Myyyyyy Verona

Couldn't be more Italian.

As it is the Easter Weekend, many of Milan's fine young things escaped to their hometown (and for those whose hometown *is* Milan, there are mountains to which to escape). I decided to take a day trip and had heard good things about the Cinque Terre (failing that, the idea was to go to Genoa). However, given the mass exodus, there were problems with me buying tickets to Liguria on the fast ticket machine, so I went for Plan C. Verona.

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene...

Verona is delightful. It's a small city (?) with the centro storico built within the loop of the river. My impression of Verona is that unlike Naples or Milan, there is much less grafitti and as a result, it feels far less like a neglected centre of glory and much more like a destination in itself. I s

Tourist trap? Probably.

After struggling to find the centre (needs better signposting and the Rough Guide needs a more extensive map), I checked out these market stalls for a bit of a nibble of delightful (wheat free!!) almond biscuits. After the "sit in piazza, eating biscuits", I meandered the side streets - narrow, mostly shades of orange, with an almost indescribable Italian feel to the architecture. The perfect place to get lost and take photos.

I quite like the effect of my dirty lens

Of course, it did start raining later in the afternoon. I took full advantage of this by hopping into a large book store, which I think was independent one. Books purchased were classic tomes: "Le Petit Prince" in French, and the Sex and the City novella, in Italian, which I've not read in English. It was still raining when I'd finished perusing the selection of books on offer, so I sat in the cafe, with jazz music playing in the background and read some of "Le Petit Prince". I definitely should have read this before!! It is really rather funny. I feel guilty (!) for not reading the Italian version, but I've wanted it for ages and it is a French book. It is quite amazing how, even though I've not been an active French-speaker for a few years now, it's just easier to read than Italian right now. I'm quite glad - in 5 months' time, I will want to be better at Italian, given I live here, but for now, I did study French for 9 years, I ought to be able to read a children's book!

Verona Arena - a Roman building which is huge and still used today.

Eventually, the time came for my train home. A 5 mile explore, 2 foreign language books and a 1.5 hour train journey later, a tired yet happy Claire landed in the flat.

Given the men all dress like this, can you blame me for wanting to stay?