Whew!  On Friday, our tour group moved out of our hotel and got on the road to Verona, Italy.  In Verona, we had a walking tour led by a local tour guide.  She was a fast talker and got a lot of good information in while we went, I liked her!

She showed us another statue of Dante Alighieri and told us that he is considered the father of Italian because he was the first to write in it (it was just a spoken language) instead of in writing Latin.  We also learned that the Lion is the symbol for Verona and saw that symbol on the house Dante lived in.  We saw some more Roman ruins and learned that they are commonly found 2-4 meters below the ground!  She told us that Verona is somewhat dependant on agriculture and that they produce wine and olive oil.

We also saw the homes of the Montagues and the Capulets.  I know.  I thought it was all made up, but she said Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet pulled from other stories and that the families really did live in Verona.

From Verona we went to our hotel in (“new”) Venice, the Hotel Poppi, changed, and got back onto the bus and rode it to the docks to take a boat to the restaurant where we would have dinner.  We had a fun four-course meal at a restaurant called Ristorante Antico Pignolo and then got to walk around and listen to some music in St. Mark’s Square.