Verona & Venice

(23/6/15) Farewell Rome, and on to Venice - but on our way to Venice we stopped in Verona! This is where the inspiration for the story of Romeo & Juliet was born, though the story is fiction. Verona has made a balcony to attract tourists, said to be Juliet's balcony, and tourists from all over the world come to take photos at the balcony, rub the breasts in Juliet's statue, and then leave messages of love on the wall. People have also left "locks of love" as well. 

Michael and I enjoyed a free gelato (thanks Felix!) and walked through the markets and down the streets of Verona enjoying the beautiful town. It was only a short stay, but it was a lovely place, and it was good to see so many people so inspired by the idea of love, tragedy, and peace. 

After our stop in Verona, we made our way to Venice. We had a nice early night (after a delicious dinner) and then got up to catch the bus and the train in to the heart of Venice - into the island - for an amazing day. First we had a walking tour - little alleys, canals, bridges... BEAUTIFUL!!!! I could have roamed the city all day taking photos of all the amazing sights. After this it was a visit to see a lace demonstration (wow, the effort that goes into to some of these works of art!!!!)

After the lace demonstration was saw a glass demonstration, and spent some time looking at the amazing chandeliers, glass wear, and jewellery that is made here in Venice using this incredible technique. Both the lace demo and the glass demo made me realise just how precious some of these traditional a trades & skills are - this is not something we want to lose! The effort, the heart, the skill required to create these things... It's astounding! Suffice to say, we bought some gifts in both shops hahaha. 

Once the demos were over, we had our GONDOLA RIDE!!! It's another one off the bucket list, and what a great ride it was! Down the little canals and through the streets... cruising along calmly.... It was over so fast, and it was delightful. We glided past buildings whilst the gondolier (is that the correct term!?!) pointed out many historical places of interest: the house of Casanova...the house of Mozart... And many others I can't even think of right now. So amazing, and so romantic and beautiful. 

With the gondola ride over, we made our way to a recommended eatery for some lunch and were not disappointed! Seriously delicious pizza... I could not fault it. If ever there was a place for yummy pizza, this is it (oh, and the water was sweet, and the napkins were softer than Irish linen). 100% on that food outing ^.^ Thank you Venice!!! 

Tonight we have a masquerade party - after hearing about the tradition of wearing masks and all the meaning behind it, everyone on the tour bought a colourful & decorative mask to wear to a party tonight after dinner. Can't wait!! It will be sad to leave Italy; we have spent quite some time here now, and it's such a marvellous place. Thank you for all your delicious pasta, pizza, wine, and gelato, beautiful Italy.