A size 15 boot? and Grande Puffo?

The old city wall in Verona

Day three with the in-laws and we were off to Verona and Sirmione. In the morning Josh and I found ourselves downstairs for breakfast by ourselves. This is VERY strange because Mike and Laura are always the first ones to wake up. As it turns out, we had to go wake them up after we realized they were still sleeping. Of course, they were embarrassed! But they were on vacation and deserved time to relax and sleep!

Juliet's balcony

After a descent breakfast (with American coffee for Mike), we were on our way to Verona. Again, it was a chilly day, but the sun was out so it felt warmer than Venice. My sinus infection was still rearing its ugly head so I wasn't feeling the best that day- but I tried to be a good sport and still enjoyed everything! We took Mike and Laura to see Juliet's house and her balcony. They took the tour of the house so they were able to go onto the balcony. Josh was in the courtyard below the balcony waiting with the camera and captured a cute romantic moment for the two of them :) In the courtyard at Juliet's house is a bronze statue of Juliet. Remember when I said that Italians rub bronze statues to ward off bad luck? Well, this one is no different- although, I think the Italians decided to have some fun with this one. It's tradition to touch Juliet's boob (not just the arm, or the leg). As you can see from the pictures, she's been touched a LOT over the years! Poor girl...



"Locks of Love"

People used to write on the ancient
walls of the house-"I love Romeo!"
This is now forbidden and they are cleaning
off the graffiti.

From Juliet's house, we walked into one of the main squares for some food. There was a little market set up with lots of food vendors, so we grabbed some fresh fruit and panini. By this point in the trip Laura had realized that Italy has some really cute boots, and she was determined to go home to MN with a pair of Italian boots. We were now on a mission! Somehow boot sizes were brought up and we were curious how big Italy would be if it were a boot... we determined that it's pretty big, but not huge, so we settled on a size 15 boot.

The market is shown behind us

Mike and Laura also toured the arena where we saw the opera in August (a warm up for their upcoming trip to the Collosseum), then we took a break for some refreshments. After quenching our thirsts (and taking in some much needed caffeine for me), we were on the road again to the next stop on the way back to Milan- Sirmione. Sirmione is a cute little city at the tip of a peninsula on Lake Garda. This city is technically on an island and has an old castle with a draw bridge (literally the gate to the city). We toured the castle and were able to get some amazing views from the tower. Again, the air was really clear that day so we could see the Alps perfectly!

While we were in Sirmione we noticed a lot of people eating gelato. So... we had to do the same! I found a gelato flavor of Apple and Cinnamon- OMG!! It was soooo good! It tasted like apple pie. The whole day we were seeing “I Puffi” (the Smurfs!) everywhere- it was even a gelato flavor! The new Smurf movie is out in Italy, so everything is about the Smurfs. We realized that Papa Smurf in Italian "Grande Puffo"! We had a good laugh at that! We left Sirmione after that because we had dinner reservations at one of our favorite restaurants in Milan that night- Trattoria Arlati.

Looking at the peninsula from the tower in Sirmione

held captive in the castle

This restaurant was introduced to us by one of Josh's co-workers and it is amazing! Our table was in the basement (that I didn't know existed). The room had a small bar, a stage and a few TVs. This room was also their wine cellar so Josh loved it! The restaurant is great for typical Milanese cuisine, so of course it was a lot of meat and rice, but it’s fantastic! Mike tried the Osso Buco, I had the "hot pot" which is slow cooked meat with a side of risotto, and I believe Josh and Laura had pasta. They also tried Limoncello after dinner for the first time and loved it. This is my digestivo of choice :) They were trying all sorts of new things so far on this trip, and loving it!

the end of the summer flowers

Another great day in paradise!

The next stop on our journey: Lake Como and Belaggio

A northern girl in the heat of Italy...

view of Isola Bella from cocktail hour

The day after we came home to Milan, the heat from Africa decided to make a stop in Italy... and stay here! It's been in the mid 90's in Milan every day since we got back from the Netherlands. Thankfully this weekend it’s supposed to cool off. Bring it on!!

Cocktails with a view

Last weekend we had tickets to the opera "Romeo et Juliette" in Verona, so we just hung around Milan most of the weekend. When I say "around Milan" I mean in cooler, nearby areas. We took a drive up to Lake Maggiore on Friday since Josh was still on vacation, and got away from the heat of the city. We just wanted to be in the air conditioned car more than anything (the lake was just an added bonus). The Lake is one of three major lakes near Milan (Lake Maggiore, Lake Como, and Lake Garda). All three are about an hour’s drive away from our house and up until this point we hadn't visited Lake Maggiore. Josh packed a picnic basket and we were on our way.

Another view of Isola Bella

There is a really cool island called "Isola Bella" that I wanted to see while we were there. Unfortunately, we got there around 4PM due to a late start and the island closed at 5:00. By the time we took the ferry to the island, it would be closing. So we just enjoyed walking around the nearby city of Stresa. Of course, on a hot day like that day a spritz was in order! We enjoyed a quick cool down cocktail while enjoying the view of Isola Bella. This island is entirely occupied by the Palazzo Borromeo and its gardens. Since we didn't make it to the island on this trip, it is a must to go back and see it! It looks so amazing!

We leisurely ambled along the coastline of the lake, then drove to find a picnic spot for dinner. Josh is such a romantic! He drove to a spot on the lake with a beach and a great view of the sun set. He had caprese salad prepared and sandwiches packed with a bottle of wine. We didn't drink the wine since he had to drive though. As we sat and ate, we watched the sun set behind the alps. What a great, romantic evening!

The next day, we packed and headed to Verona for the opera. I was so excited for our first opera! We stayed at a hotel about 20 minutes from the city center and it was worth it! The hotels in Verona were not cheaper than 130 euros a night... we found ours for 40! In addition, the hotel had air conditioning so we were happy! We decided to get into Verona early so we had time to eat dinner, pick up our tickets at will call, and just enjoy the night. We had dinner at a restaurant in the main square, with the arena right in front of us. For those of you that don't know, the arena of Verona is like a smaller version of the Colosseum. It was built in 30 AD! In ancient times, the arena could hold 30,000 spectators. Today, it can seat up to 20,000 for the opera.

Another table with a view

our view of the arena at dinner

Josh's "favorite"

Our spot for dinner was great for people watching!! It was right on the sidewalk so we could see the people walking by. We saw so many great outfits... people dressed to impress for the opera, and people just dressing strangely in general. One woman walked by in a florescent yellow, skin tight dress. Maybe she wanted to be seen?? Also, we saw and older gentleman walk by in royal blue pants, a white linen jacket, with a rainbow colored tie and his hair was long and silver. To top it all off... he had a long silver broom on his upper lip! He had an award winning mustache! He was Josh's favorite.

our view of the stage

The show started at 9PM (after the sun went down) and lasted until just before 1AM. Since the arena was outside and it was so freakin’ hot, everyone kept fanning themselves (myself included). Not my finest moment at dinner when I had sweat dripping down my legs while in a nice dress... It didn't cool down until after midnight when a breeze kicked in. But even then, it was still around 88 degrees! The heat didn't ruin the evening though. We were sitting in an arena that was more than 2000 years old, and I saw a shooting star just as the show was starting. I knew it was going to be a good show at that point! The tradition is to light a candle before the show starts when you are in your seat. This was fun- you could see all of the people in attendance. In the upper deck seats, its general seating (first come, first serve) and people can bring in food and drinks since they don't have access to concessions in the upper decks. Between this and the inexpensive tickets, the people of Verona and are well educated in opera. They also stay out all night after the show! When we exited the arena, many of the restaurants had tables reserved with bottles of spumante in buckets of ice, ready to go. The whole experience was great and we would love to see an opera at La Scala in Milano (another world famous opera house). The woman who played Juliette was fantastic! And so was Romeo- they stole the show!

Queen Mab

Mercutio's end

Juliette's aria before taking the potion

The next day it was still sweltering... so we decided to go to the beach at Lake Garda (not far from Verona). But before hitting the beach, we stopped at a medieval castle near our hotel, Il Castello di Soave. It was commissioned by the Italian king Berengario I, sometime around the 10th century. This castle was the real deal! The castle is a true fortress and sits on a hill overlooking the town, while the walls of the castle go down the hill to surround the city. It was very cool! We didn't stay long though since I was getting the back sweats and desperately needed air conditioning. Man, that weekend I was starting feel a little bit like James!! I was a sweaty cinghiale! (see "My birthday!… and more cinghiale!") This northern girl can’t take the heat! In small doses I’m ok… but this long stretch of heat has been rough!

The castle had a draw bridge

New guard on duty!

Entrance to the kings rooms

the prisoners tower

Soave and the walls around the town

I love lamp!

The REALLY steep and crazy stoned streets
we had to walk up to see the castle

We figured out where everyone goes when it’s hot… the beach on Lake Garda was packed! But they left enough room for Josh and I! So nice of them J We stayed on the beach for a few hours before going home- Josh on the sand, me in the water. It was nice! But as with all good things, it must come to an end… so we left and went back to the heat of Milano. I’ve been melting there ever since! Please, please, please… send some cooler weather!

We have a screamer!

Me, Craig and Josh on the gondola



The lady in black is "The Screamer"



About three weeks ago, Josh’s uncle Craig was visiting Switzerland for a work trip and decided to swing down to Italy for a weekend before flying home. He was very excited to see Venice, so we drove out for the day on Saturday. Of course, it seemed that everyone in Italy had the same idea! It was a holiday weekend for Italy, so there were many families in Venice on holiday. Not to mention there were 5 or 6 cruise ships docked there as well. With that being said, it was difficult to walk down the tiny narrow alleys of Venice without bumping into someone. It seems like we were being herded through the streets and I kept expecting Chandler Bing to be somewhere yelling “Moo”. Even when moving like a herd of cattle, the city is still amazing.

When we first arrived in Venice, we saw an artist with some great artwork on the street. We LOVED her impressionistic style and were very interested in purchasing a canvas. But with Josh being the analytically minded person he is, we decided to keep shopping. I can’t blame him- we would have been carrying the canvas with us all day. We could always go back. So, we waited to purchase artwork until later in the day.



in the main square of Verona



 

a statue in the square of Verona

We started out by grabbing lunch, and a beer on one of the side streets. When Craig and I were drinking our beer I came to the realization that Venice is the original “Shabby Chic”. The city walls are cracked, peeling, and the city could definitely use some updating, but that is the allure of it. It is so charming and there are so many great sites to see. We did the touristy things- walking around, enjoying the scenery and we took a gondola ride. Since there were three of us, we decided to take a gondola ride with another group of three from Chile. One of the women was so scared that the gondola would tip over and we would take a dip in the Grand Canal. She kept screaming and shrieking, and our gondolier was saying “we have a screamer!” That seemed to be the phrase of the day.

  

 

in the "royal box" at the arena



We decided that one day in Venice was enough for us, so on Sunday we drove to Verona and spent the day there. I didn’t realize how much history is in Verona! One of the first things we saw was an old Roman ruin called the Porta Leoni. It was the ancient Roman gateway in Verona that was built sometime in the first century. Other places we visited included Juliet’s balcony, Romeo’s house, the main square, palaces and what looked like tombs of crusaders. We also visited the arena (a smaller version of the colosseum) and realized that it is still a working arena. They have made the arena into an opera house that has regular shows. We ended up buying tickets for Romeo and Juliet the opera in in August. That will be our first opera, I’m so excited!



our seats for Romeo and Juliet are down below
where we are standing



After walking around for a couple of hours, we left and headed back to Milan. I’m excited to go back to Verona and see more of the city. We only scratched the surface!

My favorite part of the weekend: other than seeing all of the fun sites, trying a new drink called a Spritz was a fun new experience. It’s a specialty of Venice made with white wine, aperol, and sparkling water (or tonic) on ice with an orange slice. On a hot day, this is a very refreshing drink!

Porta Leoni