Oh Romeo, oh Juliet
Verona. The city of love.
Where the play Romeo and Juliet is set, I was hoping to find a place to sleep at.
I got to Verona around lunch time. On a sunny day. Strolling through what seemed like its main street, through an archway, onto cobblestone. There it was: the Colosseum.
Didn't even know there was one in Verona. But I guess that's the beauty of traveling from city to city without doing to much research on any given one. Simply going there and experiencing it.
In front of the Colosseum is a beautiful park with a fountain in its middle.
Sitting there I planned what to do and where to go.
I found out they had a river. And some kind of castle. That was located on top of a hill overviewing the city.
Let's go!
Of course, I had to make my way over there. See what this city looked like from the highest possible viewpoint.
Of course, I got lost. Quite a few times. But that's just another one of those beautiful little things you want to happen. Something that makes exploring a city all the more interesting. And exciting.
See, there are lots of places you can find that way that not even the locals know of.
I'm sure you could show me some great places in my hometown too if you'd take the time and stroll around.
On my way to the hill, I passed through a little shopping area.
Reminded again of how beautiful people in this city were. Smiling, laughing, running around and having fun. Maybe it was the sun, maybe it was the romantic setting, something about this city seemed to make everyone happy. Enjoy themselves.
A contagious happiness.
A view
Unfortunately, I didn't interact with too many people on my way to the castle. Had a brief interaction with two girls. Who were just passing by Verona on their way to Milan. And an older lady I asked where she got her ice cream from since I overheard her talking in German. And that ice cream looked delicious.
Oh, there was also a German Maserati but the driver looked like he was 800.
After sitting by the river for a little while I decided it was time to cross it. Make my way up the hill and to the castle. Check out the view.
Picturesque gorgeousness
At the top of the mountain, it dawned on me.
Was this city only built so people could take beautiful pictures of it? With it. Paint nice paintings and write wonderful tales about it. Maybe. Maybe not.
Anyway, I had to make a move before it literally dawned on me. Because with it being dark it would get cold and me a little uneasy.
Better act quick.
But my "game" seemed to be lacking.
So, I called up a friend.
Help
Asked him what he was up to.
He was downtown. Meeting up with a couple friends. Asking me where I was, what I was doing and where I was gonna sleep.
Not sure yet, was my answer to his last question.
That was about it.
While he seemed happy to talk to me, quite surprised I called him, he also seemed busy.
Didn't get around to ask him for advice, or hype me up to step up and game some more. He is five years older than me so I was hoping for some profound easing words, some life wisdom.
At the time it didn't occur to me. it didn't occur to me that I could simply ask strangers for a favor.
Mainly because I was so focused on running "Game" and sleeping at a girl's place, I missed out on simply letting go and having fun. Just fun. Without ulterior motives.
The best dinner
So, still without a plan, I looked for a place to grab dinner. Read about this awesome Enoteca, 5 star reviews, a bunch of them. Got there, ordered, and tried to find out where the young, cool and chic people of Verona would party. Not that I was part of the cool people but still.
Then my food came.
I got blown away by this chef's skills. It was incredible. My taste buds were thanking Tripadvisor and Google Maps and finally my feet for getting me to this place.
After I finished eating, I still had the same problem.
Where the sleep, and where to party to find nice strangers.
A decision had to be made quickly.
Random
It was still quite early in the night. Around 9 pm.
According to my self at that point, there was not much going on in Verona anymore for me to be lucky enough to still find a place to sleep.
Fact number one.
Fact number two was I didn't want to waste one of my travel days from Interrail.
When you use their pass you get X amount of travel days. You can take unlimited trains on any day you decide to travel. Back then I thought I would be running out of travel days, ended up having two left at the end of my journey, so I figured, if I can't find a place to sleep I should at least not waste a travel day.
I was gonna be in Milan tomorrow anyway so why not go their already.
The plan was made.
I would go to Milan early. And see what happens.
Get ready for the final part 3 tomorrow! :D