On the road again - Milan and Verona

Milan

After a night of tremendous thunder and lightning we left Lake Maggiore to head down to Venice.

Click here to listen to the thunder.

(Note: be careful if listening with headphones, it starts soft but becomes very LOUD!)

Our first stop was Milan. After working our way though the traffic we were dropped off near the city square to look at an old church – Il Duomo, the world’s largest Gothic cathedral taking almost five centuries to build!. We had a quick look inside – open confession boxes and walked around the back to catch the view from the cathedral roof but the line for the lift was too long.

We then had some free time so we walked down past all the ritzy shops (Milan is supposed to be the fashion capital)

This could be a good tshirt for the TMG group?

to the famous La Scala Opera Theatre but didn’t go in because the lights were not on inside – that was a shame as it is supposed to look quite elegant (lots of gold)

so we had a coffee at the rather elegant McCafe and strolled back to the meeting point.

A splash of cool green!

These cows just kept popping up!

Verona

Next stop Verona to see Juliet’s balcony. Not sure if there ever was a real Juliet but we read this house is actually a restored 13th century inn which has been renovated in recent years to cash in on the tragic story of the two lovers from rival families written by Shakespeare. As you enter from the narrow street into the small courtyard, you pass by a passageway that is littered with graffiti and love messages written on scraps of paper stuck to the walls with chewing gum. We still went inside and saw costumes and furniture from the film sets. You could even email Juliet a love letter from the computer station in the corner!

The horrible graffiti

Another view of the balcony from above

A view of the roofs from the house

My "Juliet"

Rex with the statue of Juliet

We then raced up to the Amphitheatre (used as a forum by the Romans so it was quite ancient AD 290 – only four arches on the outer wall left) but that was a bit disappointing as there were all new seats set up inside and they were setting up for the Summer Opera season.

We grabbed a quick bite to eat and then met Mumma back at the bus.

For a quick bite, we are developing a liking for the Italian paninis. Bread with mozzarella cheese, prosciutto ham and sometimes tomato and lettuce then they toast them quite nice! The weather was quite warm so we were glad to get back on the bus.

The pretty river through Verona

Found a car for you Angela!