Another in a long series of travel blogs, you may want to read them first.... Or dive right in!
The morning was the same as any, up early, shower, and go down for buffet breakfast. It is funny, I can picture the room for breakfast, but they all kind of roll into one. Same foods, mostly the same automated coffee machine, same seating, eating, and getting the hell out to the bus on time. Florence was the only one that seemed like a nice place for breakfast. When we got to Paris, I hated the Nescafé instant coffee in the rooms. By this time, I was having one with a single sugar in the rooms before breakfast. Either way we ate and left the Soviet prison looking hotel for the highway. We rolled into Verona late morning, pushing lunch. This was also a beautiful sunny day. I am not sure if the shopping district has a name, or if it was actually a shopping district or just downtown. Where we got off, there was an opening in the sidewalk that looked down. Under the current sidewalk, beneath a sheet of glass, people can see the remains of a Roman sidewalk and a well. Still very well preserved. We had seen it before in Rome, and I believe even in parts of New York. I am sure in many other cities, but it is crazy to think that, underneath where you are standing, there is another city. Buried or grown over, over the years or centuries. It is quite a contrast to look up the road and see the modern city of Verona, while just below your feet lies the ancient world. We were told to drop a pin and be back at this spot in 3 hours. Then our tour guide led us through the alleys and streets to a piazza with a bunch of restaurants for us to eat at, and another coliseum we could venture into if we wanted. A few hours of free time to enjoy the city because we would be flying to Milan. On the walk to the piazza, we had seen a few places to stop in and look around. Tourist attractions and stores. Again, not nearly enough time to see them all, but after a snack, we could pick and choose.
I have a couple of confessions to make. First, I didn't think Verona was real. That is hard for me to say, as someone who considers himself smart. I don't mean until we got there, but literally into my twenties, I thought it was a made-up place where two families waged war against each other, in some boring old love story. I thought it was supposed to be a play on the city of Venice; looking back, that's a dumb idea, but that was what I thought. Also, Italians are so well dressed! Like, it's sick how fashionable they are. Maybe Verona is a more fashionable town; maybe there were fewer tourists mixed in. I am not sure, but walking down the streets here was like a fashion show. Everything was a perfect cut, even down to hair being styled perfectly. I grew up in the 90s in Canada. I know some of these people grew up in the 90s as well, but maybe it was different in Italy, I don't know. I love my big hoodies and loose pants. I am strange, but in general, I like wearing a broken-in pair of work boots. The summer is board shorts, a T-shirt, and flip-flops, which I am told is a fashion crime in Italy. Don't get me wrong, I like getting dressed up, weddings, sadly, funerals, and going out to plays. Any time I have a reason, I do enjoy it, but I couldn't do it daily. On top of that, even when I buy nice things, sometimes they aren't a perfect fit. My current suit jacket could be taken in a bit, but these people look like the clothes they are in; they are born in them! So there it is, in a place I thought was make-believe, I found out how well-dressed Italians actually are.
So at the "Bra," our tour group split up. I did not know then that it was called the Bra by locals, short for Piazza Bra. I guess it is the largest public square in Verona. The Ampitheatre is the centre piece. It is an ancient Roman colosseum that still stands. I guess it is one of the best preserved ones from the ancient world. From the outside, it does look ancient, but the inside is more modern, still used for opera and major shows that come to the city. Again, it would have been cool to have a tour; you can take them, but the line was massive, and we wanted to eat as well. That means not enough time for both. There are quite a few restaurants on the Bra. I don't know that we had a reason for the one we picked, but we were seated under an umbrella. My wife mixed it up with a spritz, but I stuck to wine. Althought I was getting wined out. The menu was pretty standard food, but the problem was that we weren't hungry enough for a full meal. My wife said, " Let's try the prosciutto and melon. I did not want to, melon, I am not a fan of. Berries are amazing, melon, meh. However, I didn't really see any other small options, so we ordered it. The mix of the salty and sweet is amazing. Since we have come home from Italy, I do not know how much prosciutto and melon I have eaten, but it is a lot. I am not going into every meal I ate over there, but this little snack was amazing. So simple and easy, just need to have fresh items, and damn it is worth it.
We had our snack and then left, walking back the way we came. Or so I thought, I am a man, I don't need a map. I can guide by the stars, which aren't out at midday, so I took us down the wrong street. Thank god we had dropped a pin and got back on our route. Even on the main streets, though, the city is so clean compared to North America, it blows my mind. We wandered in the warm Italian sun, for the most part window-shopping, until we reached Casa di Giulietta. Or Juilets house. There is a small alleyway lined with people that funnels into a courtyard. In it is a plain tannish brick wall, done in the Renaissance style. There is an empty balcony, where a young lover could wait for her young lover. We took a picture of the balcony but did not go inside. There is a museum dedicated to Romeo and Juliet there. I didn't realize just how big this story was, that there would be a museum to it. I thought it was just a story teenage girls loved but I guess it could be Willy Shakes biggest play, so that makes sense. I did Google the inside after, and it does have some neat things. It is small and rather cheap, so it may be worth doing if you have time. The line would have killed us. Also, there is a statue of Juliet in the back; anyone can go take a pic. We didn't again because the line was long. Now the crazy thing is, she has golden tits. Enough people have given her a grope that they have polished themselves to a gold finish. I assume it started as a stupid traveler taking a picture and joking, and now they are that shiny. When we ended up back at the bus, I asked one of our group if he had taken a pic like that. He was the youngest in the group, and he made me laugh. "No man, she is supposed to be 14, why would I ever be groping that?" We went through the exit and ended up in a sewing workshop. Seriously, it is a bunch of grandmas sitting at machines, mostly embroidering things. We tried to sneak through, but that didn't work. One started talking to my wife. Then they sewed her name on a piece of paper. She asked my wife's favorite color, so she got it in green.
Then we wandered to a store called Al Buso Rock Store. Albus Rock Store. My wife is a GIANT Harry Potter nerd. Giant. She has the robes, the wands, the books, the movies. They are on our standard repeat the entire series at least once a year. The fan fics, the collectibles from when the movies were first coming out. The spin-off novels, like Beetle the Bard. There is a generation that read the books as they came out and really related to the characters. She is exactly of that generation. Being seven years older than her, I didn't get into the books until later, so I am not quite as into them as she is. The point I am driving home is that she loves it. When we first went to the Bra, I noticed a store. It had an advertisement in the window that looked like Albus Dumbledore's face, but as a skeleton. As soon as I saw it, I thought brownie points, the name says Albus, and with that, it has to be a Harry Potter store. So I tried to drag her in as a surprise, but she noticed it too and was gonna drag me in. Either way, we both wanted to go in. Out front, there is a signpost pointing to direct places from the Wizarding World. Ya, we took tourist pictures beside it. Inside, to the left is the Harry Potter room. If you can dream it for Harry Potter, it is in here. Clothes, knick-knacks, books, I mean, those are all collectibles, but tons of collectibles. It really is impressive. If you have a Harry Potter fan to buy for, this is the place. My wife added to her collection with Sirius Blacks wand. The bulk of the store, though, is a "rock shop" of albums and paraphernalia. It's an old-school store: AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, Motley Crue, Metallica. All the bands your Gen X uncles rocked out to are here. That's what got me, they do just as good a job on this as Harry Potter. With nothing of this crap they call music from Gen Z. It could be a movie set, you could film aging Gen X metalheads hanging out here for the day. A Verona version of Clerks. Pretty sure it wouldn't be a blockbuster hit, but maybe an indie smash. Which would make Gen X happy…. But I digress. If you want good music or Harry Potter, check this place out.
Then our Verona adventures were done. We loaded onto a bus again and headed to Milan. I can't tell much about Milan as we only saw the drive in and the airport. What we drove through looked like a very industrial city, and we were told it is an economic powerhouse in its region. We unloaded at the airport and said goodbye to our Italian driver. They had put out an envelope for us to put money in as a tip. We put a couple of bucks in, not sure what. We had prepaid all our tips when it was booked. However, you don't wanna look like the people who are not tipping. Or I don't, so we put a little extra in there. The Milan airport was fairly busy, and they did give my wife a heart attack. My bag went first, 20 kg or whatever, just under the limit. Hers said closer to 50KG, way over the limit. However, they explained the scale hadn't been cleared. That was both our weights, and it was still fine. It was here that I paid attention to some other people's luggage. A lot were very similar to mine or my wife's. Pretty standard-sized bag, standard weight, but a couple of people had tiny bags. They had the same size bag I would take to Whitehorse for a three-night work trip. How they managed a 9-night tour plus whatever before or after blows my mind. You can really cut down on weight if all you bring for toiletries is a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a pit stick. Soap and shampoo are in every hotel, but even the clothes. I am not there to put on a fashion show, but I want a couple of pairs of pants just in case. Lots of T-shirts and some nicer ones for churches and shit. A couple of pairs of shoes, and I need a hat. I did bring swim shorts, a single pair, because I thought if there was a pool anywhere and I had a chance, I would be in it. I am sure I had a hoodie, and my bag was full, so I don't know how someone does it in a bag half the size.
Verona was a very pleasant surprise. I am not sure if it is really on anyone's so-called bucket list, but it might be worth a stop. The city is clean and just feels safe. There isn't a ton to do, but enough that you can kill an afternoon. Would I book a tour to see it? No. If I were traveling in Italy on my own and had a rental car, it would be worth a stop.
I didn't mention it but the above picture is by Juliet's house. Signed by lovers!
During our drives, I had noticed a restaurant chain called Roadhouse. I joked we were going to eat there every time we went by one. Turns out we did, that is what we had for supper in the airport. We have our own ideas of what an Italian restaurant should be; I guess this is their version of an American steakhouse. They weren't wrong. Think your local steak house, not the good one, but the one a step or two down. Still caught in the 90s. You know the one I mean, that's what this place was. They had beer on tap, not American or Canadian, but the beer drinkers in the crowd were happy to finally have some. I had an arugula-and-steak salad. Another food I found I actually enjoy is arugula. I will never be on the olive train, though. They are nasty, and you won't convince me otherwise. After that, it was a sit-and-wait for a plane. The airport is nothing special, with the same uncomfortable chairs you find in every airport. Then it was delay after delay. I won't say the airline's name, but I believe it is a discount airline the tour group used because of the price. Once it arrived, it was a fine plane, small but good enough for a few-hour flight to Athens. I think we landed around 11PM Athens time.
Tired and honestly grumpy for no reason other than being tired and having just gotten off a plane, I entered the Athens airport. The first thing that struck me was that everything was written in Russian. I am not a history major, but I didn't recall Greece ever being part of the Russian Empire or the Soviet bloc. So I asked my wife why everything was in Russian. Somewhere between annoyed and amused, she stared at me and then chuckled. That's Greek, dear; they have similar blocky, chunky letters. That's the only way I can describe them. Jesus, I needed to get to bed if my brain couldn't figure that out. Scott, the tour guide, speaks 5 languages; I don't know if Greek was one of them. He brought us to a baggage carousel where nothing was coming off. Carousels are anxiety-inducing, even on a good day. Most people stand around and joke, waiting for their bags. When the carousel starts spinning, people crowd in, grab their shit, and go. That's a normal day; some people don't even joke, just get worried and stare. Well, this night we waited and waited, and it did not start spinning. As a group, we joked, but slowly that wore off. Anxiety set in for everyone, and then another of the group said, "We are at the wrong carousel." I don't know how they knew, but we all rushed to another one, and lo and behold, they were right. Our bags were all there; it was a collective sigh of relief. We loaded our bus and were on the way to the hotel. In Italy, we had a brand-new bus; it was beautiful. This one was also newish. Not brand new, but still much nicer than a lot of buses I have ridden on.
It was well after midnight when we got to the Divani hotel. That's the last hotel I am going to name here. Yes, we stayed in a couple of other hotels, and they were alright, but not amazing. This one was still very nice. Massive open lobby with clean, large, and comfortable rooms. Not that we got to enjoy them really that night. I will get more into the hotel because we do come back, but that night, it was straight to bed.
The Greeks are the actual heart of the Western World. Sure, a lot of credit goes to the Roman Empire; yes, they laid the foundations of the West, but it all starts in Greece. The Roman Empire was at its height in 117AD. What is considered ancient Greece was 1200 years before that. To put that into perspective, 1200 years ago today was 825. So at that point, France didn't exist, or it was West Francia at that point. England wasn't around. Vikings were raiding in their prime. The toothbrush was nowhere to be found, and we were all flat earthers! Does that seem like a long time ago? Ya well, that's the same difference in time between the Roman Empire and ancient Greece. That doesn't mean Greece wasn't a factor during Roman times, but what we think of as ancient Greece and its power was actually a REALLY long time ago. It was these people who migrated to Rome and started the Western world. So when I say they are the heart of the West, it is true, just a long time ago. Scott joked that it hadn't changed much since then, including the plumbing. When you take a dump in Greece, you do not flush the paper. It goes in a bag, which you throw in the trash. The plumbing is too old and clogs. My wife had told me that before we left. I figured, sure, in some places it would be like that, but a big modern hotel would be okay. Nope, even there they want you to bag it, which, honestly, the first night when I was tired and cranky, pissed me off. Also, Athens is as far east as you can go and still say you are in the West. It is almost the same distance to London as it is to Moscow. You are on the same sea as Africa, and Istanbul isn't far away. It won't take you long to fly to the Middle East from Athens. The fact is, in all of Greece, you can feel and see the Eastern influence. I am not here to debate religion, but almost every religion has beautiful structures. To me, the Muslims have more domes, and the Christians have spires. You can see both here. Tons of tiled, well-tiled everything that has a very eastern flair. If you go to any decent Greek restaurant in North America, they are pretty close to what Greece is actually like. It is a mix, beautiful and poor. Modern, but also shows its age in many places that could use some upkeep. Modern and, in many areas, very ancient. West and East, smashed together. Don't get me going on the plumbing, though.
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