Whirlwind through Northeast Italy

We drove from Reggio Emilia to Verona, where of course we had to see the famous Arena, and the more touristy Juliet's house, with her precious balcony.

The Arena was ancient and impressive. We wished we could have stayed, as they were getting ready for a presentation of L'Aida.


From Verona we breezed our way towards Venice, making one VERY IMPORTANT stop at a rest area known as an Autogrill. As children, my sister and I used to call these restaurants which cross over the highway as "hangovers", and were puzzled why our parents thought it was so funny. Now we know better.


Ah... Venezia! La Serenissima... the most serene... city on the lagoon. We spent two nights and one full glorious day in this unique beautiful city. We truly indulged in the luxury of Venice, from our hotel which was directly across the street from the water busses (and then only 15 minutes to San Marco), to a peaceful ride in a gondola, to our afternoon high tea in a restaurant opened in 1720 in Piazza San Marco, to the Baroque and Opera concert in the evening. A beautiful, perfect day!








The next morning we took some time to see the beach, get our feet wet, so we could at least say that we had touched the Adriatic Sea. Unfortunately that's all we had time for this time around.


For this leg of the trip, our timing seemed to be perfect. We arrived at the ferry boat just as a ferry was docking, and got on. When we arrived at the hotel, we got the last of only 3 parking spots (!!!!!) at the hotel. We saw ads for the concert and were able to get tickets the next morning, and got front row seats. On the way back, however, our timing seemed to falter. We got to the ferry boat and joined the line-up. Just as we were preparing ourselves for a one sailing wait (and enjoy a granita from the bar strategically placed at the head of the line), they asked for one more car. I don't know how they did it, but they squeezed us on, with barely a few centimeters to spare! I don't think Papa' would have like this one bit!


But it all worked out, and we were on our way to Pordenone.

To be continued...