Verona, Venice, and Climbing the Campanile

Our first view of Venice from the train station.

Today we got up and moving around 7:30, we had breakfast, got dressed, and made sure that we were completely ready and packed. By 8 we were walking to the train station to pick up another rental car. We got a slightly older version of the same car as last time (Peugeot 308), and it also was not the station wagon version, but the hatchback version. We got situated in the car and drove out of the city and onto the highway. Griffin got a little grumpy, but other than that the car drive went pretty smoothly. We then started following signs to Verona, supposedly the home of the story "Romeo and Juliet". When we arrived we headed towards the building which is thought to be Shakespeare's idea of Juliet's home, and that the balcony is the same one he wrote about. We drove through town looking for a parking spot. After driving past a cool gate, the citadel, (very very large wall in this case), and the ancient Roman arena. When we finally did find a parking spot, we headed in the direction of Juliet's balcony. When we arrived, before we walked into the courtyard with the balcony, we walked through a tunnel that had people's love letters to Juliet all over them. My parents wrote some, as did Hailey and Griffin. We walked into the packed courtyard (full of middle-schoolers, on our way out we walked past and almost no one was there) and saw the famous balcony, and on the ground, a statue of Juliet. We went first to the statue, and it is tradition to rub Juliet's breast, so we did. We all took a picture of us with Juliet. Then my parents took a picture of them kissing under the balcony. After that we went to the gift shop. Before we even entered, we saw a gate with tons of colored locks on them, each with two peoples names on them. Awwww. Then we saw a wall covered in chewed gum, with peoples names written on them too. It was kind of gross, but kind of cool too. We did not get anything at the gift shop, but headed to a market area for lunch. While there we had sandwiches and hand pizzas, with some water. We then walked pack to our car and got in. We were by this time, not far from Venice and it only took us a little while to get there. When we did we started by trying to find the flat that we were renting. It would have been hard to find initially, and add to that the fact that very few streets and alleys are actually labeled. It took us a while but we eventually found it and checked it out a little. We found it very modern and nice, but a little cluttered. We then left the apartment and followed signs to Saint Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco). When we got there it was too late tot go into the Basilica San Marco, but we could still go up the bell tower or Campanile. We were amazed at how short the line was, so we went and did it. We had expected to have to climb the stairs, but discovered we were not allowed and had to take the elevator to the top. When we were at the top we saw an amazing view of the city. It was a clear day too and it was incredible. We saw the whole city and all the canals. While we were staring in amazement at the city, the bells in the tower started ringing!!!! It was so loud, but it was really cool and we stayed until it finished. Only two of the bells were ringing, so I can't imagine what it is like with all four going. We then went down the elevator and went to our apartment for the night. Hailey and I each slept on a bunk (both were separate, not a bunk bed) while Griffin slept on a bed on the floor. I will describe it some more in my next post. Please comment, I'll be posting again soon. Below are pics of our apartment.