"Foto for your Facebook?!"

So, the blogging frequently thing failed. Since the last post, I have been to Verona and back, wandered around Milan, Lake Como and back, and wandered some more around Milan. Tomorrow, our train leaves to Venice at 7:35a.m. from Milano Centrale.

Verona was last Saturday, and it was a blast. The pace of life was much slower than Milan, although we did stay in the more touristy areas so it was mainly tourists wandering. I heard British, American, German, Swiss, and of course Italian accents throughout the day. Some of the different landmarks that we saw were:

• The Roman Arena (Verona's mini Colosseum, built by the Romans thousands of years ago, which now hosts concerts, operas, and plays. Deep Purple was scheduled to play the next day.)
• Castelvecchio (A castle built in the 1300's)
• Verona's Duomo (only the outside)

Here's a few pictures, but check out the rest of them in the gallery:

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There were a few more, but I mainly just enjoyed looking at all of the architecture and the distinct differences in the way Italian cities and towns are arranged, and shaped. The bridges over the river were really cool.

Fun fact: outside of the Roman Arena, there are street performers dressed up as Roman gladiators that want you to take a picture with them and then expect payment in a few Euros, typically around 5 Euro. They got so desperate that every time Adrie and I walked past they would yell out, "Foto for your Facebook!" in the most Italian accent you can think up. Savvy. Overall, the trip to Verona was a very nice change of pace and relaxation. The trains are easy and I highly recommend anyone traveling in Italy to go by train, you will almost never need a car. Trenitalia does a special during the summer months where if you buy two tickets on any trip in Italy, traveling on a Saturday, you get buy one get one free. It's saved Adrie and I a bundle in getting to these gorgeous places.

Verona was very hot, so walking around for twelve hours in the heat and only sitting down for a nice long dinner at the end was exhausting. We spent the next few days in the apartment back in Milan, with short day trips out to view different parts of the city. I am so thankful for Adrie's family for taking me in and lucky to have an opportunity to be based out of one of the most interesting parts of Italy for four weeks. This is my preferred way of discovering a new place by a longshot. Traveling to a new city every day only gets you a small taste of the icing on the cake. Being able to deeply discover one city, and witness the differences in others is the most fun and enriching way of traveling.

After a few lazy days in Milan, we traveled to Lake Como, home of the international Hollywood elite (George Clooney) and an amazing region. Easily one of my favorite places I've ever been. We only saw a very small portion of the lake, and a picture of a map in my gallery explains it easier. The lake was absolutely gorgeous, and all the buildings and homes (more like mansions) were unreal. Luckily for us, the sun came out in full force when we took a passenger boat ride (the preferred way of travel for easy taxi to all the different towns on the lake) and we got to see the southwest portion of the lake.

Fun fact: The Las Vegas casino The Bellagio is designed and modeled after the town of Bellagio, which is on Lake Como, where the two southern forks of the lake meet. We weren't able to make it up there that day, but travel to Como is cheap from Milan (45 minute train ride for about 10 Euro), so hopefully we will soon. It's supposed to be the best town on the lake.

Some more wanderings in Milan greeted me with the Ferrari store, where the model cars are priced at 4600 Euro, which is just under $7,000. There was an engine part of a Ferrari that was worth more than my car, and some other desktop models were worth more than my tuition.

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Today in Milan we ventured to the district of town with the canals (not exactly sure what it's called, but it's on the West side of the city center. I really enjoyed that portion of town, and it's less expensive than where the apartment is located, although "less expensive" in Milan is all relative. The shops were more interesting and not as designer-style shopping; more my style, although I do like looking at all the stuff I'll never buy that Adrie wishes I would wear, if I had more style. I found a really cool record shop that I didn't go into yet, and an antiques shop that had really cool photos of Milan and the Duomo square around 1900. I also enjoyed a pastry with 3 different flavors of gelato in the middle, that sort of resembled an ice-cream burger. Well worth the 1000+ calories. I will definitely be wandering back to that section of town soon, and browsing the record shop. On the door of one of the little shops we browsed was one of my favorite quotes to date, and fits a purpose of this trip:

"He who does not travel, knows not the value of men."

Tomorrow we're off to Venice, which will prove to be hard to fit in everything we want to in 10 hours, but will definitely be amazing.

Word to the wise: private gondola rides (like you've seen in movies) will cost you and your date around 150 Euro. That equates out to $212. Needless to say, I feel bad about not indulging Adrie in some romantics, but not $212-on-a-college-student's-salary bad. She understands, and I love her for it. More pictures to come.