Verona - on the up side

I'd like to tell you that I woke up the next morning well rested and with a clear vision of what I was going to do to "save the day" for myself, but it didn't pan out like that.

Instead I woke up after a crappy night sleep on the worst bed I've met in Europe so far and was greeting with the most pathetic "breakfast" ever. Apparently to a hostel, a crunchy roll, two Denny-sized packets of jam, and my choice of tea, coffee, or hot milk (yes, I said hot) to drink out of a bowl! is a complete breakfast worth 3 EU. Booo.

After that dismal beginning, I decided to cheer myself up with a few of the sights that had been closed by the time I reached them on my walk the day before. The first on the list was a Roman Theater - I was actually pretty excited about this; apparently they still show Shakespeare plays here (only slightly more difficult to understand in Italian than Elizabethan English). I roll up to the door at 8:30 (stupid hostel made me get up early) and she refuses me at the door. Evidently my "Verona Card" (good for all sights for one price) is not a 24-hour card, but a one-day card....and my day has expired. Augh. I'll be honest with you - I cried some more.

But then I had suddenly had enough. I was not going to let something this stupid ruin my trip. I could hear Andi in my head reminding me that I am the boss of my trip - I should just do what I want. Right. So I hiked it back up to the hostel, dug through my bag, recovered my debit card and got some friggin' cash (dang the fee!!).

Ahh, much better. I was so relieved to have money in my pocket (because money represents freedom: freedom to eat, freedom to travel, freedom to shop, freedom to sight-see, freedom to not do any of those things...) I was practically giddy. I wanted to buy about a hundred scoops of gelato, a liter of milk, gnocchi, pizza, a bottle of wine and boots immediately. I could hardly stand it!

In the end, I managed to reign in the temptation for crazy, wreckless spending and realized I wasn't really hungry just then (and I didn't neet more boots). But I promised myself a good lunch. Then, since my Verona card was no good (and my pride wouldn't let me buy another - it would just be inefficient, right Abby?) I decided to utilize my ipod and wander - just enjoy the piazzas (and Italy!) for what they are. In Verona in particular they have been well populated at all hours and great for people watching and getting a taste for the culture.

After a most delicious lunch of gnocchi belonese (with meat sauce) and a follow-up cappuccino (tot addicted) I eventually made my way back to the hostel to collect my bag and head to Vicenza, next stop on my journey east toward Venice.

Despite the melodrama, I actually really enjoyed Verona. It was small, yet still somehow full. Despite its size, it lacked neither culture, nor history, nor beauty. Shakespeare really ought to have visited where he was writing about...

A Fair Tale in Verona

(Click to watch the panoramic view as you enter Verona!)



Based on yesterday, I had a decent amount of confidence today be better. I knew that navigating the train/bus/directions to the hostel would be no problem since it was daytime. The only thing giving me any anxiety was my cash flow.

Before I left the states I got a Eurocard. it's basically a cash card. You load it with funds electronically, then withdraw them from a cash machine - all with no fees. Genius, right? Well, the one little hiccup was that the card was accidentally put in my dad’s name instead of mine, so I had to arrange payment to him, then he puts the funds on the card. No problem, right? Well…

As it turned out, it took a little longer for my money to reach my dad than I had hoped, so my cash was running really low while I was waiting for the transfer. Thankfully my dad was on top of it and before I originally left for the train station yesterday, I learned he had taken care of it, the money should be there – or within 24 hours. So as long as that went through, then I was in for a day of smooth sailing.

So in the morning, my first stop was the Bancomat (ATM) on my way to the train. No such luck. The machine said I had “reached my daily credit limit”. I knew I should have about 30 EU left, so I tried a withdrawl of only 20 EU. Bingo! No problem. So from that I inferred that the transfer hadn’t happened yet. But it was something like 2:00am PST – perhaps it would complete the transaction once 8am rolled around...

In the mean time, I didn’t know if the hostel would expect payment upon arrival or departure, so I had to save at least 17EU just in case. Plus I needed 1 EU for the metro so that left me with a pretty small budget for the day (a little over 10EU).

This time I got on my train no problem and after two hours of lip-syncing with my ipod, I arrived. I hit up the Tourist Info for a map and a Verona card (8EU and you can use the bus for free all day, as well as get into all the museums, churches, and monuments for free). Then I went to the Bancomat again “you have exceeded your daily credit limit” – arg.

Next I found my bus and the bus driver helped me to get off at my correct stop and I hiked it up a hill for a few blocks to find the hostel. Fortunately they didn’t require payment in advance – but they did require my passport. Hmm, can’t use the internet without ID, but won’t have ID unless I pay my bill upfront. Plus, I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to get funds at all and then when it came time to pay at 9am – I’d be up a crick with no paddle. So I opted to pay. This left me with just under 3 EU in my pocket. That money had better come through or I’m going to be hungry again tonight and officially penniless and stuck in Verona tomorrow.

But I couldn’t do anything about that, so I decided to hit the sights. Rick had a self-guided tour, so I was gonna take it. But soon after I headed out, I realized, I need to eat. Now. Otherwise I’m just not going to make it. I lucked out and found a little bakery offering the biggest slice of pizza with about a twenty toppings on it for 2.50 - that was almost exactly what I had. Yes!!

After that I had the energy to take myself on a Rick-guided walk through town. I saw the original gate to the city, the surrounding protective wall (Verona is surrounded on three sides by a river and thus, the wall on the fourth side kept them completely protected), I saw Juliette's fabled house (that was actually pretty funny), as well as two large pedestrian squares for shopping and eating, and the third largest Roman Arena (like the Colosseum, but smaller) - so cool! Soon though it was dinner time and my energy was fading.

I headed back to the Bancomat, but was still refused funds. It looked like I was going without dinner again :( I headed back to the hostel tired, discouraged, and ready for bed (despite it being only about 8:30). Tomorrow I would have to figure it out. Fortunately breakfast came with my night at the hostel, so hopefully some rest and food would evolve a solution.