Got an okish sleep, but still woke up super tired.
Ok breakfast at the hotel.
Packed up and left our room around 8:00. Checked out and left our bags with the hotel then went for a wander.
Seven hours later.
Walked all the way into town.
Parrocchia Santuario Cuore Immacolato di Maria
Past a castle and a roman gate.
Museo di Castelvecchio
Ponte di Castelvecchio
Arco dei Gavi
And along the river.
View southwest back to Ponte di Castelvecchio
View north up the River Adige
Ponte Garibaldi
Parrocchia di San Giorgio in Braida
And into the cathedral.
Cattedrale di Santa Maria Matricolare
Interior of Cattedrale di Santa Maria Matricolare
Cattedrale di Santa Maria Matricolare fro the northeast
And across to the funicular, arriving just before opening time at 10:00. We asked them about a toilet. They were like, "at the top". Well there's certainly nothing provided, we just snuck into a café. Stoopid Europe.
View across the Adige to Museo Archeologico al Teatro Romano and Castel San Pietro
View west from Ponte Pietra
Funicolare di Castel San Pietro
View from the funicular
Photo by Mum
Had a look around the castle, then wandered down the hill again.
View south from Castel San Pietro
View southwest from Castel San Pietro towards Ponte Pietra and the cathedral
Funicular near the top station
Castel San Pietro
View southwest from Castel San Pietro
Ponte Pietra
Walked into town, joined the throngs at Juliet's Balcony. Choose not to grope the statue, dread to think how many covid germs on that thing.
Basilica di Santa Anastasia
Crowds on Via Capello near Casa di Giulietta
Casa di Giulietta and Juliet's Balcony
Statue of Juliet
There's a covid-unfriendly tradition to grope Juliet's breasts
Pink and red love heart locks
Statue of Juliet next to Juliet's Balcony
Had a nice enough spaghetti carbonara at an osteria. But had to pay two euro each cover charge. Lame. Seems random whether you need to pay that or not.
Looked at more churches and roman ruins and stuffs before heading back to the hotel.
Cattedrale di Santa Maria Matricolare in slightly better light
Roman ruins near Porta Leoni
Porta Leoni
Arena di Verona
Arena di Verona
Verona Town Hall
I Portoni della BrÃ
Via another gate.
Porta Nuova
Picked up our bags then back to the station. Got tickets to Venice. Only ten minutes to wait so that was easy enough. This train didn't have any baggage racks either, and it was a double decker train and it was crowded so it was all a bit awful. But again with this one we could put our bags between the seats. But it's amazing how you can go from relaxed to hot and stressed and sweaty in such a short time. Sigh.
I was a bit nervous about going to Venice actually. Having to start all over again with a new city. One with stoopid rules (like not being allowed to sit down and eat or drink anywhere).
Got out of the station and the canal was *right there*. Got our three day tickets from the machines right at the wharf. Then found a number 1 to jump on. Of course we got yelled at by a local for having our bags in the seats with us. There were plenty of seats to start with, although it did fill up. She didn't have a mask on though, so clearly only a stickler for *some* of the rules.
The trip to San Marco took about an hour, but it was very pretty.
Bridge over Rio de S. Barnaba and view up the canal
Palazzo Barbarigo
Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute
View across the Grand Canal to Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore
View across the Grand Canal to Chiesa di Santa Maria della Presentazione (Le Zitelle)
OMFG the hotel is a disaster though. booking.com once again did not pass on the preference for twin beds, so just got a double, and they were full so couldn't change. The shower door was broken (off its rails) so go the dude to come fix it (so we didn't break it). The bathroom window wouldn't close. But worst of all the aircon wouldn't work. It'd turn on for a few seconds then turn off. So I went and asked and he was like, oh because it's cooler now we turn them off, but then he turned it on for me. Except the thing made a lot of noise but didn't actually blow any cold air. All it did was heat up the room more because it was on. hmmm. So I turned it off and we headed out for dinner.
The Bridge of Sighs over Rio del Palazzo from Ponte della Paglia
View across the Grand Canal to Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore from Ponte della Paglia
The reality of Venice and the hordes of tourists destroys any romance the place might have
Campanile di San Marco at dusk
Piazza San Marco and Procuratie Vecchie palace
Torre dell'Orologio at dusk
Murano glass for sale in one of the many stores selling local glassworks
Murano glass for sale in one of the many stores selling local glassworks
Had a fairly average dinner at a place with not super service either. hrmm.
The Bridge of Sighs by night
Got back to the room (at like 21:00 wtf??) and the aircon was on.. wtf?? So turned it off again. Shortly after it turned on again. Sigh. We opened the windows but it was super noisy from every little sound reverberating around the alley. Sigh.
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