Stephanie's uncle is the army chaplain, so on Friday morning, we got to go to the military base with her aunt. It was so weird! We were right in the middle of Italy, but all of a sudden, everything switched to American. It was so strange to hear people all around us speaking American English. There was even a shopping center that was exactly like Walmart! We were so excited to be in a familiar store, with familiar products and dollar prices! Unfortunately, even though I found all my favorite shampoos and lotions, I couldn't bring anything back in my carry-on. After running around in circles, we went to the food court and got Taco Bell! I rarely eat Taco Bell; I probably had it twice last year. But it sure tasted good!
We next drove a couple hours to Verona. In Verona, there is an old house that is said to be the house of Juliet - Shakespeare's Juliet! If you've seen Letters to Juliet... That's where we were! We went on the balcony, rubbed the statue of Juliet for good luck and wrote messages on the Juliet wall.
The Juliet house was really interesting. We saw paintings of the scenes of the play, paintings and furniture of the time period, old tile, beautiful costumes & props made for various movies and a drunk security guard.
Afterwards, we wandered through Verona. We passed under this huge arch about 100 feet in the air, from which a giant whale bone hung. According to legend, when a saintly, pure person walks under it one day, the bone will fall. I craned my neck to look up at it as I passed under. It didn't fall. I guess girls who steal their brother's Jolly Ranchers at the parade don't deserve to have whale bones fall from the sky.
We also went to this amazing little chocolateria! It was full of Christmas decorations, dolls, and nutcrackers. But it was
tiny and there were so many people. Even when we snagged one of the tiny tables, I had to be careful not to jab someone with my elbow when I reached for my mug. But that steaming mug full of thick chocolate and rich cream? Best thing ever.
Verona is gorgeous! It's a wonderful mix of modern clothing store streets, street markets, bakeries, stylish people, and even a Roman colosseum! We walked back through the brisk air as church bells tolled overhead. All of Italy has convinced me that one day, I will definitely live close to church bells.
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| We got awesome security passes to the base! |
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| Look at all the Victoria's Secret! |
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| I was inexplicably happy for my crunchwrap. |
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I love the guy's expression in the back. When we finished with the picture, they commented that
they don't usually see their Taco Bell being used as a tourist photo-op. |
i love this blog post! i don't know why but this is like my favorite. :)
ReplyDeletehaha, I love that whale bone part, especially the bit about it not falling when you passed under it :) what a strange legend! i'm sure that if/when I go there and walk underneath it, it will drop faster than the piano hanging over the cake in Veggie Tale's Esther: The Girl Who Became Queen. definitely :)
A student teacher came into spanish class this afternoon and after going over the vocab with us, she talked to us about Spain for about 45 minutes. then Mr. Schafer talked for another 30 minutes or so, so we didn't have any class! yay! but it was all really interesting. I can't wait to do ACA! i just have to decide between Spain or Argentina. right now i'm leaning towards Spain... but idk. we'll see!
I can't wait to see you! I miss you so much, munchkin!
and yes, you're welcome for the 4 paragraph blog post. ahah, make that five! :)
ReplyDeleteGood, I'm glad you liked it! Wow; you actually know and had to quote that whole title? Good grief, Estherita! You just like the connotation of your name! And if it drops that fast, you better move even faster. Otherwise your holier-than-thou purity will be done for, skewered on a whale rib.
ReplyDeleteYeah, you'll love ACA! I'll be able to tell you more about it when you're actually trying to decide. It's awesome, but really, honestly, it's not 100% amazing. Travel never is. And it's still school. Bt it's definitely going to be one of the best years of my life.
Argentina would be really cool too. But consider how important travel is to you also; you can't travel as much in Argentina. There's lots of pros and cons to Spain that I know now, and I'd love to talk about them with you when you're trying to decide!
I miss you too, monster! Oh, and btw, in total, it was 4 paragraphs. 3 in the first, 1 in the second. Just saying.
no. it was five. four in the first. after the first line i pushed enter. so there :P and noow, make that six :)
ReplyDelete