How art thou day trip to Verona

I wake up again at 4am (nightmare of this holiday) and unlike yesterday - I don't go back to bed. :-(

Because Verona is a bit further away than Padova by train - Tasha and I decided to meet at Mestre station at 8am so we could catch a 8ish train to Verona - therefore - I had breakfast at 7am. Despite this being the "openning time for breakfast" - half the room was packed out by the Japanese tourists. One was looking fairly outlandish - dressed in a traditional japanese kimino. Not sure if this was a Carnevale thing?

I head down to the station and buy some reserve tickets for myself (which were 3 euros extra). I then meet Tasha at McDonalds at the station - they were wanting breakfast but unfortunately for them - Italian McDonalds don't seem to do breakfast and they were shut. I have a quick cappucino whilst Tasha were pissfarting around having a super-slow breakfast - despite the need to leave for the train (and not having bought their tickets for them). I take action and grab some money from Sacha and buy them their train tickets. When I return - they still hadn't finished their breakfast - despite there being 5 minutes before the train leaves. I storm off to the platform without them - although they were lucky this time because the train was late.

We were in separate compartments on the train - I stayed in my overcrowed booked compartment - whilst Tasha had a compartment all to themselves. Damn me for booking my seat!

We arrive at Verona around 9ish and head in the general direction of the colosseum. Although generally - LP's maps are better than DKs (which are usually pitiful) - DK's map was way more detailed than the LP one. Therefore Sacha took the lead in guiding us our way to the colosseum.

Verona's colosseum is apparently the 3rd largest in Italy - and despite this - it was completely empty and devoid of tourists for the most part of our visit. It was fairly bargin prices to get in (compared to the Rome version) and we took lots of pictures and got a bit of a view of the city. Sacha was wanting to draw "Dicktation" in the middle of the colosseum and get Taeko to take a picture - but that was too much effort. (Admittedly - Jonah from Summer Heights High's tag is much better than mine from Year 7 - mine was "Crimewave" in the sort of shape of a wave).

We have a wander around town - which is a UNESCO world hertiage listed site - and more deservedly so than Valparassio (damn u Valparassio!!!). It was all very quaint and kodak friendly. Taeko almost has a seizure when she saw a shop which was using a garden gnome motif in its front window. (Remember people - Taeko has an unexplanable gnome fetish) The store was littered with gnomes to make the shop look nicer - but Taeko was asking whether they were for sale. She ends up buying one for 25 euros (almost $50 AUD peoples!!!) which was a plastic mushroom with some gnomes having a tea party on it.... 25 euros... My gawd... That could be a week's worth of pay at her japanese comic book shop. I ask her why doesn't she just go to bunnings in Australia and get one there - but she only likes the environmentally unfriendly plastic gnomes because they are "cuter". Although the shop was mostly selling girly stuff - there were a few interesting items for sale including a "Willy-warmer" (aka penis sock) and cock-rings and bras made out of candy. Yes - when I think of gnomes - I think of buying a cock-ring as well...

Anyhows - we head back out the shop and head in the general direction of the river. From there - you could see a big castle on the other side of the banks. Taeko started going crazy again (remember - she also has a castle fetish) and wanted to go visit it. Sacha and I pursuade her not to - because it you couldn't walk around it (according to our guide books).

We walk back to the city and stumble upon a free exhibit. I say to Tasha "let's go - because there probably is a free toilet inside!". (By the way I'm morally against paying to use public toilets). It actually was an interesting "muesum" - more like an archaeological dig of old ruins beneath the city's surface. It also included a photographic exhibit which included a couple of picture of Canberra (!). There was a free toilet (right at the end) - and I scared Taeko a couple of times by jumping in front of her around corners.

Also - Taeko and I had some sort of a running gag these holidays. At Selva - I would jab her with my fingers on her pressure points around her waist and she would get a shock - then state that was (in thick Japanese accent) "sexual harassment". I later call it "sexy harassment" and (in my Spinal Tap voice) - "what's wrong with being sexy?!". Taeko and I would constantly be trying to sexually harass each other. She said the rule was "it is not OK for you (being me) to touch me (being Taeko) - but it was OK for her to touch me"..... Que?

We then went to the famous (or is that infamous) "Romeo and Juliet" balcony. As LP puts it - it is "much ado about nothing". Romeo and Juliet is a fictional story set in Verona... yet tourists flock to the "supposed" balcony of Juliet where Romeo cried out to her. There was a museum dedicated to the story and for paying 4 euros (entry to the museum) - you could stand on the balcony in all its fictional glory. Tasha and I agreed that we all didn't want to do this - so Sacha paid for Taeko to go in. When she was on the balcony - we got her to pose in all sorts of lurid manners - I got her to do the "fellatio" pose and took a picture (work the camera baby - yeah (in Austin Power's accent))....

Next to the balcony is a brozned statue of Juliet. A lot of tourists rub her right breast for good luck - but I find it somewhat ironic that you rub the breast of a character who botched her own attempt at a fake suicide and died of the consequences... Anyhow - I got Sacha to take my picture while I did some "sexy harassment" shots with the statue.

This place had "tourist cash-in" written all over it. Right next door is a tacky with a capital "T" gift shop - filled will all sorts of "romantic" R&J junk. Come on peoples - the story was fictional and this place is a former bloody hotel!

Also of note - there is love-graffiti and chewing gum written all over the tunnel leading up to the balcony. Someone had written "Guns n F#####g Roses" - choice. Luv u 2 Axl!

We have lunch at a nearby touristic cafe and order some OK pizzas (allthough I thoughte the Brek pizzas were better). To outdo ourselves in the fatness department - we all have icecreams afterwards.

We make tracks to the Castelveecho (in order to satisfy Taeko's need to visit as many castles as possible). The castle itself was built because everyone hated the guy who owned it. He built it so no one from the city could kill him - but his brother ended up stabbing him in the back or something... The castle these days houses an art museum (mostly of the old-school jesus variety) - so we were all suffering from a bit of old-school jesus art overdose. You could also walk around the top of the castle - which had terrific views of the river and city. There was a nearby busker playing an accordian which made the place feel very parisian and a big bunch of japanese tourists (maybe they followed me from the Hotel Delfino) taking pictures from the public area of the castle. There was also a special exhibit about some Italian dude from the 50s who made lots of "fashionable" glass wares from the 50s - mod baby yeah.

After the castle - Taeko has the desire to go back to the Gnome shop and spend more hard earned $$ on plastic gnomes... (Que?!). So we trek for 20 minutes back to the shop only to discover that a full size gnome cost 30 euros ($50AUD) which was too much for Taeko.

We make our way back to the station - where I was teaching Taeko some riske songs including "I want your (dah dah dah dah) sex", and "U got the look, u got the hook, ur body's jammin, ur face is (something) slamin, lets get to ramming" and "bad arse stripper in a gucci thong, see-through dress by louis vuitton" - which kept us entertained for a bit (picture Taeko trying to say these lyrics with a thick Japanese accent). Also on the way to the station - we see a full grown man carrying a children's pink "Bratz" backpack. Sacha attempts to take pictures of it.

We buy some tight-wad 2hr train trip tickets back to Mestre on the regular train - which were only 6 euros and we really didn't have anything better to do. When we arrive at Mestre (around 6:30pm) - I show Sacha the bus stop to get to the airport (instead of him taking an expensive private transfer from his hotel). I also show Tasha my bling bling room - Taeko uses the bathroom.

We head back to Brek for dinner - where we were getting a bit sick of the bad service here in Italy. When you are at a counter - wanting to be served - half the time the staff will just chat amongst themselves and ignore you (depsite them knowing you are there) and serve you in a pretty rude manner. It was a bit like that at Brek tonight where the pizza lady was just fudging around not serving us - when she knew Sacha and I were waiting to be served... I think I was getting flashbacks to the service in Eastern Europe. When we were having dinner - we were all chatting about the service - Taeko mentioned that in Japan - the customer is "god" - which is what it should be everywhere.

After the meal - I say goodbye to Tasha - they are both flying to Japan tomorrow - where Taeko will spend another couple of weeks catching up with friends and Sacha will fly back home (to make paper). I head back to the hotel for some more Wheel of Fortune action (damn those pervy Italian camera men with no subtly).