feb 21 ~ train to italy/verona ~ part 1

day 1 > bern > bologna, italy
in a sleeper car... first time.. 6 ppl/beds to one car...as u can see, its very tight, best photo already of entire room :P
hallway between the rooms
me on my bed...

then...that morning we arrived in bologna to switch trains to head to mantova (part 2), then for lunch we checked into our hotels in verona and headed to vicenza for the rest of the day:

in the train to vicenza.. very comfortable chairs, for vicenza (part 3)

after dinner in vicenza, we headed back to verona to take a night stroll:
plaza outside the arena, right by our hotel
arena at night
verona was the best... i loved it the most :)

feb 21 ~ mantova ~ part 2

arriving very early into mantova, not being able to lock up our luggage, we carried it around the whole city with us... cobble stone roads and heavy backpack = not good combination

opera house

first time i've seen a harpsichord in real functioning form... i asked to play on it... although i made a fool out of myself, i had fun... it is quite different playing on it compared to the piano... the key spacings are different, therefore the reach i'm comfortable with wasnt there... and.. the touch too... the weight u put in your fingers to hit the keys is also different... i realize why we play 'bach' the way we do now :P
me... exhausted.. but smiling

castle in mantova

feb 21 ~ vicenza ~ palladio ~ part 3

arriving in vicenza... it is a crazy town of palladio... its like.. palladio feast... a buffet of buildings all along the central street... and scattered around the town are palladio's villas.. including the rotunda (see feb 23):
some church
main street, the buffet of palladio

main plaza

yeh! ~
palladio sculpture and me posing :)
palladios ~

feb 22 ~ verona ~ city ~ part 1

waking up to a beautiful day... our first destination was scarpa's bank (part 2), then the arena/coliseum (part 3)... then castel vecchio (part 4)... and lastly the roman theatre (part 5):
bridge beside castel vecchio, beautiful view
main piazza in verona ~ possible where the montagues and capulets fought?
juliets house/balcony and figure, notice where everyone touches her?

the roman theatre behind me... (where the arches are)
the boys
the best part to being in italy is: gelato every day!!! (1 euro ~ what a deal)

i got tired after an tire day.. and climbing the mountain behind the roman theatre... i got a piggy back ride... thx matt :P
dinner at a restaurant in what is romeo's house!!!! (this is fresh pasta with duck sauce.. yum)
horse meat :)

feb 22 ~ verona ~ scarpa's bank ~ part 2

very sad that we werent able to get in... morgan is the best... he tried... we got a phone number to call .. and it turns out... we only needed to pre-book it a few days ahead... it was too late... if only we knew... but i'm glad there was tons of scarpa architecture to go around

feb 22 ~ verona ~ arena ~ part 3

inside my very first roman arena, i'm happy :)

compare: new steps

old steps

notice this is taken at the long end of the ellipse... due to perspective it appears as a perfectly circular arena... (was this one purpose?)
pigeons in my way :P

feb 22 ~ verona ~ castel vecchio ~ part 4

scarpa converted this castle into a museum:


the three of us had found a staircase up to the bridge level connecting all the towers... we even climbed some of the towers... here's us up there :) (matt got locked out)

more pics from the top

inside one of the towers (the net is there to stop pigeons flying in)
interesting staircase (possibly by scarpa)
of all the details that scarpa invented... i love his reinvention of the stairs the most... its perfect for climbing up/down