Verona

Yesterday, Matt, HD and I headed to Verona, which is the city my family lived in 14 years ago. The drive was interesting because we got stuck on the autostrada for about 2 hours because of a traffic accident. We eventually made it far enough to take an extra, wind our way through a few small towns and get back on after the accident. Needless to say, it added quite a bit of time to our trip...so instead of getting there at 12:30, we arrived at 2:30. HD was great, despite being in the car, non stop for so long.

Luckily she slept almost the whole time we were in the traffic jam.

When we first arrived, we met up with Matt's friend, Marco. Our plan was to find my family's old house. Bussolengo (the small town outside Verona where we lived) has changed a lot so it was a little difficlut to find...in fact, about 100 yards from the house, we turned around to go back to Marco's car to use his GPS system. While we looked up the house, we went to a brand new mall (built since the last time Matt and I were here) and let HD run around and eat some lunch. She was so excited to be out of the car.

About an hour later, with directions, we got back into the car and went directly to the house. We were hoping that the current residents would let us take a look inside. As we arrived the landlady (who was the landlady when we were here) peeked out her window. Matt went and introduced himself and told her who I was and asked if we could take a look around. She invited us in and told us to take as many pictures as we wanted. She opened all the rooms and was so gracious. She was holding HD the whole time...I think she was a little bit lonely because she was trying to find anyway possible to get us to stay (coffee, wait for a neighbor we used to know, etc.) After taking a bunch of pictures to show my family, we said goodbye and headed downtown.

The D's with the landlady.The landlady and our house.

We spent the next three hours walking around downtown Verona. There is a big square where the Arena is that is non-accessible to cars so we let HD just run around and play. She loved it. She probably fell about 20 times, but she didn't care. She just jumped right up and started running again. We also walked down the shopping alleys and went to see Juliet's statue and balcony; and we visited a couple smaller piazzas.

In front of the Arena.

Photo op with a child who really didn't want to be held.

She was in love with this water fountain and fence...stood there for a good 10 minutes.

I was impressed and amazed again by the beauty of this city. Really it is a gorgeous city. Piazza dell'Erba really looked like a painting...we tried to capture it but I still don't think the camera captured what I wanted it to capture. It was just beyond words.

Piazza Dell'Erba

Marco and Matt had a really nice talk while I chased HD around and enjoyed all the stares she was getting. I was telling Matt that when we lived here, my sisters and I got all the stares, but now all the eyes look at HD...it's better that way.

After a few hours, we met up with Marco's wife (Elena) and headed to their house where we ordered and enjoyed pizza for dinner. Marco and Elena are such a nice couple and were so gracious. It was nice to spend the day with Marco and we're hoping they will head up to PN before we leave. They have some family up here, so we think they might make it.

We had a wonderful time in Verona. I think it might be my favorite city...but then I feel that way about every place we go!

PS: Of course I have a lot more pictures, but I have created an album for them yet. I'll post the URL when I do.