Fairly Wet Verona and the Holy Sees Double

Thursday morning, we grabbed an early waterbus, amidst some leaky clouds, and stopped by Murano for about half and hour. This allowed for a quick glimpse into the art of glass blowing, and some stops along the closest road, but not much else, so I bought nothing but admired the color and shine of the various exhibits. We were on a tight schedule because we were catching the next dry land vehicle out of here.



For a change form the typical tourist's track, we trained into Verona toward the evening, where another study abroad student offered her hospitality to us. I was especially grateful since I had no idea where to find the hostel I had booked. All I will ever know is that it was above a bakery. We roamed the streets, explored a castle, all the wall soaking up with rain. I had my first Italian Pizza that night, a stunning display of seasoned style and flavor. We also walked by the famous Juliet Statue, but it was unfortunately closed.

The next morning, well barely because we woke up at 4:45, our host walked us through the last of the night and puddles to the train station, and bid us farewell as we meandered through the countryside, with the dawn and 500g of yogurt for breakfast, back to Roma Termini.

Arriving at about 10am, we headed straights to the Vatican, where we found the cheapest tour available and had a nice walk through the largest museum in the richest state in the world. Among artifacts was an enormous bathtub made of Egyptian marble, a hall of Raphael tapestries, including a Jesus scene with an optical illusion, the Sistine Chapel, where pictures video and sound were bound and broken, and the post office. From there we went back to a special gellateria, suggested to us by the tour guide. It was expensive, but the flavors won them an award recently, so I tried meringue and honey, both sweet. That was pretty much the day since the girls were all heading back early in the morning, and I had no energy after the early wake up and pre-dawn hike. I found the ramahniks again in my hostel that night though, a wild coincidence repeated, and planned the remaining two days of my trip, now solo.