A Star-Crossed Day

Hey guys! Tibby here, wanna hear about our awesome 2nd day in Verona?! Of course you do!
Upon awakening in the quaint little bed and breakfast, we packed up and then ventured upstairs to eat breakfast. Breakfast was in a screened-in porch in the back of the house. We dined on bacon and ham, toast and jam, hard boiled eggs, pastries, and red orange juice. It was a good way to start the day.
The two older gentlemen who run B&B Happy Days are brothers and they run a fantastic B&B. They were so helpful to us and everything was clean and comfortable. They even printed off our opera tickets for us and then drove us to the bus station.
However, once at the bus station, we realized the next bus wasn't coming for over an hour. So we ploped ourselves down and Kyla tried to teach me an Italian card game called Scopa. There's alot to it and it's quite confusing, so I won't even attempt to describe it to you. You'll just have to play it with us sometime!

This particular bus stop was situated right next to a big traffic circle, so there were cars and mopeds constantly coming and going. After we'd been sitting there for some time, this car drove by and honked. We were kinda like, "huh, wonder what that was for?" But we ignored it. Not even a few seconds later, the same car circled around the traffic circle, honked at us, and the guy in the passenger seat was pointing further down the street. We were quite confused, so we sat still. So the car circled around for a second time, repeating the honking and pointing. We ignored it again, and then, it did a third circle. We were confused and trying to figure out what the deal was when this car left the traffic circle and just drove up right behind us. Kyla went over to see what the deal was and these two guys asked her if we needed help. She told them no, and that our bus was coming in just a few minutes. They then asked her for her facebook, to which she also said no. And just as quickly as they came, they left. Haha.
Shortly after, our bus arrived and we made our way into Verona and began the constant challenge/adventure of finding our hostel. We were blessed to have a map of Verona to go off of. We got ourselves to the correct street, and even found the right door. We then buzzed the little buzzer thing (I don't know what it's actually called; but I guess one could say "doorbell"). Well, as will always be the challenge, no one answered. We kept on buzzing that little buzzer for a few minutes before we gave up and went to plan B, which was to find a payphone and call the phone number that we had. That also took a bit of looking, but we found one, and Kyla talked with a guy that told her to go to a different door and that someone would assist us. The guy mumbled so fast that she couldn't hear who he was talking about. So we went to the other door the guy told us to go to, and had no idea which buzzer to buz. So, out of desperation, we buzzed them all! Haha. Oh our decision making can be quite interesting, I know. So anyways, suddenly we hear this little old lady's voice on the speaker, and all I can get out is "No Italiano", and then the door opens. We went in, and clueless as to where to go, we just started walking up the stairs. Then, from a couple floors above our heads, the old woman said something to us. So we walked up to her and tried to tell her the name of the place we were looking for, B&B Abazia). She looked just as confused as we were because she knew no English, and we know no Italian. It was a frustrating time for sure as we both kept trying to respond to each other in our own language. It's one of those times where you really hate the result of the tower of Babel. (Genesis 11:1-8)
Since we clearly weren't getting anywhere with this lady, we decided to go back to the payphone and call the guy again to get a clearer answer of where we were supposed to be.
This time I talked with him on the phone, and once again, he spoke SO quickly that it was very hard to get a clear answer of what was going on. Basically all I could get out was that we were supposed to go back to that door and that someone was supposed to assist us and that he would be there in 15 minutes. So slightly confused, we just made our way back to the door and stood there on the sidewalk, sticking out like sore thumbs. We stood there for only about 5 minutes before this young woman from the cafe next door came out and said, "B&B Abazia?" Immediately, we responded "YES!", and she ushered us into her cafe. She also didn't speak english too well, but enough to communicate that we were to wait there for the guy to come.
We only waited 10 minutes before he came bursting through the door and came up to us and immediately began apologizing for making us wait. We kept telling him it was ok and then he walked us over to the B&B, all the while speaking English very well and faster than most English speakers. Seriously, this guy spoke English SO fast that we had to pay very close attention to what he was saying in order to absorb and understand it all. He made us chuckle.
You could tell he was in quite a rush because he was rushing all over the place, but he was still warm and welcoming. He told us that he was going to put us in a better room for the same price because the one we had booked was not ready yet. So he led us into our upgraded room (which was also not ready) and let us put our bags down. He then "checked us in", which means you show them your passport, sign a form and pay. Again, it was all done rapidly, yet hilariously. Then he gave us a map that had all of the top tourist spots circled. He did a quick run through of where to go and which streets are good for shopping. I wish I could accurately describe how quickly he spoke English. It was seriously so quick, and very well done. He only had to pause a couple of times to get the words right. After giving us a rundown of the city, he gave us keys and and told us a few other tid bits we needed to know, and then he moved on to whatever other tasks he had for the day.
With map in hand, we put together a gameplan and launched out to explore Verona. Kyla and I both enjoyed Verona immensely and really enjoyed the feel of it. It's calm, relaxed, and quiet. Yet it also has enough going on that you could always find something to do. We spent our afternoon and evening wandering through the streets and hitting the tourist spots. Those included this super awesome and old Roman bridge, Juilet's house, Juliet's tomb, and the arena. (Sadly, Romeo's house was closed for some unknown reason).

Kyla, walking along the riverfront

The entire entry way into Juliet's house is COVERED with gum, graffiti, and notes.

So we of course had to start chewing gum to add our notes!

But before we added notes, we saw the balcony first!

After gaping at the balcony, we had to do the classic tourist deal and rub Juliet's boob! haha

In the courtyard, there is this huge metal gate and, as you can see, it is quite the popular spot for couples to put locks on it with their names.

We then headed over to add our notes to the wall, using the gum to stick it there! 

My note!

Kyla's note!

Moving on from Juliet's house, we tried to see Romeo's house, but it was closed for some unknown reason. So, a bit let down, we headed over to Juliet's tomb. I'll be honest, it wasn't really all that amazing. It's one of those things where anyone could have put a slab of stone there and said it was her tomb. Regardless, here it is.

After that, we went towards the arena to see it in the day light, and to find dinner! Around the outside of the arena are all of the HUGE props that are used for all of the operas that go on during the summer months. They are pretty cool.

Yummy pizza dinner!!!

We were feeling quite tired, so we went back to our hostel to nap for a bit before dolling ourselves up to go to the opera that night!!
After picking out outfits and messing with our hair for quite some time (can I get an "amen!" ladies?!), we were finally ready to walk over to the arena for the opera.

Gettin' ready!

Beautiful Kyla!!

Me!

Ready to go!

Once there, we exchanged our printed out tickets for real tickets, and entered! We were ushered into some pretty great seats that happened to be the second row from the top of the arena, nearly right in the middle of the arena. Even though we were far from the stage, we had a great vantage point! Using a pair of binoculars, we thoroughly enjoyed the 5-part opera presentation of Romeo and Juliet. For both of us, it was our first opera, and even though I'm not a fan of opera 98% of the time, how could I pass this up? Come on, it was Romeo and Juliet; in French; in Verona, Italy; in the arena built by the ancient Romans in 30 AD. Again, how could we pass this up?! Clearly we couldn't.
And it was quite the production too. It showcased giant props, a large cast, and a pit orchestra. I think for me, one of the coolest things about it was that because it's the ancient arena, there is not a single microphone used. The pure acoustics in the design of the arena allow for one voice to sing on one end of the arena, and you can hear it perfectly on the other end. It was astounding.

Made it to our seats!

Our view of the stage! So far away! haha

Us with our tickets!

The stage...all aglow...so marvelous!

Intermission!!

So so cool!

When Juliet "dies"!!!! AAAHHH!!!!

The cast, taking their bows!

The whole thing took close to 4 hours, but it was so worth it!! And as soon as it was done, we walked back to our hostel and dropped into bed.
And there you have it! The summation of our 2nd day in Verona! See ya next time.