Day 2 - Italian Roadtrip incl Verona

This morning we were up bright and early to begin our trip north to Venezia (Venice). Although it was a long journey (about the same as Auckland to Wellington) and we did not arrive in Venezia until 5.30pm, we had a very enjoyable day.

The Italian countryside is not too dissimilar to New Zealand, hay bales and all. However, it is filled with gorgeous Italian country houses, sunflower paddocks and those big tall (poplar?) trees that you see in all Italian movies. The Italians all seem to have built there towns on the top of hills, and the towns are surrounded by fortified walls with church steeples in the centre.

While we enjoyed the scenery, 90% of the other passengers slept, having enjoyed a toga party until the early hours of the previous night. It seems we are the older passengers in the group.

We stopped for a tour around Verona, which is a beautiful town. It is full of clothes shops that Stef wouldn't let me go in and the streets look like a movie set, but better, because they are the real deal.

Verona is said to be home to Romeo and Juliet, so we visited Juliet's balcony, touched her boob (a statue, believed to be good luck) and saw people's love letters (think the movie "Letters to Juliet").

Verona also has a full amphitheater built in 30AD which is still standing, despite an earthquake wiping out the rest of the town in the 1200's. This was pretty impressive to see.

Tonight we are staying at Camping Jolly, just outside of Venizia. This campground is not as nice as the last one in Roma. We are about 10 metres from the motorway and our power keeps shorting out. We are in bungalows with private bathrooms which is great!

We do not get to go into Venizia itself until tomorrow so we cannot wait. We are off to bed already so that the morning comes around faster.

- Heidi