When our ship docked the plan was to spend the day in Venice and then stay at Aviano AFB that evening. Our last day on the ship we checked the weather coming through the pass and it was going to be clear, however the next day there was a good chance of snow. Our choice was made, we needed to go through the Alps today and not take a chance tomorrow. We got off of the ship and schlepped our luggage to the van. We decided to alter our path home by going through Verona, Italy and then swing through Munich. The drive to Verona was uneventful, pretty, but uneventful. We reached Verona only knowing that we wanted to visit Juliet's house. We drove around Veron
a looking for a parking lot. The Europeans make parking as convenient as possible by having electronic signs posted around the city with directions to different parking garages and showing how many 'free spaces' are available. Now this is agreat idea in concept, as long as you can find the parking garage. In Verona, however, we were trying to find a 'stealth' garage, the same technology employed by the military to hide their jets...at least that is how it felt. At one point I was going the wrong way down a one way street and sitting at an intersection going the wrong way. After getting honked, waved and yelled at we finally got turned around (and us in our van, they had to know we were Americans...I'll just say it now 'Dumb Americans'). We f
ound the garage and parked our big van into an itsy-bitsy, tiny little spot. We walked to the coliseum, which is the second largest outside of Rome. As we approached there were guys dressed up in gladiator costumes wielding swords. If you know me, I never pass up an opportunity for photo, so I got my picture taken. Then the kids got their picture taken and then Sharma got her picture taken...then he wanted money. If he didn't have a sword I would have run but I ponied up a couple of Euro and off we went. We bought tickets to the coliseum, which were kind of expensive, but I am trying to take this eternal perspective about my travels here. Yeah sure, sometimes the things we see are expensive but at the end of the day do I want to look back with regrets about not seeing something because it was a few too many Euro? In most cases I end up buying the
ticket. We strolled around the coliseum on this rather cold day, walked up and down and around and around the steps. After circumnavigating the coliseum and looking over Verona we decided to depart for Juliet's house. We didn't really know where we were going, but that had never stopped us before. We meandered off in a direction that looked the most crowded. After walking several blocks without any indication that we were going in the right direction I decided to stop in a hotel and ask the concierge for directions. Now, if you have ever traveled with us and ended up getting lost (which is very likely) you would soon realize that Sharma won't ask for directions to save her life, not that she doesn't find merit in it, she just won't do it. So I have assumed the lofty title of "the asker of directions" for the Shumate household, not something that I have aspired to, I guarantee you. He was very kind and gave us directions and amazingly enough we were actually pretty close to her house. We arrived at this narrow street with cement homes and businesses all along its length. The entrance to Juliet's home was bordered by a little archway with a gate and tiny informational plaque. As you entered the first thing you noticed was the writing, scribbling and graffiti...not from people trying to deface the property, but from people writing to Juliet or professing their love to another. There was no exposed brick, that I could see. Once through the entrance you came to the courtyard, a very humble space with a small store selling souvenirs. There was a statue of Juliet at one end and high up on the wall of the building, a balcony. The tradition says that you are supposed to touch the statue's breast for good luck... the next th
ing I know Sharma is up there "touching" Juliet...so I got a picture to prove it. Man, I hope we get some good luck off of that. We bought a few souvenirs and took several pictures and then decided it was time to move on. On our way back to the car we hit a small Christmas market and took some more pictures. We climbed back in the car and proceeded on. We had a non-eventful drive, passing through Innsbruck, Austria on our way to Munich. We decided to stop in Munich and hit their Christmas market as well. Again, we really did not know where we were going to find this market, and Munich is no small town. We did happen upon the market, however, as luck would have it. Again, we had some difficulty finding the parking garage, but the real trouble came once I found the garage. This must have won the award for the smallest, narrowest and most claustrophobic garage yet. The worst came when I was trying to maneuver our van around a tight corner with cars parked on both sides. I didn't hit any cars, but I did scrape a pole, which left a nice dent in the side of our van. Normally I would be upset over this, but our van is pretty old and it's not a looker any m
ore so I figure a dent here or there just adds character...I mean who else can say "Oh that dent? I got that while driving in Munich, Germany." How cool is that? We found our way to the Christmas market and the festivities were in full swing. There was a lot of alcohol there and, as a non-drinker, I can give an unbiased assessment that the Europeans don't drink to excess. There were crowds of people and many booths selling their wares. There was a lot of food for sale and musicians playing music. The atmosphere was very festive and you couldn't help but feel excited for Christmas. We ended up buying an authentic German nutcracker...now if we only had some nuts. Since it was a very cold night and we were getting tired, we decided it was time to get on the road. All in all, it was a very nice day...but we were happy to crawl into our own beds that evening.
Info:
Transportation to city: Drove car, parked in city parking structure
Sites: Juliet's house-free for courtyard; Colosseum- 4 Euro/person
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