Milano, Verona & Venice

A friend of Kim’s Mum lives with her family in Milano, so we went to stay with her for 2 nights, attempting to fit in Milano, Verona and Venice in such a short time. After a few tears from me, and many many from Kim and Nellie, we took the push bikes and had a personal tour around Milano. On the way we passed 2 fashion shoots (plus the one which was happening right outside the train station when we hopped off the train!), the street where Gucci was assassinated (which was organised by his wife none the less!) and past the Duomo di Milano (cathedral). 

 

For dinner, Nellie cooked up an incredible meal, starting with the traditional melon and prosciutto and moving onto the best rice salad of all time! I even started my own recipe book, thanks Nellie! 

The next day we woke before sunrise to catch an early bird train to Verona and Venice. Stopping at Verona for only 1.5 hours, we were stretched to visit Italy`s thrid largest amphitheatre, the Arena (which is still used even though it was completed around 30 AD) and Juliet`s window, which I was most excited to see. The Arena was incredible, obviously it has had continuous maintenance over the years, but to be inside an ampitheatre which is so old and has so much history was humbling. Walking under the arch to Juliet`s window, the walls were covered with scribbles of poems and love letters, written by visitors for their speacial person. For anyone who has seen the movie `Letters to Juliet` the brick wall under the balcony is exactly the same as in the movie! Two ladies were working full time to scrape off the peoms and other script covering the walls. If I had my time in Verona again, I would definatly stay a few days, not only for the romance of the city, but the city itself was beautiful and peaceful.

 

Venice was exactly how I pictured it, canals, boats and people EVERYWHERE! The best way to see the city is to throw the map in the bin and get lost, seriously lost. There is no other way to see this unbelievable place. All I could think of when we were walking around Venice was of The Italian Job, when they use the boats in the canals to make their robbery! There are thousands of different masks made and sold in Venice, mask shops are everywhere! Casanova has his own style of mask to protect his identity, but you can literally get any kind you like, with or without feather, animal masks, gold plated masks...everything! The canals were absolutly filled with tourists doing the totally overpiced and typically touristy thing of riding in a gondala, Kim was devestated after months of believeing we would receive a free ride with our Eurorail tickets, but we had no such luck finding the elusive stall. Don`t fall into the same trap people, it doesn`t exist!