Italy- Day 1

Day 1 was a long day, because it really started the day before. We got on a Lufthansa plane from Charlotte to Munich, leaving Charlotte at 5pm and arriving at Munich at 8am their time. The flight was long and cramped. It is hard to sleep sitting up, even with two glasses of wine and some melatonin. I did watch two good movies, though- The Switch and The Tourist.

Munich brought a lot of standing in line- first for passport checks and then for re-screening with security. I guess they don't trust the American airports to do it properly. Then, we were in the air again on the way to Milan. We had to ride a bus out to the tarmac and climb the stairs to the plane to get on this little flight. I believe the pilot was also a crop duster- at least he drove like one! Flying over the Swiss Alps was beautiful, though.

We met Stuart, our tour guide for the week, and Salvatore, our handsome Italian bus driver, collected our luggage (none got lost) and were on our way to Verona. Verona, in its day, was a big trade town since it is situated at the North/South pass through the Alps and on the East/West highway across Italy. Verona has a colosseum, much like Rome's, but theirs is still intact and still used for outdoor operas.

Verona is also the setting for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, although Shakespeare never visited the town. Although Juliet was a fictional character, you can visit her "house" and take pictures of her balcony. There was an actual Capulet family in Verona, and this was their house, where they attached a Roman sarcophogous to a window in the courtyard and called it a balcony.  Verona is also the first place of many that we tasted gelato. It really lives up to its reputation!

Dinner at the hotel that night was wonderful- polenta (which is like a potato cake made from grits), sausage that wasn't spicy (tasted more like hamburger), and some sort of beans. Dessert was a sweet cornbread with fruit jam on it. Tasted a lot like southern cooking to me!

Our hotel room was tiny, but clean and quaint. We had a good laugh at the kids playing with the bidet (not knowing what it was used for.) We also had a little balcony facing the sea, but with the view obstructed by the seaside hotel beside it! I also learned something about European hotels that I would love to have in my house! The key, once you opened the door, went into a slot on the door that activated the lights. You could turn lights on and off by normal switches but, when you left the room, you pulled the key out and all the lights you'd left on went out. I so want that at my house!!