Benches and balconies

I woke up in the morning with what seemed to be the beginnings of a plan.  I knew that I wanted to get to Verona, but honestly I am not even sure why. I just really wanted to see Verona!! So I hopped on a train with a girl I met at the picnic last night, marni, and we headed east together.  

Now... This is where the story gets a little sketchy... See, I had done my research on Verona only to find that there were no hostels in the city. All I could find were very Vexpensive b&bs, and even those were impossible to get to without a car.  This didn't make any sense at all in my mind. Verona is a big tourist city!! There MUST  be a place for backpackers to go... Right? To be on the safe side I checked out a hostel in the city of bologna that I could take a train to if there was nowhere to stay in Verona. 

So I bravely hopped off the train, and said goodbye to marni and made my way to the old city. On the way, I met a young Ecuadorean girl who was studying in Germany and visiting italy.  Anna and I decided to stick together and see the sights for the day. We eventually found a tourist office, that explained that there are two hostels in the city (yes!)... But the one i needed was about a 30 minute walk away.  No problem!  So we started our hike up to the hostel on the other side of the city.  Of course what we didn't factor in was all of our picture taking, sight seeing time.  So by the time we were actually headed to the hostel, it was quite late. The woman at the tourist center had warned us that one hostel was full already, but she didn't know about the other.  This meant, unfortunately that if this hostel had no rooms left, I would not be able to make the train to bologna, and had no other prospects of a room...

While we were in Latvia, Aunt Silvya and Valerie teased me a little about my lack on planning... And I told them that if worse came to worst I could always sleep on a park bench!! Of course, that notion is much funnier when you aren't actually faced with not knowing where you will be sleeping that night... 

Needless to say, my stress level was high.

To get to the hostel we had to cross the river and practically climb a mountain. Oh, and did I mention that it's hot here?? I went from rainy and cold to melt-you-like-butter heat.  So we were dripping and winded when we finally made it to the hostel.  

I have been blessed with what we call "wiersema luck"... And things usually work out for us! Luckily the hostel had plenty of space, AND it was by far one of the coolest hostels I have stayed in yet.  It used to be a monastery, and it's atop a hill that overlooks the entire city.  There is a beautiful garden with ruins and statues, and even a chapel on the grounds.  I nearly started to cry, from relief of having a bed, and the absolute beauty from out my window.  

That evening I met a wonderful woman from Canada who was probably in her early 70's also staying at the hostel.  Her name was Irene, and I could barely understand her her Russian accent was so thick. (we never got around to finding out how she got to Canada...). But anyway she was feeling a bit lonely so I invited her to switch to our room.  She had so many stories to tell, of where she'd been, and who she'd met... And she told me that she still stays in hostels just because that is the best place to meet people.  Isn't that cool?? Anyway, she was staying in Verona until the opera started (I'll talk about that later) and then also planning on heading to croatia, so we briefly discussed traveling together.  I don't think the timing will work out, but she's a really wonderful woman!  

Although right now she is snoring in the bunk below me...

Anyway, i have fallen in love with Verona!  I am so excited to explore this beautiful city...