On our second day in Verona Kellin, Lara, Sarah, and I did a lot of touristy sight-seeing while our new friend Luca was working. For the mob? Maybe. We're just not sure. Since I neglected to write much down from this trip I can't be sure that these things all happened on the second day. I'm just guessing. I'm just following the order from my camera.
By the way, I must apologize to my three readers for the tardiness of my postings. I only had Internet access one day this week. Unless you count quickly checking emails at work, which I don't.
On with the show.
These are my roommates. They dance like this pretty much all the time. Especially when they see festively designed high-performance vehicles such as this one. There is no music. They just start rocking.
San Fermo Maggiore. I know that I might have said this before, but these churches are so beautiful and my pictures really don't do them justice. There are so many amazing frescoes, sculptures, and other works of art that my two or three pictures per church are inadequate. But too bad. That's all you're getting.
The church was built in the 11th century and has a really interesting and warped ribbed vault wooden ceiling.
This crooked picture is an example of what we are constantly on the lookout for. This shhh-ing silent gesture in Renaissance and earlier art is what Sarah is researching for her symposium. All eight of the grad students are researching different gestures. It's pretty much all they talk about.
The Basilica di Santa Anastasia. It was begun in 1290. This church had a large portion under construction and covered by canvas. It happens a lot over here.
This little guy is upset that his view of a beautiful church has been obstructed by the tarp.
We ate lunch at a neet little restaurant that was in or around the building where Romeo's family supposedly lived or worked. I didn't get the whole story. Again, like Juliette's balcony, it's a little ridiculous since they were fictional characters. This doesn't seem to bother the tourists. Capulet and Montague don't even sound Italian. Come on Shakespeare!
Unfortunately the stranger who took the picture did not take it upon himself to zoom in and only part of Lara's head is visible. Oh well. At least he gave the camera back.
The first course menu (seen above) included Bigoli (fresh noodles) with donkey meat. The second course menu (seen only in my private archives) included Braised horsemeat with polenta, Horse tartar with capers and mustard, Horsemeat frays with parmesan and rocket (not sure what rocket is), and Horsemeat steak. I figured, why not? So I tried the donkey. It was pretty tasty. I did not feel like trying the horse goods. One member of Family Equidae was enough for one day. I opted for the Roast veal with mushrooms. Everything was delicious. The bathroom was disgusting. It was the only "hole in the floor toilet situation" I have seen on my return trip to Europe. So far. That last one I saw was in the Vatican museum. I do not wish to talk about it. It still ranks as my #1 All-Time Most Uncomfortable Bathroom Experience.
Sarah and Kellin enjoy their wine while watching the tourists gaze in wonder at the side of a building. "Ooh! A ficticious character might have lived there!" There tourists and entire tour groups continuously marched by.
The girls try to look interesting. They're probably talking about gestures.
This just in...Apparantly the Capulet (Capelletti) and Montague (Montecchi) families were actually political factions in the 13th century. Whatever that means. My bad. Sorry Mr. Shakespeare.
These are some of the 367 steps to the top of the Torre dei Lamberti. An elevator went up to the level that this picture was taken from, but we decided to ignore modern conveniences. We later regretted it and blame this tower for making us easily exhausted for the remainder of the trip. Stupid elevator. Luca (who had rejoined us) warned us to take the steps, but what does he know? He's only lived there all his life.
The tower did afford some breath-taking views of Verona and the surrounding hillside. The street spurring off to the top of this picture was where Kellin decided to sing and act out I'm a Little Teapot in the middle of the street to the delight of the passersby.
Verona. Kinda nice.
Here you can see the old Roman arena.
I'm done. Kellin and Lara got ready to go back to Florence while Sarah and I went on to Vicenza. More on that later.
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