So we made our way to an address that we got from the Lonely Planet book. They didn't have what we wanted. We left there and decided to check out the youth hostel that we saw on the map. The woman was very nice there and she helped us a lot. They didn't have rooms there for the next couple of nights though. She gave us ideas on hiking and told us to go back to the information place because they would have hiking maps, which they did.
After we grabbed them we made a beeline to the train station so we could catch the train to Bolzano. We did all of that in less than an hour.
We pretty much did the samething when we got to Bolzano; found the tourist information; asked about hiking. They didn't have any maps and they told me of a bookstore that had English books. Laurie and I checked it out. We found a book about hikes in Northern Italy, but we weren't sure if we wanted to come back to Bolzano to hike. The lodging would be expensive. So we didn't buy any book and left for the train station.
The train was very crowded. We sat with an older woman and a young man. They were together, but I couldn't tell what their relationship was. The woman seemed American and the young man seemed like he had an accent. We eventually started talking. The woman just retired as a special education teacher and she was from Long Island. The man was from Verona. He had gone to school in Long Island to get his PhD. He is a physicist. They had become friends while he was there.
The man had lived in Verona all his life so I asked him to recommend a cheap place to eat. He gave us a name of a place which was near the hostel. He asked me to try a dinner. He said that the meat was donkey meat.
We caught the bus, found the restuarant and had homemade pasta with donkey meat. It wasn't bad, but I didn't like it enough that I would order it again.
By the time Laurie and I left the restuarant it was dark. I really wasn't comfortable walking these small dark lanes. The lanes are narrow and I am afraid I will get hit by some car or motorcycle.
Once we got out to the main road, it wasn't bad. The area looked very pretty all lit up. There were some old, large buildings in the distance with lights on them. I think we will walk over there tomorrow. Then we saw an old stone fort. It was hard to see at night though. We plan on spending the day walking around Verona tomorrow. It is a lot bigger than I expected it to be. Juliette from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliette lived here. I never knew she was a real person. I am not sure about Romeo. I will have to find that out.
September 17, 2003
Today Laurie and I spent the day walking around Verona. We walked in the Arena, which the beginning of the construction started in the first century. There are parts that are crumbling and parts have been restored, but much of the Arena is still solid after 1900 plus years. We sat on the rock block seats and I thought of the movie "Spartacus". I could picture the gladiators coming out. Today they don't have gladiators, but they still use the Arena for operas. While we were there, there were stagemen setting up lights and staging for a jazz festival. It did take away from the features of the building, but it is great that they still use this place. It would have been neat to have been there for a performance at night with the lights all around. We ran into Anna, our dorm mate from Verona.
One thing I can say about a lot of the European countries, they seem to keep the old buildings, restore them and put them to good use. At home we seem to build, tear down and put something new up. Then again, buildings were probably better made way back then.
We checked out some other old buildings and also a cathedral. The paintings and small chapels with all the marble were beautiful. The main alter was incredible.
We walked back to the hostel, we couldn't go to the room until 5:00, so I sat outside the terrace to write.
Laurie and I decided to have the dinner that they serve here. I am tired of pizza and bread. For breakfast they serve rolls and mortdella. I love bread, but I think I have had enough. Hopefully the dinner will be good.
Tomorrow we are taking the train to Bolzano. I found an apartment that we can have for 44 euros a night. Sounds too cheap to be true. The apartment is actually in San Genesio. We have to take a cable car to get there and then walk to the apartment. It has a kitchen so we can cook. We have it for three days. It will be a nice treat like we had in Chamonix. The other good thing is that we can hike from right out our door. It will be nice. Hopefully the weather will hold out. We have had terrific weather. It is hotter in Italy than it was in Switzerland.
September 18, 2003
Laurie and I were up and out of the hostel by 6:50. We missed the breakfast of rolls, but that was OK. We needed to catch the bus at 7:17. What I realized was we didn't have bus tickets. I was worried that nothing would be open to get tickets. The man at the hostel told me of a place that might be open. Luckily it was and we got to the bus stop in plenty of time. Took the bus to the train station in time to make the 7:45 train to Bolzano.
We arrived in Bolzano at 9:30. We needed to find a grocery store to buy groceries to take up to San Genesio. I didn't know what we would find up in San Genesio for stores. We found a Spar. Spars are a chain of foodstores. We have seen them everyplace since Scotland. We loaded our packs with food, or should I say overloaded our packs. Mine is so heavy. Heavier than I have every carried. I can feel the weight in my knees, especially up and down steps.
We found out where to catch the bus to the cablecar. We had to wait for about 20 minutes for the bus. We were dropped off in front of the cablecar and waited there for about 15 minutes. The people in this part of Italy speak mainly German, but also know Italian. They don't know much English. The man at the cablecar explained things with pictures and hands. We understood fine. He was very sweet.
The cable car ride was beautiful. It was up in the hills. We could see all the grapevines filled with grapes. There also seems to be a lot of apple orchards in Italy. The area looked beautiful and I felt like we made
