June 6 - Verona: Home of Romeo and Juliette

Today started out with the three of us hitting the Duomo. It was surprisingly fun. I mean, I'm not always the one who loves to check out the cathedral for hours. Architecture and stained glass windows only do so much for me. But we went in and got out little walking tours and got to go around and see all this amazing stuff and hear about how so-and-so requested in and such-and-such decided that it would look better here and that some Pope said the adding some gold would make it even better. Didn't listen so much to the info about the stained glass - I had like no knowledge about the people whose stories they were depicting so I didn't pay too much attention. It was really cool that it is said that on this cross high up over one of the central windows, there was a nail from Jesus' crucifixition. Don't know how much I believe that, but it was an interesting story. And even higher than that cross there was a beam of metal that held up another cross this time with the crucified Jesus on it. I took some video of the whole thing so wait for that to come. But even more gruesome than that was the statue of Batholemew, one of Jesus' twelve deciples. It shows him standing with what looks like cloth draped around him, but what is actually his skin - which had been removed during his torture because of his belief in Christ. There was some incredibly detail to both the muscles and bones of Bartholemew and the when you walked around it you could see how the fabric/skin had fingers, toes, and even his face - complete with beard.

After touring the main floor of the Duomo we went up onto the top, by way of an elevator (or lift) instead of the 165 steps. Definitely the better way to go. It was ridiculous to see all the statues (over 1800) and spires up close. It's mind boggling to think of the kind of work that went into creating it. Also when you get to the top you get a better look at the gilded statues of Madonna that adornes the top of the cathedral. Apparently the patron saint of Milan, I think it's really interesting that a woman is the symbold of the city and it's most well known cathedral.

Finally though it was time to leave Milan and we headed out to Verona. A small city outside Venice, it is a couple ours from Milan by train. Luckily the hostel owner was able to give us directions on how to get to Central Station and from there enough people to help us get a ticket. No biggie. The train ride was nice, though they didn't announce the stops and each time we did stop there wasn't really a clearly viewable label of the station so Lian and I went through some stressful moments trying to figure out each time if this was where we were supposed to get off. Eventually though it all worked out and we arrived in Verona in one piece. Minus Laura's journal which got left on the train as we rushed to make sure that we got off it before it left.

Finding a hotel in Verona was the next big step. As we were leaving the train we saw/heard these three young girls speaking in English and after chatting with them found out that there hotel was close by and in that area there were a couple other places we could try. After visiting a few of them we decided on the Hotel Sienna, which was the cheapest option, but was still expensive. We left our stuff and went out the explore some of the town before it got really dark. We walked to the Piazza (ADD NAME) and saw some really beautiful buildings, but since it was dark we quickly decided to move on to dinner and leave the sightseeing until tomorrow.

The little Italian place where we had dinner was the next surprise. We go there because it's the cheapest option and has some really fantasic pictures of Spaghetti Pomodoro. We seat down and all is cool, the waiter has even been nice enough to say that Lian can get tap water. But 10 secs later he comes back to say his boss has ex-nayed this and we have to order a glass or get nothing. So we say nothing and wait for our food....but this is not the end! He comes back to tell us that we have to order a drink! Ordering just food is not an option in this establishment, and to eat you have to drink. Damn. It seems that some things really are too good to be true. Eventually we give in and order a bottle of water and three glasses. All is well. Until we get our food. Surprise #2! Our pasta is served to us in like the smallest bowl imaginable! It was good, but shit, nobody was ordering from the kid's menu and we weren't expecting those portions. Long story short, we used the money we saved on dinner to buy some really good gellato (I had melon) and spent the rest of the evening admiring the scenery in the piazza and listening to some great jazz. Sounds nice huh?