Lack of WiFi at Lake Garda prevented the following being posted on 29 August:
A funny thing happened as we were leaving Venice yesterday. We were at the railway station, waiting for the 4.20 to Geneva, which would stop at Verona, our next destination. We knew everything about our train except what platform it would leave from. The departure time came closer and closer, but still no advice about the platform. At 4.21, we were a bit desperate for information. Finally, I spotted a staff member. He knew nothing, but just then 'Platform 14' flashed up. We and many others rushed to Platform 14. As we arrived, the train departed without us. We and the rest objected vociferously to the staff member, who implored us to follow him to the ticket office. There, he castigated another staff member, who then spent many feverish minutes organising new tickets for us all, but only after hearing colourful words of protest from inconvenienced German, English, Chinese, Italian and Australian passengers. (A young Chinese passenger had even photographed the display sign, showing the scheduled time of 4.20 with no platform info, under a clock showing 4.21.) In the end, we were only inconvenienced by about 25 minutes.
We arrived in Verona, and checked into our hotel well after 6pm. We bussed it into town and walked around. We saw the Piazza Bra, where a large, Roman Colosseum-like building stands, known as the Arena. Although an ancient site, the Aida Opera will be held in there tonight. If we had had more time in Verona, we would have attended this Opera too. It's meant to be a big, special occasion.
We walked around. Soon, we found the balcony where Juliet said: "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?" A gate prevented us from going close to the balcony, but, hey, that's OK. We then walked along the Fiume Adige, the river that cuts through the city. By now getting fairly dark, we headed back towards Piazza Bra, and had dinner. We should have caught a taxi home. We followed the hotel manager's advice regarding the buses, and got lost.
Juliet's balcony (".......Ooh, Romeo..")
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