Italy: Verona

I never really had a desire to go to Verona but, once we got there, I fell in LOVE with it! After the hustle & bustle of Venice, it was nice to get to Verona where the mood was much more relaxed and easy going. Plus, it's just beautiful. Verona is famously dubbed as the "Romeo & Juliet" city of Italy. When Shakespeare wrote 'Romeo & Juliet' he placed their hometown as Verona. It's very fitting because Verona has a very romantic feel to it. Kason was pretty cute though, he got pretty caught up in the 'Romeo and Juliet' history of Verona. My little romantic ... 

As we got off the train and started walking towards the Bed & Breakfast, we passed an older married couple that had missionary tags. I had Brad chase them down so we could ask them if we were heading in the right direction. We stood and talked to them for a bit. I can't remember their last name but, they were from Montana? Or Wyoming? They were serving there in Verona in the archives, preparing names for indexing! (Mormon terminology overload there!) Their story is adorable, she is an Italian native and he was stationed with the military in Italy so that is where they met years ago. He was baptized in Verona, they met in Italy and got married in Verona, now, they're serving their mission there! How awesome is that?? In todays day and age, I love hearing of successful, happy marriages. And, I love getting to go to another country and randomly running into somebody else who shares the same beliefs as me. Makes me so grateful to be a member of the Church and have that connection with people, anywhere in the world! 

So - after we found our little Bed & Breakfast and got checked in, we headed out to find a restaurant that the couple had suggested. 

Verona = Beautiful. 

Can I just go back and stay? Forever? 

I loved it. 

Brad & Kason did, too. Promise. 

They had a cool arena there and they still use it for concerts & shows today! 

Not sure what these were for, but they were pretty awesome!

I don't think we ever found the restaurant that was suggested to us, but we did find dinner. Then we sat in the city center and enjoyed the night. If I could do this every night for the rest of my life, I would be so content. It would never get old! 

After dinner we wandered through the shopping district. Verona is posh! We're talking Louis Vuitton, Gucci & Versace ... definitely window shopping for me. But, still so fun. We found a gelato stand that was open and just meandered. This piazza was beautiful. 

Saturday morning we headed out into Verona towards the arena ... 

But first, since I didn't get to see many tulips in Amsterdam, I was pretty happy to see some in sunny old Italy. 

Most of the arena was covered by a stage. They were prepping for some sort of performance ... I'm guessing those big giant knights had something to do with that! 

How cute is this old man painting the piazza!? I loved it ... 

Next we headed to the Juliet House. This was Kason's favorite part of the trip. People can still leave notes for Juliet (or an email), like in 'Letters to Juliet'. 

The famous balcony: 

Apparently if you touch her left um ... chest area, you will be blessed with good luck in love. Well, naturally we had to take advantage! Kason didn't dare because, "Mom, we don't touch privates!" (Applause my young pad wan! So proud of that kid.) 

(This picture seriously cracks me up every time I see it! HA!) 

Kason and I went into the museum, they had a bunch of old style dresses and Juliet's bedroom. And you could send an email to Juliet so, Kason sent one. It said, 

"Dear Juliet, 

How did the other families boy get in love with you?

From: Kason"

So cute. Seriously!

Dreaming of my Prince Charming ... 

Stole a kiss! 

(He did this all on his own accord with no coaxing from me at all! Promise, promise. He's a stud.)

I'm not sure what these next few pictures are, let's be honest but, just a little Verona scenery for ya! 

I loved this gate! So much detail ... 

I am a sucker for any city that has a river running through it, maybe that's why I loved Verona so much? We climbed to the top of that hill so we could get a view of the whole city - well worth the journey. In the gardens up there, we ran into some people who saw Kason's BYU shirt and came to ask us if we were from Utah. (They lived in Salt Lake) Small world ... and made me Utah-sick.

Kason told me, "When you take the picture, I am going to pretend that I am falling off the mountain, k?" 

Um .... okay. I guess that partially explains his face? 

In the gardens of the castle, Kason picked some weeds ... er ... flowers for me. Verona really brought out the romantic side of that little guy! 

(Okay, just kidding, he's always this sweet ...) 

This is the Scaligero Bridge. It was originally built back during the 1st Century and was rebuilt, using original materials, after it was destroyed during WWII. When we were there, it had a farmers market of sorts going on. Probably took some of the beauty away from it. 

Then we headed back to grab our stuff and catch the train home. 

But first, we had to get another dose of gelato. 

(How can you not love this kid? So. Dang. Awesome.)

(Side Story: We found those sunglasses for 5 euro from a street vender. Kason had been begging us for sunglasses and we finally found some for a price we were willing to pay. I loved them. He loved them. Then, this past Sunday, we went for a family walk around our little town and somewhere along our walk, he lost them. :( I'm not sure who was more sad, him or me? We back tracked but didn't ever find them. I was just so bummed because they were from ITALY! {probably made in China...but still!} So, that's our sob story ... I'll get over it. Someday! Kason, he's already over it. Ha!)

I loved Verona. I loved Venice, too, but in a different way. Verona was just so ... beautiful and romantic and relaxing!  

Italy: Venice

So, we got home from Holland Monday night around 7:00. Kason had Spring Break that week so Tuesday ended up being a vacation-recovery day (basically, sleep and laundry. That's it) Then Wednesday we finished laundry and packed again. Unlucky for us, our dryer broke Wednesday so, we were lucky to have clean clothes to pack. Still unlucky for us (a week later, I STILL don't have a working dryer...) Anyway: Wednesday we packed again and got ready to leave for Italy on Thursday morning. It was crazy. 

We took the train to Italy as well. The DeutschBahn has had some killer deals lately! And Brad loves the luxury of sleeping while we travel. Check this out, we were lucky enough to find a compartment that wasn't reserved so we snatched it up and the chairs, lay out to make a bed so, naturally, we all had to try it. I felt like we were having a slumber party! 

The views through Austria were gorgeous. Most of the mountains still had lots of snow on them and thats when we decided we probably should snowboard the Alps while we're living in Europe. But, that's another tale for another time. These mountains kinda sorta made us homesick for Utah. Then we remembered we were going to Italy and all was well. 

We originally got into Verona and then had to take a train to Venice. We were trying to be frugal and bought the inter-city train. Well, 2 1/2 hours later, we're finally pulling into the Venice station. On the way BACK to Verona, we bought the fast train and got there in an hour. Definitely worth the extra 25 Euro. 

Our hotel in Venice was awesome. It was a couple doors down from the train station. Plus, our room was two-stories! We thought it was pretty neato. 

The only reason I love this picture is because of Kason. What is he doing!?! He cracks me up.

That night our room was really warm so we left the windows open. Friday morning, I woke up with about 17 mosquito bites - on ONE arm. Didn't even consider the possibility of being eaten alive by blood suckers. I looked like I had leprosy. Fact.

As soon as we got checked into the hotel we went out to explore Venice at night. It's a pretty awesome city. And if you get lost, you can have the ghetto areas, all to yourself. In the Rick Steve's book he says "The best thing to do in Venice, is get lost." And we definitely got lost alright. But, thankfully, it's an island and we couldn't get too terribly lost. It was actually really fun to just stroll around and enjoying the city lights. Venice is only water. All their transportation is done by boats and bridges. You can only drive your car to the very shore of Venice and then you have to rely on the water boats. Pretty awesome. 

We got some authentic Italian Pizza:

And of course gelato!

Brad asked, "How many times are you going to take a picture of the Grand Canal!?" 

Umm ... it's so so pretty! And just screams, "VENICE!" So, I had to take 4 or 5 (or 15). Such an awesome view. 

While we were walking along the canal, a little boy accidentally kicked his soccer ball into the canal. It was pretty funny. Thankfully a gondola driver came and saved the day. 

Somewhere along our stroll we ended up next to the prison. I wasn't too keen on that idea but, I think we circled it a couple times before we finally figured out which direction we needed to go. We somehow, thought it was a great idea to explore Venice at night without a map. Whoops. Not a good idea. 

Look, a couple more Grand Canal shots ... 

Friday morning when we went out, it was probably in the 50's, which to US, was super warm since Germany had been in the 30-40's. We were out in capri's/shorts and short sleeved shirts while all the locals were bundled as if they were expecting a blizzard. We're talking down jackets, scarves, beanies, gloves ... all for the beautiful 50 degree weather. It was pretty hilarious watching people stare at us ... I am pretty sure they were thinking we were a bunch of crazies! It cooled off a bit before it warmed up again but, the day ended up being in the 60s WITH sunshine. Beautiful! 

Ignore the wardrobe (scarf) malfunction ... ha! 

We hopped on a vaporetto (water taxi) to head to St. Mark's. Kason had been talking about riding one for weeks beforehand, so he was pretty excited. 

While we were going, we passed the loading dock for all the boats. It was pretty cool to see their delivery system there! 

If you ever go to Venice, buy your entrance to the Basilica in advance! You can do it online and I think for our family it was 3 Euro. Definitely worth it to skip the line that probably would have wasted an hour. (Normally it's free to go in) We couldn't take pictures inside but, these domes were outside of the actual church and they looked exactly like the mosaic domes inside the church. The gold was beautiful! 

The pigeons are everywhere there! And they're fearless. Lots of people had them crawling on them, sitting on their arms or their heads. Brad and Kason tried to lure them in with snacks but, apparently our goodies weren't good enough for them. 

The clock tower for the Basilica: 

Gondolas are naturally everywhere. If I weren't such a cheapskate, we maybe would have ridden one. But, I just couldn't swallow the 80+ Euro price tag. The Vaporetto was just fine. 

This is the Bridge of Sighs. On the right is the old prison and back in the day criminals who had been convicted would walk across the bridge, on their way to prison, and get one last look of Venice before being stuck in a jail cell. Therefore, it's name the Bridge of Sighs. 

The masks: 

I loved the masks. I didn't think I would. But, they were beautiful. In the 1700's when Venice was a party town of Europe, masks were very popular to preserve the identity of the nobles that wanted to go out and party, but didn't want to be seen doing it. So, they would wear masks! To this day, the city is known for their mask making. Some were very plain and others were so extravagant! It was fun to look at all the different designs and imagine what type of people would wear them, peasants, dukes, servants, etc. We wandered, trying to find a mask that both Brad and I loved but, we never did find one that we absolutely loved. Finally, we just settled. And now I have mask buying remorse. There are definitely prettier masks than the one we ended up with. Guess that just means we will have to go back to Venice someday...

Here are a few masks that I thought were so beautiful! 

They're so mysterious and glamorous! I just love them!!!

We, of course, had to try some on!

Kason loved the ones with the long noses, he ended up getting this white one: 

While we were walking around, searching for a mask, we passed this couple all dressed up in the 1700's attire. We realized, after we took the picture, that they were just tourists who had rented the clothes. Thank you, random tourists, for letting us get a picture with you guys! 

The Rialto Bridge is one of 4 bridges that cross the Grand Canal. The Rialto Bridge is the first of those that was built! Through the middle of the bridge or souvenir traps ... er, I mean shops. And of course, there are so beautiful views of the Grand Canal!

Such a goof! 

He's got the Filipino squat going on, while watching the boats.

Kason loves to help take pictures and he took this one, which I thought turned out pretty neat! 

Traveling with him is so much fun ... 

Oh! And there's the world famous, Rialto Bridge

The rest of the pictures are just random photos around Venice that we took as we were wandering. Venice had always been a dream vacation of mine so, getting to go was amazing. It's very touristy but, it's also very beautiful. Italians are amazing people, so friendly and easy going. I could listen to them speak Italian all day long. It's a beautiful language.

Beautiful language, beautiful people, beautiful sights and ever so delicious food ... 

(I actually think this is the Grand Canal, again) I just love it, so much! 

After we finished up with Venice, we headed to the train station so we could catch a train to Verona. And wouldn't you know it? They were on strike! Not sure why the transportation system in Italy seems to always been on strike while I'm visiting but, thankfully, the strike didn't affect us this time since we were taking the Regional train. So, we hopped on the train and headed towards Verona, Italy!