Verona, Italy
02 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in Europe, Italy Tags: Juliet's house, Juliet's tomb, Romeo's house, Verona
I had originally planned to go to Vienna during my second weekend in Geneva, but my roommate, Ashley, convinced me otherwise. Vienna is a 10 hour train ride from Geneva, so I would have been very tired by the time I got back. We went to Verona instead since she wanted to see Juliet’s house. Trying to get a ticket to Verona was a disaster; we spent 2 days trying to figure it out. The first time, we couldn’t figure a good time to leave Geneva, because we had a site visit at the UNHCR. Both of us wanted to visit it, so we had to leave after 4 PM. However, the train that left that evening would get to Verona around 12 AM. The ticket agent suggested that we stayed for a night in Milan, then go to Verona in the morning. This was a better option, but we didn’t have a hotel room in Milan so we decided to wait until we figured something out. The second time, they didn’t have a seat for me (I had a global pass), because they had limited seats for pass holders. I refused to go, because I was not going to spend $200 something for a ticket when I already spent money on the pass. Fortunately, on our third time they had seats. Success!
Day 1 – Friday
We left Milan early on Friday morning, and got to Verona before 9 AM. [Verona is around an hour away from Milan.] Unlike Rome, Verona does not have a good public transportation system so it was a little difficult to find our hotel. We took a taxi, but our driver had no idea where he was going. He dropped us off at a hotel, and we asked the reception for directions. We also called the hotel owners to get directions, but they barely spoke English, so we spent a lot of time walking around, but we eventually found the B&B. We met an American girl (Gina) from the Chicago area at the B&B who ended up having lunch and going to Juliet’s house with us.
Juliet’s House
I didn’t know much about Juliet’s house; aside from what I had seen on Letters to Juliet (I loved that movie by the way). Gina, having been there before, told us that it was small, and was located in the shopping area; so you could miss it, if you didn’t pay attention. She was correct. We would have certainly missed it, if she was not with us. The house was located between shops; you couldn’t really tell that it’s her house, except for the numerous tourists.
The wall of the entrance was filled with graffiti names and love notes; it was quite pretty.
As we entered we small people standing around Juliet’s statue, waiting to take picture with her and to rub her breast (for good luck). I decided not to rub her breast; I just took a picture with her.
We wanted to see the museum and take pictures on the balcony. There wasn’t much to the museum. It had a bed that was used in the first Romeo and Juliet film, among other things. But we got to take a picture on the balcony!
Romeo’s house
I was surprised that Romeo’s house was on the tourist map. I thought that it was essential for us to see Romeo’s house as well. We walked around in a circle (or more like a square) for two hours trying to find it before we were able to find it. In reflection, I think people probably gave us the right directions, except that we didn’t realize that it was just a sign, and people failed to let us know. If we had known that the “house” actually had real occupants, and is actually not one where you could enter, we wouldn’t have spent hours trying to find it (at least I don’t think we would have). After taking pictures with the sign, we headed to Juliet’s tomb.
Juliet’s Tomb
It’s rather morbid to say that I was looking forward to Juliet’s tomb; especially since I don’t think I have ever visited a cemetery before. Anyways, since we had no idea where we were going and it was sprinkling we took a taxi. After walking through the museum (not much to see actually), we went to her tomb. Juliet’s tomb is located in a beautiful complex with a wishing well. As you enter the tomb, you can smell it (I guess they want you to experience the real thing). Her tomb is located in the second room, to the right. As you can see below, it’s a huge rectangle. There wasn’t much to see, but at least I could say that I visited her tomb and took a lot of pictures?
Day 2 – Saturday
We were fortunate to get a B&B that was close to the main attractions. We ended up walking everywhere. Ashley wanted to see Juliet’s house again, so we decided to go back. Along our way there, we stop by the nearby piazza and grabbed some fresh fruits for breakfast. It was yummy, especially since I had not had it since I got to Geneva. There were less people around the second time that we visited, so we were able to take pictures outside of the entrance.
Castle
Because Ashley and I love castles, we visited the local castle [I can't remember the name.]. As I previously mentioned, the sites are pretty close to each other so we just walked. The castle turned out to be pretty big, so we spent a few hours going through the museum.
By the time we were done, we were exhausted so we decided to just have dinner and relax.
