Verona

Our train trip to Verona was quick and easy thanks to sitting first class. The town/city of Verona is really wonderful and less crowded than anywhere we'd been so far so we immediately loved it. Our hotel - Hotel Bologna - was right next to Arena de Verona and we could literally take about 50 steps and be in the square.
The first amazing thing to take in was the Arena de Verona which was a Roman building and still houses operas all summer long and throughout the year. When we started walking around it we noticed these huge Egyptian pieces roped off outside of the building. As we got closer we realized it was actually the set pieces of the opera Aida which was playing the day after we left. They were using cranes to move the set in. What's really cool is that they pretty much alternate operas every day or every other day, so they have to move entire sets in and out like this very fast. Here's a shot:
We spent the afternoon roaming around the city and doing a little shopping and touring Castleveccio. Here is a view from the top of the castle of the city. Beautiful, huh??

Of course I had to go to Juliet's house and see the balcony and statue which was great!
Since we were in Verona for only one day we wanted to see and do as much as possible. We really toyed with the idea of coming back on the 8th of July to see the Aida but we would've had to eat the cost of our 2nd night hotel in Como, plus train cost, plus ticket costs, plus a new hotel. So sadly enough we opted out. Here's something else that's cool - since the theatre is totally open they don't begin the operas til 9:15 p.m. because it's too hot for the singers to have to sing and dress up! So we wouldn't have gotten out of the opera til almost 1 a.m. anyway. Crazy!

We loved Verona and would've liked to have spent more time there. Here's a shot of me and a couple of these great mimers/actors in Verona who dress up or act crazy for a little cash.