and Juliette are from! Verona is the answer to both questions. I am glad to have gone back to Cyprus for the day and a half, since the weather necessitated a complete exchange of clothes. Not to mention that Dale needed a few warmer items as well. The temperature hovered between 0C and +5C which means that I can now commiserate better with folks back home. Fortunately there was no snow, so getting around was easy.
We had an absolutely fabulous time. We bought a three day ticket for the sights and walked our feet off. We stayed right downtown (thanks to Adam for the recommendation) and everything was close by. The Arena is basically a miniature Colosseum in the heart of Piazza Bra - apparently a very famous park. Then of course one must see Juliette's home and her famous balcony, her tomb and Romeo's house. The Castelvecchio was fantastic and included many wonderful rooms full of museum pieces. The churches, Chiesa di Santa Anastasia (the largest in Verona), Chiesa di San Fermo Maggiore (has churches upstairs and down), Basilica di San Zeno, and Complesso del Duomo were breathtaking. The Teatro Romano e Museo Archeologico was also used as a monastery and famous for wine and spirits. And we also covered the Natural History Museum and the Radio Museum (Dale's choice - but very interesting). Not bad for 15 euros each!
Mel and Yves also joined us and we tried a different restaurant every night - the favourite was La Pigna - antica trattoria (I really need to get Rita or Peter to help with some translations - especially before another trip!), where we went for Dale's Birthday. After our scrumptious dinner, and of course a bottle of Valpolicella (we were in the region after all) we got to listen to some wonderful classical music put on by L'Accademia Filarmonica e i giovani, while we gazed around the exquisite interior of the Complesso del Duomo (one of the churches I mentioned earlier). It felt more like my birthday - what a treat.
On another evening Dale and I got tickets to the Concerto sinfonico that featured an amazing pianist - Sandro De Palma. It was a fabulous evening, and small world that it is, when we returned to our Hotel after dinner, we met the conductor - Boris Brott . . . who was from Montreal. We had a lovely chat with him and his wife and found out that as well as doing guest appearances, he also conducts an orchestra in Los Ageles (and I thought we got around!)
So, I think I have covered most of our week. Italy was all and more than I had hoped, and Rome and Florence and of course Venice, are still on my bucket list. Had I had some warning I would have looked up a few words - especially since so many were so close to my very limited Spanish - I think it would be much easier than Greek!
Anyway, nice to be back in Cyprus - and certainly warmer. Our next trip is off to visit George and Johanne in the Bahamas then up to Philadelphia for Dale's annual recurrent training. This year is certainly starting off at a fast pace!
All the best in 2009.
Love,
Laurel
p.s. of course the coffee was superb, but nothing can come close to the cioccolada

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verona

http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Verona-140824/Things_To_Do-Verona-The_churches_of_Verona-BR-1.html#1