Last weekend we packed the dogs in the car and headed to Verona. It is only a couple of hours drive but sometimes I just need to get out of the house 🙂 We stayed in a great hotel within walking distance to the Verona sights. As we were driving to Verona, we passed many exits for Lake Garda on the Autostrade. All the exits were backed up down the highway with campers and cars towing boats. We were just at Lake Garda last weekend and it was crowded but not as bad as that! I didn’t figure out why until we checked in the the hotel and the receptionist told me it was a national holiday. Oops. I’ll check that before I make reservations next time!

Traveling with the dogs is a mixed bag. Most hotels accept pets but some only allow small dogs. Our dogs are not small! Sometimes we have to pay an extra fee. We never leave them alone in the room because I’m sure that they would bark. We take turns eating breakfast so one of us can stay in the room with the dogs. We enjoy their company but we cannot see a lot of places because they are not allowed. We still haven’t found a dog sitter yet because I am a nervous Nelly when it comes to leaving my pets and I need a person that speaks English. Our vet here speaks English but there are just some words that do not translate well and a lot is lost in the translation.

We saw the Verona Arena but we didn’t take a tour because of the dogs. The Arena is still used for concerts and there is a famous Opera Festival there every summer. It was fascinating to see how big it was. The line to see the Arena was long and it was in the mid 80’s so we probably wouldn’t have wanted to stand in it anyway! We will tour the Roman Coliseum in August when Stacey, Craig and Devon are here.

The Arena is located in Piazza Bra and that is where we had lunch. There was a strong Italian Armed Forces presence there.

We then went to another famous Piazza, Piazza Erbe to do a little street shopping.

 

It was so hot and the dogs were melting so we headed back to our hotel and on the way we stopped at Castelvecchio.  Castelvecchio is on the Adige River which is the second longest river in Italy. The views were (as I have said many times before) stunning.

We relaxed in the air-conditioning for awhile before going to a pizza place for dinner. We sat outside and next door was the best gelato that we have ever had at Gelateria La Romana! They had really great prices and service but the best part was the chocolate or creme that they put in the inside at the bottom of the cone before they put the ice-cream in. It’s just a drop but it melts and covers the cone so it doesn’t leak and it tastes delicious!  It’s a nice treat at the end of a nice treat!

Verona is a really cool city. I didn’t realize how big it is. We will definitely go back even if it’s only for the gelato!