Caught the train out of Venice into Verona, where we checked into a Bed and Breakfast at the apartment of a very nice Italian couple. They showed us where the sights were, and even offered us a free opera ticket! Unfortunately, we couldn't take the ticket, since we needed 2 that were in the same section. Anyway, after dropping off our things, we headed towards the center and the arena to get our tickets for the night's opera. Got seats all the way on the side, almost but not quite behind the stage. Afterwards, a leisurely lunch, then off to see "Romeo and Juliet"...well, at least to see their houses (that is, if they weren't fictional characters). Some wandering around, window shopping (since the stores were closed on Sunday...and also probably for summer holidays), then back to the B&B to change for the opera. On the way back to the Arena, it started raining...hard! We had to take shelter and wait for it to stop a little bit. We were afraid the opera was going to be cancelled because of it, which would've been a shame, since that's what we came for. But, after 30 minutes, the worst has passed, and people started making their way to their seats and wait 2 hours for the opera to start!
The rain and the long wait was worth it...the opera was great...beautiful sets, and of course, the singing and the dancing. By the end, though, we were soaked from sitting on wet stone steps, and very cold! We didn't get back until well after midnight, and we had an early train to catch the next day!
Somehow, we managed to get up early and catch our train to Milan. Got to the hotel around 11am...they let us check in early, though, so we were able to leave our stuff there and head out to Como, where all the locals are headed for the holiday (Aug 15). We got to Como and headed straight for the lake...walked around the lake, then checked out the town center. Had a bit of trouble finding places to have dinner...most of the restaurants didn't open for dinner until 6pm, and we wanted to catch the 7pm train back to Milan! So we ended up just catching the train and having our dinner once we got back into town. Even that was a bit tricky, since almost everything is closed for the holidays!
The next day, we checked out early and left our luggage at the hotel for the day. Headed straight for the Duomo, which was indeed the most gothic cathedral I've seen so far! Also checked out the museums as Castello Sforzesco, and got a look at La Scala (from the outside, though). Then, we did what everyone else does in Milan...go shopping! Although we didn't really end up buying much...everything was still too expensive, despite the end of season sales. Also, a lot of the stores were closed..again for the holidays. Including one particular store....
Then, luckily enough we found a nice restaurant that was open, so we had a real dinner, then collected our bags and caught the night train to Naples.
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