Verona and Venice

  Verona, Veneto, Italy
Tuesday, July 1, 2008

View from Jenny's house

Rachel: After squeezing into the car with our friends Paolo and Davide we went to Jenny's house. She had lost 20 kilograms so she was looking very fit and healthy. Because there were so many of us with Mama too we were going to use 2 houses, the girls all in one and the boys in the other. Because we were late with train delays we had a lovely lunch and then relaxed and I watched a movie called Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Then we went off to see some of Verona. 

Rachel in the Piazza

Verona is a really nice city with lots of amazing and beautiful buildings as well as a huge square filled with restaurants and people playing really nice music. Then we went off to a very quick dinner because we had to collect Mama, our grandma, who had been delayed because of an airport strike in Sydney. We went to the train station and went to the platform but saw she wasn't there so we went downstairs and saw her waiting down the front looking for us. When we saw her there we were all so relieved and so was she after her huge flights. We went straight home to bed and got ready for a new day.

Next day we went to a water theme park a bit like White Water World. It had huge pools and water slides so we made a packed lunch and went in nearly all the pools, including a Roman pool which was very nice because you could only have 50 people in it. The other pools were much more crowded.

Lovely lunch at Jenny's

Saturday 28th June

Alison: We caught our train to Verona and were pleased to see Paulo and his son Davide waiting for us on the platform. We got all our luggage up and down the many stairs, explained about Mum not arriving yet, and headed off to Jenny's house up in the hills overlooking Verona. We arranged that Tom and Mike would sleep at Paulo's house in Verona and the girls would stay with Jenny. She had made a beautiful lunch for us which we ate sitting outside looking down on the town and pinching ourselves at the serenity of it all. 

Tom, Mike, Paulo and Davide then went back to Paulo's house while we relaxed a bit, I did washing, and Rachel watched the DVD of 'Bed knobs and Broomsticks'. Then it was time for us to head down to Verona to meet up with the boys and walk around the town when it was a bit cooler. Verona was still hot, but it would have been stinking in the middle of the day, so it was a good choice to look at it in the late afternoon.

Looking across the river

We admired the stunning medieval architecture, the Arena where they were performing Aida that night, and the narrow streets, cobbled streets with frescoes painted on the buildings and even sections of ancient Roman road. 

While we were wandering, we finally got through to Mum, who had arrived in Milan Airport, absolutely exhausted after travelling for 48 hours with forced overnight stops in Sydney and Narita, and was wondering where we were! She was horrified at the thought of having to make her way into Milan central to now catch a train to Verona, but we worked out that she should make the 9.30 train and we'd be able to meet her at 11.15, which seemed a better option than staying the night somewhere in Milan and then catching a train in the morning.

Dinner at lovely Pizzeria in the hills

We went up to a lovely Pizza Restaurant in a hillside town near Verona for dinner, and then Jenny, Rachel and I had to rush back to the train station to meet Mum, whose train had uncharacteristically for Italy arrived a few minutes early. I was ecstatic to see her and after big hugs we took her back to Jenny's for a good sleep.

Jenny in front of the Arena

Rachel: After squeezing into the car with our friends Paolo and Davide we went to Jenny's house. She had lost 20 kilograms so she was looking very fit and healthy. Because there were so many of us with Mama too we were going to use 2 houses, the girls all in one and the boys in the other. Because we were late with train delays we had a lovely lunch and then relaxed and I watched a movie called Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

Looking down on Verona

Then we went off to see some of Verona. Verona is a really nice city with lots of amazing and beautiful buildings as well as a huge square filled with restaurants and people playing really nice music. Then we went off to a very quick dinner because we had to collect Mama, our grandma, who had been delayed because of an airport strike in Sydney. We went to the train station and went to the platform but saw she wasn't there so we went downstairs and saw her waiting down the front looking for us. When we saw her there we were all so relieved and so was she after her huge flights. We went straight home to bed and got ready for a new day.

Next day we went to a water theme park a bit like White Water World. It had huge pools and water slides so we made a packed lunch and went in nearly all the pools, including a Roman pool which was very nice because you could only have 50 people in it. The other pools were much more crowded.

Ancient Roman bath with rocky pebbled floor

Sunday 29th June
 Alison: After a good sleep we decided to postpone going to Venice until the next day and instead head off to a huge water park where the kids could have fun in the various pools and we could all cool down. It was about half an hour's drive away so the boys eventually met us at Jenny's and we all headed off there. As it was a Sunday and hot, not surprisingly many others had the same idea so the place was packed but we finally found a great spot under the trees and had some lovely swims in the various pools. We had to buy some bathing caps as it is compulsory to wear them in Italian swimming pools. I'm afraid various family members refused to let me put in the big photo of us with our caps, but look closely at the one of the Roman pool and you can see us in them! The ancient Roman pools were really interesting.

This one had sand on the floor of the bath

One had a rocky bottom and then another, smaller, walled one had a sandy bottom. The latter only allowed 50 people in at a time, so Rachel, Jenny and I were lucky to get a chance to swim in it after only a small wait. They had lots of other big pools too, and water slides, and an hilarious shallow one that had a volcano type structure in the middle which rumbled and made waves and then every now and then set off explosions of water! It was great fun for young and old.
 Eventually we drove home, and then Jenny made us a magnificent meal which we again enjoyed outside in the balmy air, looking down over the twinkling lights of Verona. 

Mum & kids in St Marco's Square

 Monday 30th June

Alison: Today we went to Venice with Paulo and Davide while Jenny went to work. We caught the train there from Verona, a very comfortable hour and a half away, carrying sandwiches with us as Paulo said that everything in Venice is incredibly expensive and they would never buy anything there! 

Rachel by the Bridge of Sighs

It was very hot and sticky! As long as we were moving along the canals in the boat or walking in the shade, it was bearable, but in the direct sunshine it was horrible, and many ice-creams had to be consumed to help us all survive!

Venice is beautiful, but steadily crumbling away and quite dirty, so it's funny that it has the reputation of being the most beautiful city in the world. The kids were desperate to go on a gondola, so despite being an absolute tourist rip-off and much to Paulo's horror, Mike negotiated for us all to squeeze on one at vast expense and we tootled around the canals for half an hour. It is all very pretty from the water, one has to say.

Cruising up the canal in our gondola

Eventually we caught the train back to Verona, in time to get back home and pack before catching our night train to Naples. We had dinner at a nice Pizza place near the station before sadly farewelling our wonderful hosts and finally getting on the train (which of course was running late, true to form!) We settled into our cuchettes and had a comfortable enough sleep, ready to face the excitement of our journey to Positano the next day.

Gondola traffic jams on the canal

Mike: Arriving in Verona to be met by our friends Paolo and Davide at the station was a lovely feeling, as we had soo enjoyed their staying with us only a year or two ago.   What's more I had visited and loved Verona about 20 years ago while backpacking Europe with my brother Johnno, so I was keen to get back and see if it lived up to my expectations, and boy did it.

Staying with friends away is always suuuch a pleasurable experience, and from the moment we arrived at Jenny's house (they had sadly recently split but are still on good terms) I felt that lovely contentment of relaxing and knowing that good times ahead were assured.        
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Central Piazza in Verona

I would have to say that for mine Verona has to be theee most underrated town or city in all of Europe.  It is without doubt the most beautiful town I think I have seen on all of this trip to date, steeped in history, such magnificent architecture and monuments to its regal Roman past.  The Arena was still there of course, resplendent in the middle of town, where Johnno I had so happily kicked around a soccerball for hours on end those years ago, and these days playing host to an opera and bursting to capacity most every evening.  Just  wandering around this town is a thing of joy, and we lapped it up.

Crumbling Venetian mansion

I was interested too though, that I again felt relatively let down by Venice, as I had also been those 20 years ago. Venice is to me a dirty, crowded, overly touristy place, with the architecture outside of the main square for mine somewhat drab and uninspiring.   I felt very much again that its reputation must be solely based on the novelty/romance of being a city on water.  Nonetheless I greatly enjoyed fulfilling my ambition of belting out OSoloMio at top voice while meandering along the Grand Canal in a gondola. This was one experience which we certainly couldn't afford as backpackers, a ludicrous price even now..  but one I indulged just for the sake of being there!

Us all squished onto the gondola

Swimming at the WaterPark was a lot of fun, and what is more quite a cultural experience as it were.  Quite literally thousands upon thousands of locals were there like us seeking relief from the heat, some under the shade like ourselves..   but so many lying completely unprotected basking in the sun, some so red it hurt to look!   This reminded us of the suncare or lack thereof we were used to as kids of a  previous generation, but certainly not now!

It was great to see too, though, in this home of so many beautiful/stylish people, that all ages and shapes clearly felt toootally at home here in their bathers, with the great majority furthermore letting it all hang out in bikinis quite unashamedly (though as Margie said perhaps a few owed it to others not to!!).  This in quite stark contrast to home, where most are faaar more inhibited about putting their bodies on show.

Great meals continued to be the order of the day, as with the rest of our Italian experience!  We sat on the terrace admiring the magnificent view over the hills from the family home, while enjoying a host of lovely local delicacies in succession. My favourite new discovery was a superb porcini paste for want of a better word, which I am very much hoping we will be able to track down back at home, yummmmmo!

We were sad indeed to leave behind these lovely friends at the train station, as we headed off on the night train to Positano.  Already though, sitting on his balcony enjoying a beer and discussing all things life, Paolo and I had agreed that a Christmas in Italy ski holiday with the families was a must in the future. Suffice to say for those who know her love of skiiing Al did not need her arm twisted (!)..  so we tentatively pencilled it in for 2010.