August 8, 2016: Somewhat Messy Arrival
OK, it's about two hours from her home exchange to Verona. She is staying at B&B All'Opera, a hotel she chose because it is a 5 minute walk to the Arena where AlteCocker has a ticket to "Aida" for the evening of August 9th. What she doesn't know is that this B&B/Hotel isn't really either. It's a hybrid and no one is at the property when AlteCocker tries to check in. The owner lives elsewhere and there is no 24 hour desk as there would be in a conventional hotel. Obviously that is a problem. AlteCocker rings the doorbell and there is no response. There is a phone number on the door but AlteCocker's cellphone is not set up for local calls. It is basically being used as a mini computer during the trip. Her home exchange house does have a telephone but she never imagined she'd need a telephone to get into her hotel. That's a new one.
She should also mention that the "hotel" was advertised as having parking on booking.com. It doesn't. You aren't allowed to drive into the old city without a permit (There's a 100 euro fine for offenders without permits). She found out about the parking when she wrote the owner asking for a permit. That was when she found out that the parking was a paid public lot. Now AlteCocker expected to have to pay for parking. She just didn't expect to have to look for both parking and the hotel. Instead of one stressor, there are two. Grr! The approach to downtown Verona is crazy. You see all sorts of signs for parkings. Finally AlteCocker pulls over and looks for parking lots in the GPS and Cittadella shows up. It is the most convenient lot to the old city. At 18 euros per day there is something to be said for convenience when you don't know where you are and that is the lot she wants. So she parks the car.
Then there is the matter of finding the B&B. There are maps around the central Arena area that indicate where you are and the street she is looking for is one one of those maps. So she finds the B&B but the door isn't open and no one is at home.
AlteCocker finally inveigles two passing Italian girls to phone the number and, yes, the the owner of the B&B does show up. She has some excuse about not knowing when AlteCocker would arrive, but don't people arrive at every which hour? There should be someone there 24/7. Certainly it has caused anxiety and is a bit strange.
The B&B is actually nice once AlteCocker storms the battlements and gets in the front door, but, if you are going to stay there, please make sure they know exactly what time you are arriving and then arrive precisely on time so someone is there.
After checking in (and heaving a huge sign of relief), AlteCocker asks for a dinner reservation. As she is going to the opera the next day, she will only have one chance for a leisurely meal in Verona and that is on the first evening. After a rest, AlteCocker sets out for what she thought would be an early dinner, but, no, the restaurant is traditional and doesn't open until 7:15pm. Nevermind the Museo di Castelvecchio (Museum of the Old Castle) is diagonally across the street and open into the early evening. She kills time there and the museum turns out to be pretty good too with lots of medieval art. Unfortunately, AlteCocker is not in shape to climb the battlements but plenty of parents are using that activity as a way to tire the kiddies out.
She heads for the restaurant, Il Ciottolo, at Corso Cabour 39/c, just before opening time and is promptly seated. When the menu comes, she chooses to eat the local specialty--donkey with polenta. Yes, she ate donkey and it tasted pretty much like beef stew with polenta. For dessert she has an almond flavored "semi fredo"--which turns out to be a sort of ice cream dessert. The meal was 23 euros with one glass of wine and AlteCocker thought it was a very good value.
Then it was off to bed.
She should also mention that the "hotel" was advertised as having parking on booking.com. It doesn't. You aren't allowed to drive into the old city without a permit (There's a 100 euro fine for offenders without permits). She found out about the parking when she wrote the owner asking for a permit. That was when she found out that the parking was a paid public lot. Now AlteCocker expected to have to pay for parking. She just didn't expect to have to look for both parking and the hotel. Instead of one stressor, there are two. Grr! The approach to downtown Verona is crazy. You see all sorts of signs for parkings. Finally AlteCocker pulls over and looks for parking lots in the GPS and Cittadella shows up. It is the most convenient lot to the old city. At 18 euros per day there is something to be said for convenience when you don't know where you are and that is the lot she wants. So she parks the car.
Then there is the matter of finding the B&B. There are maps around the central Arena area that indicate where you are and the street she is looking for is one one of those maps. So she finds the B&B but the door isn't open and no one is at home.
AlteCocker finally inveigles two passing Italian girls to phone the number and, yes, the the owner of the B&B does show up. She has some excuse about not knowing when AlteCocker would arrive, but don't people arrive at every which hour? There should be someone there 24/7. Certainly it has caused anxiety and is a bit strange.
The B&B is actually nice once AlteCocker storms the battlements and gets in the front door, but, if you are going to stay there, please make sure they know exactly what time you are arriving and then arrive precisely on time so someone is there.
After checking in (and heaving a huge sign of relief), AlteCocker asks for a dinner reservation. As she is going to the opera the next day, she will only have one chance for a leisurely meal in Verona and that is on the first evening. After a rest, AlteCocker sets out for what she thought would be an early dinner, but, no, the restaurant is traditional and doesn't open until 7:15pm. Nevermind the Museo di Castelvecchio (Museum of the Old Castle) is diagonally across the street and open into the early evening. She kills time there and the museum turns out to be pretty good too with lots of medieval art. Unfortunately, AlteCocker is not in shape to climb the battlements but plenty of parents are using that activity as a way to tire the kiddies out.
She heads for the restaurant, Il Ciottolo, at Corso Cabour 39/c, just before opening time and is promptly seated. When the menu comes, she chooses to eat the local specialty--donkey with polenta. Yes, she ate donkey and it tasted pretty much like beef stew with polenta. For dessert she has an almond flavored "semi fredo"--which turns out to be a sort of ice cream dessert. The meal was 23 euros with one glass of wine and AlteCocker thought it was a very good value.
Then it was off to bed.
August 9, 2016: "Aida" at the Arena
AlteCocker goes back to sleep after breakfast. To tell the truth, she did not sleep well. The problem is that the room has air conditioning but it is divided into a living room area and a bedroom area with a divider (AlteCocker was upgraded to a larger room after the arrival follies). The air conditioner is in the living room area (which contains a pull out sofa bed and presumably would be used for families), so it doesn't work so well in the bedroom. It still remained hot at night in Verona, so the option of opening the windows not attractive (not to mention you will get street noise and the very early morning trash pick up). When you stay in a city, you do get the noise, but you also get the convenience. With the problems, AlteCocker might stay at the B&B/Hotel again if she had opera tickets again because when the opera got out at 12:45am (yes, you read that correctly), it sure was nice to have a bed around the corner and the owner was a very nice person (especially when AlteCocker locked herself out of her room; more on that later).
But, before we get to the opera we have to get through the day. It was time to find the House of Juliet. OK, no one knows where it is but in the 1970s, some bright tour guide decided to label a balcony in a side courtyard as the one from "Romeo and Juliet". It's been adopted by Verona and is a huge tourist site. People even write letters to Juliet and a team of people answer them. The whole thig is hilarious but totally fake. Under the balcony (charge to go up) there is a statue of Juliet and people line up to rub her breast for good luck in love. Orientals strangely love this, so lots of tour groups from Asia. It's crazy because it is 100% fake.
AlteCocker also takes the hop on/hop off Bus B around. The highlight was when the bus went up to this viewpoint and they gave us time to get off the bus and take photos (which hop on/hope off buses normally do not do). Then it was time for another event in AlteCocker's tour de gelato. After that she sort of stumbled upon the Church of San Fermo. She was going to pass it by and head over for the Bus A hop on/hop off tour but some people from England told her to go inside. It was wonderful with frescos from the Middle Ages and a very old church downstairs. Highly recommend it. There are a number of churches of historic merit in Verona and you can get a combined ticket, but AlteCocker just bought the one for San Fermo because she knew she would not spend the balance of her time visiting churches. After the church (and another gelato), she headed over to the Bus A tour. It was a total waste of time. Rather than giving new information, it repeated what was already said in the recordings for the Bus B tour. The only reason you should take the Bus A tour is to connect with the Bus B tour if you arrive at the train station because Bus A has a pick up/drop off at the train station (which is not near the old city).
Then it was time for some down time in the room before "Aida". When it was time to go to the opera, AlteCocker walked out of the room with her car key rather than her room key and the room locked automatically. Of course, AlteCocker was worried about making the performance, there was no one in the place with a master key, and she had to bang on doors to find someone with a phone to get into the room to place her car key on the table and pick up the room key. She felt dumb. She was dumb. Fortunately, the whole thing got straightened out before the performance was missed.
The performance was spectacular and lasted until 12:45am because there were two rain delays as a result of what were just a few sprinkles (but affect the instruments), the conductor controls when the performance stops and the first time he ran off the stage, AlteCocker had no clue because the rain had not reached her yet. The principals can change from day to day. The conductor was Vito Lombardi. The cast AlteCocker saw was as follows: The King: Romano Dal Zovo; Amneris: Ekaterina Gubanova; Aida: Amarilli Nizza; Radames: Fabio Sartori; Ramfis: Sergey Artamonov; Amonasro: Dalibor Jenis. Basically, AlteCocker is just listing these people in case any of you are real opera nuts and know who they are. AlteCocker is not an opera nut. It is just something she does on holiday and maybe every 5 years or so when at home in DC. The performance in the old Roman Arena has a cast of 100s but only the principals take bows. Maybe everyone is glad to go home at the end of the evening. At different times the male chorus lights up the place with torches; the sets are just fantastic. AlteCocker did buy a CD (of the performance in 2009 but from the same venue). Programs were 20 euros and huge. Weight in the suitcase prevented that purchase. AlteCocker did buy the libretto because she had been too disorganized to bring one from home. Don't buy it! There are subtitles in both Italian and English, so it was a waste of 5 euros. The CD is a nice souvenir that does not weigh much. Further information on the opera festival (held every summer can be found here. The festival began in 1913 and is sure to be on during the summer if your travels bring you to Verona.
Now a warning about the seats. AlteCocker spent 71 euros on her seat and she has never had such an uncomfortable seat anywhere. Even the seat cushions did not help much. If she were ever to go to this festival again, she would buy only the stall seats no matter what the cost because you have more leg room. Even the sardine seats on airplanes are more comfortable. There were lots of empty seats and we would put our legs all over the empties (only to be admonished by the ushers that it was not allowed). AlteCocker's tuchas was very sore at the end. Also, if you have mobility problems, the steps are very steep (It's an old Roman Amphitheatre, so it is very hard to go up and down. Going down was the worst as there were no handrails and you had to bend down to hang onto a seat as a handrail.) Unlike in American theaters, where the dirty sneak up occurs all the time when there are empty seats and no one cares, the Arena polices that. AlteCocker did sneak up one row to a seat that was more cushioned, but you do run the risk of one of the usher "police" asking to see your ticket. Seat cushions are 3 euros but really don't help much. At the beginning of the 4th act (yes, "Aida" has 4 acts!), the spectators with the 29 euro seats seated high up in general admission were admonished that throwing seat cushions on the stage at the end of the performance was not allowed. Who would have thought of doing that? No seat cushions wafted through the air and people just left them all over.
Returning to the B&B/Hotel, AlteCocker ran into the girls that had helped her out with their phone. She offered to take them out for a drink, but they were too tired. It was time to sack out and prepare for the end of the adventure with the drive home.
But, before we get to the opera we have to get through the day. It was time to find the House of Juliet. OK, no one knows where it is but in the 1970s, some bright tour guide decided to label a balcony in a side courtyard as the one from "Romeo and Juliet". It's been adopted by Verona and is a huge tourist site. People even write letters to Juliet and a team of people answer them. The whole thig is hilarious but totally fake. Under the balcony (charge to go up) there is a statue of Juliet and people line up to rub her breast for good luck in love. Orientals strangely love this, so lots of tour groups from Asia. It's crazy because it is 100% fake.
AlteCocker also takes the hop on/hop off Bus B around. The highlight was when the bus went up to this viewpoint and they gave us time to get off the bus and take photos (which hop on/hope off buses normally do not do). Then it was time for another event in AlteCocker's tour de gelato. After that she sort of stumbled upon the Church of San Fermo. She was going to pass it by and head over for the Bus A hop on/hop off tour but some people from England told her to go inside. It was wonderful with frescos from the Middle Ages and a very old church downstairs. Highly recommend it. There are a number of churches of historic merit in Verona and you can get a combined ticket, but AlteCocker just bought the one for San Fermo because she knew she would not spend the balance of her time visiting churches. After the church (and another gelato), she headed over to the Bus A tour. It was a total waste of time. Rather than giving new information, it repeated what was already said in the recordings for the Bus B tour. The only reason you should take the Bus A tour is to connect with the Bus B tour if you arrive at the train station because Bus A has a pick up/drop off at the train station (which is not near the old city).
Then it was time for some down time in the room before "Aida". When it was time to go to the opera, AlteCocker walked out of the room with her car key rather than her room key and the room locked automatically. Of course, AlteCocker was worried about making the performance, there was no one in the place with a master key, and she had to bang on doors to find someone with a phone to get into the room to place her car key on the table and pick up the room key. She felt dumb. She was dumb. Fortunately, the whole thing got straightened out before the performance was missed.
The performance was spectacular and lasted until 12:45am because there were two rain delays as a result of what were just a few sprinkles (but affect the instruments), the conductor controls when the performance stops and the first time he ran off the stage, AlteCocker had no clue because the rain had not reached her yet. The principals can change from day to day. The conductor was Vito Lombardi. The cast AlteCocker saw was as follows: The King: Romano Dal Zovo; Amneris: Ekaterina Gubanova; Aida: Amarilli Nizza; Radames: Fabio Sartori; Ramfis: Sergey Artamonov; Amonasro: Dalibor Jenis. Basically, AlteCocker is just listing these people in case any of you are real opera nuts and know who they are. AlteCocker is not an opera nut. It is just something she does on holiday and maybe every 5 years or so when at home in DC. The performance in the old Roman Arena has a cast of 100s but only the principals take bows. Maybe everyone is glad to go home at the end of the evening. At different times the male chorus lights up the place with torches; the sets are just fantastic. AlteCocker did buy a CD (of the performance in 2009 but from the same venue). Programs were 20 euros and huge. Weight in the suitcase prevented that purchase. AlteCocker did buy the libretto because she had been too disorganized to bring one from home. Don't buy it! There are subtitles in both Italian and English, so it was a waste of 5 euros. The CD is a nice souvenir that does not weigh much. Further information on the opera festival (held every summer can be found here. The festival began in 1913 and is sure to be on during the summer if your travels bring you to Verona.
Now a warning about the seats. AlteCocker spent 71 euros on her seat and she has never had such an uncomfortable seat anywhere. Even the seat cushions did not help much. If she were ever to go to this festival again, she would buy only the stall seats no matter what the cost because you have more leg room. Even the sardine seats on airplanes are more comfortable. There were lots of empty seats and we would put our legs all over the empties (only to be admonished by the ushers that it was not allowed). AlteCocker's tuchas was very sore at the end. Also, if you have mobility problems, the steps are very steep (It's an old Roman Amphitheatre, so it is very hard to go up and down. Going down was the worst as there were no handrails and you had to bend down to hang onto a seat as a handrail.) Unlike in American theaters, where the dirty sneak up occurs all the time when there are empty seats and no one cares, the Arena polices that. AlteCocker did sneak up one row to a seat that was more cushioned, but you do run the risk of one of the usher "police" asking to see your ticket. Seat cushions are 3 euros but really don't help much. At the beginning of the 4th act (yes, "Aida" has 4 acts!), the spectators with the 29 euro seats seated high up in general admission were admonished that throwing seat cushions on the stage at the end of the performance was not allowed. Who would have thought of doing that? No seat cushions wafted through the air and people just left them all over.
Returning to the B&B/Hotel, AlteCocker ran into the girls that had helped her out with their phone. She offered to take them out for a drink, but they were too tired. It was time to sack out and prepare for the end of the adventure with the drive home.
August 10, 2016: Home via Sirmione on Lake Garda
Well, the day did not begin well. AlteCocker slept too late to mess with the breakfast at the hotel. That was OK. It was the standard continental one that you find on the Continent. She had had it the day before. Instead she packed up, placed her room key in the door and headed out into the rain. Those hawking other items with hawking umbrellas and garbage bag raincoats. AlteCocker had those--back at the house. As it wasn't raining too hard, she passed on those items. She did, however, sit down at one of the restaurants/bards that dot the area opposite the Arena and have a continental breakfast there before heading over to liberate the car from the parking. Then it was time to drive "home".
Sirmione had been recommended to her by her home exchangers as a pretty place to stop, but, it was raining, so that was off the list. No, it wasn't. The moment she exited Verona, the rain stopped, so she headed up the road to Lake Garda and Sirmione and some traffic jams of epic proportions. Sirmione sits on a spit of land that is surrounded by Lake Garda. It is a very pretty town which means, for those staying long term, the need to take a parking shuttle to get anywhere into the the area that juts out into the lake. AlteCocker drove almost to the end of the road but turned around several blocks before being wary of getting into some traffic mess. When she turned around she was determined to find lunch at a place with a water view that had parking. The parking was almost more important than the view. She found what she was looking for in Casa dei Pescatori. There she had a nice lunch of Lake Garda fish and a pistachio mousse for dessert. The waiter even took a nice photo of her sitting contentently at the table.
After lunch, it was time to drive "home". The car did not break down, AlteCocker did not fall down. She arrived home about 3:30pm and began to play email and blog catch up. It turned out to be a good decision to leave the computer behind as the B&B/Hotel had very faint internet. The computer would have been a frustration. Who needs that?
And so the side trip is over and it is back to the Lake Como blog.
Sirmione had been recommended to her by her home exchangers as a pretty place to stop, but, it was raining, so that was off the list. No, it wasn't. The moment she exited Verona, the rain stopped, so she headed up the road to Lake Garda and Sirmione and some traffic jams of epic proportions. Sirmione sits on a spit of land that is surrounded by Lake Garda. It is a very pretty town which means, for those staying long term, the need to take a parking shuttle to get anywhere into the the area that juts out into the lake. AlteCocker drove almost to the end of the road but turned around several blocks before being wary of getting into some traffic mess. When she turned around she was determined to find lunch at a place with a water view that had parking. The parking was almost more important than the view. She found what she was looking for in Casa dei Pescatori. There she had a nice lunch of Lake Garda fish and a pistachio mousse for dessert. The waiter even took a nice photo of her sitting contentently at the table.
After lunch, it was time to drive "home". The car did not break down, AlteCocker did not fall down. She arrived home about 3:30pm and began to play email and blog catch up. It turned out to be a good decision to leave the computer behind as the B&B/Hotel had very faint internet. The computer would have been a frustration. Who needs that?
And so the side trip is over and it is back to the Lake Como blog.