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Sunday, July 15
Beaches & Operas
The next morning, our lost bag situation forced us to have a relaxed day. This was probably a good thing. A hot, lazy summer day and a beautiful lakeside Italian town are not things that one should miss experiencing.
An oval on the world
Sleepy-heads
Starting our day
We took the day easy, heading down to the supermarket to get groceries for our little apartment and for our upcoming mountain outings. Then, we headed down to the lakefront beaches for a refreshing swim in the lake.
courtesy PChen
courtesy PChen
The cliffs loom high!
Exploring the town
A Baroque Church
The views south onto the lake were stunning, with a panoply of windsurfers flitting to and fro like so many insects on the surface of a pond, and framed on either side by blue skies and steep, jagged cliffs.
A stonewalk
Capturing the 3rd of November
Elegant Lakeshore
Although the day was very hot (at 38C), the water was not as warm as we would have expected, attesting to Lake Garda's great depth. The beach, too, was a little less than desirable, being less than smooth fine sand and more like rounded white marbles with some rocky outcrops. It was pretty packed with people, though, and we had to search a bit for a smidgen of beachfront to call our own.
courtesy PChen
A bit like amalfi?
Hot and Cold
Lakeside walk
We had a bit of Italian fine arts on order for the evening: reservations at the famous outdoor opera in Verona. The opera runs throughout the summer on most nights of the week, and is held in the most wonderful and atmospheric of places: the 2,000 year old roman amphitheatre in the heart of Verona.

After our swim and relaxing afternoon on the lakeshore, we returned to our hotel to learn that Pu's lost bag was making its way towards us. It had apparently arrived at the Verona airport, where it was awaiting courier service to us here at the hotel. Given that it was already late afternoon, it seemed increasingly possible that the bag might not get into our hands before the next morning, which would again nix our chances of doing a ferrata. I suggested that it made much more sense for us to head to the Verona airport ourselves and pick up the bag from there. This fit in well with our plans, since we were going into Verona for the opera anyway.
courtesy PChen
Back in Business
We all piled into a single vehicle and drove the one hour to the Verona airport. The airport is regional, so it was modest in size, but nevertheless it was packed with travellers. We located the service counter and, after some comments from our agent about excessive Italian paperwork, we waited around as Pu's bag was brought out. We were now ready to hit the wires!

From the airport we drove the short distance into the city. Verona is known as the 'Florence of the north', and has much in the way of beautiful architecture and art. It is also the home of Shakespeare's famous Romeo and Juliet, complete with a tourist-y setup at what was supposed to be Juliet's house, complete with the famous balcony.
courtesy PChen
Down to the Porta Nuova
La Porta Nuova
Anfiteatro di Verona
We parked close to the old amphitheatre and strolled into town, stopping by to pick up our opera tickets (which I'd reserved in advance on the internet). From there we walked down towards one of the more scenic piazzas - the long and narrow Piazza Erbe. Along the way we stopped by at a phone store to pick up a cheap SIM card, which we'd use during our travels to make local phone calls with Darryl's cellphone. The cost for the card was 30 Euros, and this covered us for our whole trip.
Piazza Bra
Killing for show
The outer facade
courtesy PChen
Plants and stuff
Nearing the plaza of the herbs
Piazza delle Erbe
courtesy PChen
courtesy PChen
The Torre dei Lamberti
Frescoed house
Balconies and Frescoes
courtesy PChen
Jenn in Verona
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