Adventures of a Wandering Thirtysomething

Early on Sunday morning we headed to Verona for a few hours on our way to Lake Como. With utmost confidence in our train skills following a chat with a tourist information representative who actually spoke English, we hopped on the train anxious for our day hanging out in Romeo and Juliet’s town. We arrived in Verona, jumped off the train, and headed off the platform. Instead of finding a bustling transportation system, it was a scene out of one of those old western movies where the camera pans to the scenery and it’s a desolate wasteland. If Italy had tumbleweeds, they would have been rolling through this train station.

We looked around the empty station. According to the schedule, no trains would be coming in or out for 3 hours. There was no information desk. No bus. No taxi. No phone to call a taxi. Nothing. We were on our own. Upon closer inspection of the station, we realized we were in Verona, but way on the wrong side. After damning Rick Steves for a good 10 minutes for failing to explain that small Verona was apparently big enough to have two train stations, we started our long hike into town to find where we were supposed to be.

As avid watchers of Amazing Race, we put our Race skills to good use and started asking people on the street how to walk to the tourist spots in Verona. One man, who knew exactly two words of English, laughed at our suggestion to walk and said we needed a bus. But that only works if you have a bus ticket and know how to use the bus system. Even in America we don’t know how to do that. We opted for another Amazing Race trick in asking people to use their phones to call a taxi, which basically consisted of a phone hand gesture and saying “phone?” over and over. One man pointed to a public phone, which only took calling cards. We had no calling cards, and he definitely wasn’t giving up his cell phone to a couple of dimwitted Americans on the wrong side of the tracks. So into town we hoofed it and came upon a convenience store. The lady inside knew exactly 3 words of English, but thank goodness “taxi” was one of them and she took pity on us and called one. Despite the taxi company’s insistence it would take only four minutes to pick us up, they must have been on Italy time because it took about 45, but we finally made it to the correct part of town (which, by the way, was no where near the boondocks we landed in). Drenched in sweat and on hour number two of carrying our loaded down backpacks, we hiked our way through Verona’s beautiful piazzas, saw Juliet’s balcony, and enjoyed the charm of a town that was the exact picture we had painted in our pre-travel minds of what Italy would be like. If you are ever headed to Venice, stay in Verona and day trip to Venice. You won’t regret it.

In spite of our earlier train woes, we braved the rails again and made it to Lake Como for a nice overnight lakeside retreat. We did absolutely nothing but walk around and enjoy the scenery. And Rick Steves redeemed himself a bit following our train debacle, which we totally blame on him (just kidding), with his awesome restaurant recommendations. The food was amazing. In my mind, retirement looks like the Lake Como life.

Photo #1 Juliet's Balcony in Verona.

Photo #2 Villa Gardens in Varenna

Photo #3 Villa Gardens in Varenna

Photo #4 Streets of Varenna

Photo #5 Town of Varenna on Lake Como