After Venice, we spent a few days in Verona.  Unfortunately, some of our time was spent on “housekeeping” issues.  Crisis #1 was about getting the laundry done.  Our apartment had a washer but no dryer.   In the damp and rainy weather, we had a hard time getting everything to dry.  So we put our wet clothes on plastic coat hangers and hung them from the chandeliers.  An interesting decorating idea—Wish I’d taken a photo to show you.  By the way, the apartment was lovely, and in a great location in the old city.   Another Italian B&B find.  Crisis #2 was my Iphone deciding it would no longer have WIFI access.   After spending half the night on live chat with Apple tech support, then half a day in Verona with a “Certified Apple Genius” we realized the board was gone and a new device would not be compatible and I might lose all my data.   So now my smart phone is just a dumb phone.   No email checking, no aps.    Could be worse, as travel crises go.   Last night we met people who had their luggage stolen, and others who had their rental car break down in the middle of nowhere.  We’ve been pretty lucky so far.  Knock wood and keep praying for us!!

So, how was Verona?   We did all the usual things–climbed yet another bell tower–the tower Lamberti.   When I have time I’ll have to put together a slide show of all the views from the tops of bell towers on this trip.

We visited the Castelvecchio, the churches, the Scaligeri tombs, and enjoyed people-watching in the Piazza Erbe and Piazza Bra.  

We also toured the most central of Verona’s sights, the Roman Arena.  The night we arrived there was a huge crowd in the Piazza Bra waiting to enter the arena for a “Moda” concert–an Italian pop-rock boy band.   Fun to see an ancient arena being used for contemporary music.   Next day, we went inside and Ray played emperor.  I’m not sure if he was giving the thumbs down to me or to the band!o

But THE MOST visited place in Verona is “The Home of Juliet.”  People from all over the world line up to feel the connection to Juliet Capulet here in Verona.   They lock up their hearts with padlocks, leave her love notes, pack themselves into the little courtyard to gaze up at “Juliet’s balcony,” and buy all manner of tacky love trinkets.  Busloads of tourists show up for this! I’m glad that Shakespeare’s young heroine touched so many hearts, but really, don’t they know that this is a fictional character?  They even travel to the outskirts of town to visit “Juliet’s tomb!” Weird and fascinating.