the jewel of italy, last stop: verona!

apologies for the lateness of the blog... we're home and havent had time, sorry!

we originally werent going to go to verona, but after hearing that ms basini (our old english teacher) had cousins there we thought it would be cool for a last stop. we got to verona at 12.30, rang roberta and sara (the cousins) and they said to meet at 2pm. we had to get to the camping and back, so we caught the bus (which was supposed to take 20 minutes) and were still on it at 1.50. hmmm. we had got the right bus in the opposite direction! and it didnt help that the driver stopped for two cigarette breaks AND the ticket inspectors wrote out tickets for 75% of the people on the bus. we got off the bus and looked up in dismay to see 300 stairs leading to the campsite. we powered up them, and now have rock hard calves. when we got to the camping at 2.20 we were met by a topless guy with dreadlocks. he was quite stoned and took half an hour to explain where everything was in the campsite, and we kept trying to say that we needed to go and could we check in later. we finally convinced him we had to go and caught a taxi to meet roberta and sara. we met them at the arena, which was like a mini colosseum. they took us to a cafe and they gave us a really nice book on verona. sara had highlighted everything we should go and see, which was fantastic. they took us to see some roman ruins, juliets house and the tower. sara convinced the guy on the desk to let us all in for student prices. i dont know exactly what she said, but it worked! from the tower we had a fantastic view of verona. they all had gardens on the roof! after the tower we went to check out the arena but it was the only day ever that it had closed early. 'you MUST see inside!' ordered sara. we made plans to go visit lake garda on the saturday and parted ways.

we got back to the campsite and picked up our bags. we found our way to the rent-a-tent (did i mention we left our tent on the train from sorrento?) and set up camp. we have a knack for picking campsites with awesome views, and once again we could see the whole city.

on friday we set off to explore verona. 

we went to the arena, which was very impressive. they still use it today, which is cool. we also saw castelvecchio, the bridge next to it and everything else there is to see. when we told sara and roberta about our exploration they exclaimed 'mumma mia!'

saturday was one of the best days that we have had on our whole trip. we had agreed to meet roberta and sara at the roman theater, as they were taking us to see the lake. we set off early morning in order to get a good part of the day there as it is about 40km away and the roads were clogged up with people doing the same as we were. after many vineyards and a few very tight corners, the scenery unfolded to a huge beautiful blue lake. it was like when you are heading towards the horizon and then you finally see the ocean. i was amazed, because when i picture a lake, i picture a dark murky sort of thing.. on commenting this thought to sara, she tutted and said that i was thinking of a billabong. the lake i'm talking about is Lake Garda, and it is the biggest lake in italy. it is pure crystal blue, and stretches as far as the eye can see, with huge mountains surrounding it and small villages dotted along the way. 

the town we stopped at was called Malcesine and was so beautiful. there were no cars allowed in the streets and it was an intricate maze of cobblestone. we went to a restaurant for lunch which overlooked the lake and the mountains behind. we had the nicest lunch, and ange and i had brought along our italian book , so we had many a comical conversation. for the most part, sara translated for us. she is really good at english, and it made us feel a tad ashamed that we only know english. we got talking about movies, and sara pointed to the mountain across the lake and said that that was the tunnel that there will be a huge car chase and accident in the new james bond movie coming out. knowing that i was at THE lake that they filmed james bond made my day.we wandered the village for the rest of the afternoon, seeing the castle with its breathtaking views, eating delicious gelati, and even seeing the smallest street in italy - it really was tiny. on the way home sara invited us out to dinner with them that night, and they dropped us off at the camp ground and roberta and her husband picked us up at 7.30. roberta had asked sara to tell us that she doesnt know any english at all. 

the car ride to the pizzaria was full of very animated conversation, half in italian and half in english. it was great! and we reckon that roberta is pretty good at english, she just needs some confidence in herself, because we managed to have a long chat with them about perth, and roberta could understand a lot of the individual words, as we could in italian. they absolutely LOVE perth. it was great talking about home with people from the other side of the world who loved it as much as we do.we arrived at the pizzeria which is in the heat of what they called their swan valley. it was a stunning view over the vineyards. we were greeted by roberta and sara's mum and dad, and saras husband and kids. they even wore perth t-shirts :)

 we learnt that ms basinis mum and sara and robertas dad (they are brother and sister) were born in the very place that we were eating at. we had the best night, with lots of laughing and lots of trying to explan things with oversized hand movements, and great pizza. they taught us sayings like 'vedi napoli a poi muori' which means 'you see naples and you die', which ange thought was hilarious. in return we taught them australian phrases like 'bloody oath', 'fair dinkum', 'woop woop' and 'higgeldy-piggeldy'. there were only a few pronunciation problems with the last one.

we were so chuffed that they had only just met us, but it felt like we had known them for ages. its hard to find people like that, and we are so grateful to have met them.

the next day we set off for paris. it took us two trains to get there, and we crashed in the hotel that night. we snuck out the next morning to get crepes for breakfast before checking out, and headed to charles de gaulle. the plane was delayed by half an hour to london, and then we nearly missed the plane from london to singapore because no one (qantas or british airways) would check us in. BA finally decided to open the flight for us and we ran through two terminals to get there. at singapore the flight was delayed by two hours (the longest delay we have had - thank goodness it was the last flight we had to take!) but we decided the best airport to be stranded at is changi. we had massages, showers AND got a free meal! we love singapore!

we got in to perth and were greeted by australian accents(!!) only to find that someone else had picked up jess' bag. we waited in customs for an hour before realising, and the airport delivered it the next day. so now back to the real world, but we'll leave you with a few favourites:

- icecream: stockholm soft ice (or mjuck glajss - pronounced mucus)

- pizza: rome, pizzarius (soooo good, and you choose how much you want!)

- meal: anything prue cooked!

- city: berlin, by far!

- country: sweden

- trains: ireland

- people: germans, irish, swedish

- day: there was a few - budapest, scootering the amalfi coast and lake garda

- morning: paris after a hideous train ride. go des Champs-Élysées in peak hour traffic!

- night: (s) dancing at the seine in paris, dinner in verona, dinner with kelly and prue, full sunlight at three am in sweden and sitting up with jon and fee at the caravan.

- 'oh my god the worlds going to end' moment: getting on the train from berlin to paris. jess will never let me forget it.

and many more, the list goes on...