Verona

We rented an apartment on the banks of the Adige River, just across the Ponte Pietra from the old town.

The place was nice, with some odd quirks.

The first was, no shower curtains. That doesn't sound like much, but sitting down (in a tub) and showering is inconvenient.

The second was that right next door (literally. next door) was an ancient Roman theater. And it was being used for avant garde performances. We heard digital didgeridoos until late into the night. This was interspersed with actors yelling and yelling at each other.

Luckily they stopped at midnight. And luckily, we were on a late night schedule!

But it was a very cool place:

Verona also has an old Roman coliseum. It has been converted to be used for performances as well.

We went to see Aida:

It was cool seeing it in this setting:

They run four operas concurrently, and stage the sets every night from the adjoining piazza.

They use cranes:

 Crazy!

Most of the buildings in and around Verona are made of marble. Red, pink, and white. Even the streets are made of marble.

It is a fantastic sight even though I don't think it is a great building material. (Too soft, degrades with time, etc)

But you get to see some great things like ammonites in the walls:

And the churches are great, too.

This is a plaque commemorating the list of relics that St Helen (mother of Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome) brought back from Jerusalem. The list included the True Cross (the whole thing!) and the Head of John the Baptist. Lots of other heads, too.

Every family had their own crest. This is a hedgehog on a rampart. or as Doreen liked to call him, the rampant hedgehog! Nice crest.

 La Scala family has a ladder, of course:

a couple of the old Roman gates are preserved as well. This one from the back:

and the front:

 More churches

 Folks in Verona don't have quite the style as those in Milan, but not too far off:

This is inside some government building that used to be a Palazzo

And another Roman gate:

St Zeno's. This was my favorite church in Verona. Really, a basilica, but who's keeping track?

 They are crazy about lions at the base of pillars in this part of Italy.

and big metal doors

 Here is a Last Supper fresco with crayfish:

In the description, it calls them "scorpions" because Judas was at the table and was going to betray Jesus. But you can see they are clearly not scorpions:

This is a door with a demon being driven out of a woman:

St Zeno Himself.

 This is called the "Laughing Saint". I am not kidding.

And here he is, in person

 Most of the big churches here also have very nice (though poorly landscaped) cloisters.

Here is the one from St Zeno's

 and a Dog Headed Knight:

We ate at a small place (The Pilot's Cafe, I believe) right in front of St Zenos. Here is their placemat. You can see an image of St Zeno's Basilica, and a dog.  The dog's name is Daisy.

 and Daisy was there, too

 I love the floors in so many of these churches.

Here is Doreen, contemplating Dante in Dante's square. He didn't die here, but he made his last significant presentation here. I don't think he used powerpoint.

We discovered Aperol Spritz here. What took us so long! This is now the trip of the Spritz! I generally take a Campari, Doreen sticks with the Aperol. I know Sister in Law Laurie is fond of Campari, but I don't think I realized how delicious it can be on a hot day!

 We bough a little Moka Pot here at the Bialetti store.
and had it engraved!

While we have had great food overall in Italy, it seems that we have had spectacular food here in Verona. I generally don't take pictures of my food so much anymore, but you need to see this. It is from a place called Locanda 4 Cuoci (which we were told means "A place for cooks to hang out"). That is a soft boiled quail egg INSIDE of a ravioli!!!

It was just as delicious as it looks.

We've kept track of restaurants, I may write up something about them, too.

Next up: The Dolomites!