Verona

Verona was wonderful! I wish I had more pictures of the beautiful city, but I only took a couple and they didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.

The first day there I wasted so much time getting to my hostel because I kept doing Sudoku puzzles. When I finally arrived to my hostel to my surprise they had a piano. That night I played until midnight and I had a bunch of people in the room joining in on the fun. Many of them knew some of the songs I was playing so they were singing along. We happily sang through three verses of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, and then we stumbled through the fourth, and then I attempted the fifth. I guess there are sixteen total, but I'm sure that many would've worn out the song. They also knew a little Regina Spektor and ever since I have had Fidelity stuck in my head. Which is much better than having the new Coldplay song stuck in my head because that was there for a long time!

One girl asked if I could play Fur Elise. I used to always tell people no and that I never liked that song. However, it gets harder as the years go by to say that to people who really do love that song. And after a few years, I started to learn how to play it unwillingly. So I played what I could for her and then she wanted me to teach it to her. The funny thing is she didn't even speak English. Her friend translated for her that she wanted me to teach it to her. We tried playing it anyway.

The next day I received word that the opera that night was Bizet's Carmen. I had to go! I love Bizet's Carmen and the ticket prices were pretty cheap, €22.50, not bad. It was such a lovely evening! Upon entrance to the amphitheatre there are candles you can take so you can join in the tradition. Since 1908 (I think was the year) it has been tradition to light candles during the first act. The picture actually came out a lot brighter than it really looked that night. It was cool to see the many candles. The music was wonderful.

Juliet's balcony. I don't know if that means it was used in a movie or what... (After a comment I thought I would research the balcony.) Just so you know, I wasn't questioning who Juliet was, but I was questioning if in fact she is a fictional character then what is the purpose of saying this house and balcony belonged to her. It seems that the suspicion arosed over the years that the house belonged to the Capulets because of the owners many years ago that were named Capella. Suspicion turned into belief of many after the 1930's when the house was renovated and a balcony was added. Here is where I found some of the info on it: the Casa di Giulietta.