The fair city

Enjoyed our day in Verona, wandering from piazza to piazza, taking in the art, and architecture, the views from the tower above the square, and then the castle on the river.

My blip is Piazza delle Erbe, where we sat for lunch. We asked the waiter what the folks at the other tables were drinking: it looked like Irn Bru but surely not? Aperol Spritz was the answer, and we had found our favourite drink for the trip.

Later we called in at the completely fake Juliet's balcony, a wee square buzzing with noise and people recording their devotion (to each other, Juliet or anything else they could think of) in every way possible: selfies, locks on the fences, letters in the postbox, names scrawled on gum and plasters.

Lastly we took our seats in the ancient outdoor arena for the opera. And as we did the heavens opened. We'd bought a couple of cushions and plastic ponchos, waited it out. When the thunder and lightening started we hid in the stairwells with the rest of the crowd. By 10pm the rain stopped, we found a seat on the stone steps, they mopped the stage and the show went on. Quite an experience, cast of hundreds, huge sets, singers relying on their skills and the acoustics rather than mics. Loved it.