My 'ITALIAN JOB'-2 :VERONA

MY 'ITALIAN JOB'-2 :VERONA

On reaching Verona we were put up in Hotel Italia Verona, a really beautiful hotel. On the advice of Mrs. Dorothy I purchased a 'Verona Card' for 15 Euros to see 14 most important attractions of Verona on a guided tour.It is always better to have a proffessional guide with you in Italian cities for correct information and for safeguarding you and your valuables, especially in Verona which is  'famous' for its cheats and touts.

Citygate, Verona

  During this hectic tour I visited the still functioning Roman Amphitheatre which is almost 2000 years old!

                                       ancient Roman amphitheatre (Teatro Romano Dal Museo), Verona
 I also visited the well-maintained ancient monuments like the Verona Cathedral(Duomo), Castell San Pietro across the Peter Bridge, the Loggia del Consiglio, Piazza dei Signori (where Poet Dante's statue is located) and other such places. I won't tax your patience by their description since you can get all such information on 'wikipedia'. However, I am posting here some photos taken by me:

                                          the ancient Arena, Verona.

                                            Verona cathedral (Duomo) 1

                                                  The Duomo, Verona

                                               palazo Maffei, Verona

                                            Piazza Del Signori, with Dante's statue in the foreground.

                                           city-arch while going towards Juliet's house.
 I would like  to hold myself back from posting other  photos here.
  Though all these places took me to a different era, I was much more interested in visiting Romeo and Juliet's houses. Romeo's house is at 4,via Archo Scaligere. The lane is very narrow and gloomy (fit for a tragidy play!), and there wasn't much rush there, so I went  to Juliet's house which was a couple of streets away, just off Piazza del Erbe.
all the while some lines from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet were ringing in my mind, like, when Romeo stealthily comes to visit Juliet and stands below her window and when she comes to that window he exclaims to himself:
            "But, soft,what light through yonder window breaks?
             It is the east, and Juliet is the sun....."
 And then the famous lines of Juliet:
             "O, Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?..."
 But my romantic mood was shattered when I saw this vulgar billboard of vodafone directly on the compound wall of Juliet's house! Oh, what blatant commercialisation!:

 But I didn't know that further shocks awaited me. The whole area smacked of cheap and vulgar  commercialisation. the mere entry to Juliet's house costs you 4Euros! And the socalled 'balcony' to Juliet's window isn't original at all!
The place was crowded with teenagers who were making a vulgar exibition of their  'love' with lewd gestures. Some boys weren't sparing even poor Juliet's statue. They were embracing and kissing it and getting photographed themselves while making lewd moves to that statue. Oh, it was so nauseating! Then, many of them were busy writing 'love-messages' on the walls, even by climbing on each other's shoulders!:

                                           'Love- graffiti ' on Juliet's wall

                                                                                     Balcony of Juliet's room-window

Juliet's Statue.

I just wanted to have  a glimpse of the interior of Juliet's room but was unable to move forward even an inch. then there was this Italian teenager girl who was constantly stalking me.Since I couldn't follow her Italian chatter I just smiled at her but God knows what meaning she drew from my smile, she just grabbed me by hand and dragged me up the stairs to Juliet's room. And just when we entered that room, all of a sudden she pinned me in a corner  and kissed me so hard on my lips, almost biting them! I was so shocked by this sudden and unexpected assault that I couldn't even breathe for a minute! When I ultimately gathered some courage and shoved her away there was a huge laughter all around. I practically ran away from that place to save myself from getting further violated. It was only when I reached my hotel room that I could breathe freely. This incidence spoile my beautiful day and left a very bad taste (literally) in my mouth.
 So,  with  a great apprehention that I went out in the evening with my colleagues. On our hotel manager's recommendation we went to a bar named 'Rain'. This bar is located in the heart of Verona. It really provided a great amosphere to enjoy a glass of most delicious wine, nibble some tasty Italian food and listen to great music.

                                        'Modern' Verona: a shop-window
        A hint of caution, though. Veronese are keen eaters of Horse-meat(Cavallo).They can eat any part of the horse!
             I am almost a vegetarian and live mostly on fruits, juices, eggs, bread and cheese. So I survived mostly on Italian 'Pizzocheri (buckwheat pasta with cheese) and 'Bigoli'(a thick spaghetti) during this whole tour.
       The next morning we left for Venice.
I will tell you about my Venice-trip in my next post.
........PORTIA