In the Land of Tintin: Misty Mountains: Italy Adventures I

The first part of my Spring Break was spent in Northern Italy! This was my second time in Italy, I went last year for spring break as well, but this time I was visiting some new cities with new friends- and then a trip to see some old, familiar faces.

As our plane was landing in Bergamo, Milan the first things I noticed were the mountains. Huge, rolling mountains, covered in green trees with mist swirling around. Mysterious and beautiful. I was excited to be back in Italy.

I went to stay with my roommate Ily in her University town of Padova along with two other Erasmus students in our group: Jafar from Tajikistan and Rovshen from Turkmenistan. One of the very first things we did in Italy? Get a coffee! Granted, this was half because we were in Italy, and half because we had gotten maybe three or four hours of sleep and then spent the whole of the morning travelling and were dragging just a bit!

Morning mountains as we sipped our coffee

I visited five different cities in Italy: Brescia, Verona, Venice, Padova and Milan again. Each has a very different feel to it and their own sort of appeal.

Day one was Verona! Verona is an adorable little town, most well known for its connection to Romeo and Juliet. We generally just meandered around the town, discovering things as we came upon them such as Romeo’s house, a beautiful view of the river and the ever-famous balcony in Juliet’s house. Juliet’s house is the main attraction in Verona, and very nearly the only one (minus the Castello, but I’ll get here later). The outside greets you with a small plaque:

A small tunnel then takes the throngs of visitors into Juliet’s courtyard. The walls of the tunnel are completely covered over with writing- every kind of love note possible, couples’ graffiti, and hearts created using every color and all writing materials possible. Inside the tiny courtyard lies an iron gate covered with locks declaring couples’ love, and just to the right is a statue of Juliet, just beneath her balcony. If you feel like paying, you can go up to the balcony, but I’m a cheap and poor college student who didn’t care, so I settle for taking pictures. I loved the statue. Somehow the sculptor showed how young and naïve Juliet was, hopeful and in love. Poor Juliet however, gets molested by tourists on a regular bases because it’s supposedly good luck. Besides Casa di Guilietta, we got our first gelato of Italy in Verona! Always one of my favorite things about Italy. The other features of Verona are the arena that’s not really worth paying to go into, and the Castello. The most exciting part of the 1355 Castelvecchio is the bridge behind it, which goes over the river, providing a beautiful view of the city and the castle. We also randomly found a plaque for Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, our neighborhood in Brussels on the town hall in Verona. Strange. Verona was sweet, but we were dying by the end of the day from having carried our heavy backpacks around all day (mine was filled for two weeks of traveling). Since it was our first night in Italy, we ordered pizza for dinner! Delicious of course.

Juliet's balcony

Locks declaring people's love

Juliet!

Verona, main square (arena in the background)

The arena- they are converting it into a theatre/stage area

Sweet buildings in Verona. I love Italian architecture

1st Gelato!!!

View of the city from the Castello Bridge

Proof that I was in Verona. Castello behind me!

Day two was Venice: the floating city. It was interesting for me to visit Venice after having already seen Amsterdam and Bruges now, two other big canal cities. Well Venice takes the canal bit to a whole new level. Venice is filled with criss-crossing narrow streets, alleys and canals- so to get around you can either walk, or use a boat! Note that I said nothing about cars- this was what my Italian friend pointed out to me. Later in the day it started to rain, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, we got to see Venice in all types of weather that day. But what was especially incredible in this floating city was how quiet it was. You could literally listen to the rainfall. We realized it was because there were no cars. The difference of having no cars in a city is incredible, then there’s just the falling of rain and gliding of gondolas in the canals. That was one of my favorite moments in Venice. It’s a beautiful city, turquoise water everywhere and gleaming black, luxurious gondolas. We took bets on how expensive a gondola ride was- I got the closest at 50€, turns out it was 80€! Not exactly in our budget. After seeing the famous Piazza San Marco and the impressive Rialto Bridge, we did lots of wandering around the city, and discovered a free museum! Even better for me- it was an exhibit on Antonio Vivaldi and making violins!

So my inner orchestra geek came out. I was fascinated. I’ve played numerous Vivaldi concertos over the years, and had no idea that he lived and worked for years in Venice! It was pretty cool to learn about the history of the city a bit, and how it used to be a huge musical capital of the world; apparently people came from miles around to hear the musicians in Venice. This was definitely highlight number two for me in Venice. Venice is an extremely touristy city (you can buy masks and Murano glass anywhere there), but when you get more towards the edges, towards the sea, things calm down. I loved seeing all the boats coming and going in the bigger canals of the city. That’s about all for Venice, but now I really want to see the movie “The Tourist” again and point out all the places I’ve been!

Photo tour of Venice: