LOCATION: Casa Fasoli, Verona
I have absolutely fallen in love with Verona. The first two days were really rough, and between the exhaustion and the experience in Bologna, I was fearing this wouldn't be the trip I had hoped for. Fortunately, everything was about to change.
Verona is a gorgeous, picturesque town that served as the inspiration and setting for Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. We arrived early Friday afternoon and headed to our Bed & Breakfast where we met Warren's friend, Patrick, who would join us for the next few days. The B&B is nothing like I had expected. It's an apartment with three bedrooms and the woman who runs it, Ivana Fasoli, lives upstairs. Staying with Ivana has really enabled us to soak in the local culture. She doesn't speak English, and before we got there, Patrick had to mime his way through the introduction! I've been able to converse with Ivana in Spitalian - a language all my own. I found myself engaged in a full conversation with her at her kitchen table, where she explained to me that she had accidentally overbooked my room, and that tomorrow, a couple from Vienna would arrive to stay here as well. She asked if I didn't mind staying the second night in a spare bedroom in her apartment - now that's soaking up the culture! The only thing I hated was giving up the balcony in my current room that overlooked the cobblestone street below. Warren and Patrick stayed in one room down the hall, and between us was another couple, also from Vienna.
Ivana and I talked about Saturday night's concert. She indicated that it was THE biggest thing in town and that it was very, very important. It so happens that the couple who was already there and the one that would be arriving the next day, were also going to be in town just for the show.
Warren and Patrick took off in the afternoon, while I caught up on some writing. Later in the evening, we had dinner at an outdoor cafe across from the arena. When I saw this venue, I could not believe that we'd be seeing Pearl Jam here. It was absolutely breathtaking, and with the soft lights illuminating its facade, it didn't look real - we felt as if we were on a Hollywood set.
Our meal was delicious and afterwards we headed to the bars at Plaza Erbe, which was so crowded, we could barely walk around. We got some wine and found a table, but after sitting there for a while, we thought it'd be a great idea to go to my balcony and finish our wine there.
Weather and company-wise, it was perfect. The three of us sat on my balcony, chatted and finished our wine as locals started coming out of the corner bar and vespas sped away. We sat there until we could barely keep our eyes open; Patrick had been up for more than 36 hours and we all agreed we had to get at least a few hours of sleep before the next day's sightseeing and the show.
Today, we woke up and Ivana had a full-breakfast waiting for us. It really felt as if we were staying with family. The new couple arrived and I found myself translating what Ivana was saying, telling them they would have my room and I'd move upstairs. In the afternoon, we went sightseeing and the first thing on my list was, of course, Juliet's 'house.' The guys appeased my desire to go there; had I not been with them, I really doubt they would have gone.
Truthfully, we didn't know what was the story with this house. Was this Shakespeare's inspiration? Was there a real Juliet? Who lived here?!?! What we did know was that it made a lot of money drawing tourists in! There was a statue of Juliet in the garden, where people take turns resting their hands on her right breast as they pose for pictures (I don't know why, but yeah, I did it too). We went into the house, which was huge, and walked onto the famous 'Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo' balcony. And yes, I had my picture there, too. Warren and Patrick had the best time teasing me about enjoying this so much and ooohing and awwwwing over anything having to do with true love. But secretly, I think they enjoyed it as much as I did ;)
The walkway in and out of the house's garden is full of graffiti and people's names, their loves and their stories. Awwwww.
We spent the rest of the day wandering the streets of Verona, visiting the enormous Castelo Vecchio and the museum that is housed inside. Everywhere we'd go, there'd be people walking around with Pearl Jam shirts from all over the world - it was pretty cool. After grabbing lunch, we headed over to Casa Fasoli, where I would meet Karsten from Germany, who had my ticket for tonight's show.
I didn't know where I'd be sitting tonight, and the joke all day was that I'd be way up at the top of the arena. When we met Karsten, the joke wasn't a joke anymore - it was true! Karsten had a friend who'd be sitting with him in the 6th row. I, on the other hand, had a ticket for the Gradinata non numerati, which means waaaayyyy up at the top. The guys teased and said the acoustics would sound better up there, and just when I thought Karsten would defend me, he chimed in and started making fun of me, too!! I am in dire need of some estrogen on this trip!!!! xoxo
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