Verona, Italy... With a Toddler!

5/25/2017

Verona, Italy is the setting for Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. A city of young love, and just a few cities over from where we were based, so we took a day trip there from our friend's home in Vicenza. The weather was beautiful, the crowds were light, and it was a great experience overall.
We took the double stroller and I also wore Bram in a carrier when needed.

Travel to/from:

We took the train which is about a 30-40 minute ride from Vincenza, and only a few euros. Seriously take the train anywhere they go, it was always a great experience! We got off at the Porta Nouva station which is a bit of a hike to the city center (2.4km), but wasn't too bad since we brought the double stroller.

Sights to see:

PIazza Delle Erbe - A busy historic city center, an outdoor market, restaurants and on the way to Juliet. We headed straight there from the train station (2.4km). There were stands with the same tourist crap, but also fresh fruit stands which came in handy with a toddler. We sat at a nearby restaurant and drink spritz, while he napped, then ate fresh fruit

Giulietta's House - This is an obligatory tourist photo op. The courtyard is my personal nightmare, so claustrophobic and crowded I was paranoid the entire time. But we literally ran in, took a few pics and left, all within 3-4 minutes.

It's said to bring you love if you touch Juliet's boob on the statue, so we did..and if you look closely at the main blog post picture Bram is elbow deep in my shirt holding my boob as this was the day he started not feeling well and only wanted to nurse or be close to me, I stopped fighting him, he just wanted to hold it.

There is also the famous balcony from the scene "Romeo Romeo where fore art thou Romeo" You can pay extra to go up into the balcony and take pictures up there too if you want. The entrance to the courtyard is lined with love notes and wishes from visitors.

Colosseum - There happened to be a peaceful protest demonstration outside of The Arena di Verona during our visit. From what we could understand there is a disagreement on whether the Colosseum should remain public or become privately owned. There was heavy construction around it so we couldn't get very close to it or enter it, but there were huge prop parts, like this Julius Cesar's head in the street.

The streets and architecture in Verona are beautiful, we walked around for 2 or so hours just enjoying the sights and sounds.

Spirits & Good eats:

Fries- Queen's Chips french fries are always a hit with toddlers and adults, so on out walk towards the city center we stopped and got a cone of the delicious fries to share.

Osteria Sottocosta - We stopped here while the kiddos napped and enjoyed *several* spritz and snacks. Our waiter Yakov, was enamored by Bram and kept petting his sleeping head, at one point he asked to kiss his cheek. We probably sat there for close to two hours, enjoying the scenery and drinks.

Amorino Gelato - At the far end of the Piazza is the best gelato we had the entire trip! They made it so beautifully too into rose shapes, the wait was rather long though...as you can see Bram wasn't thrilled by sitting still in the stroller, even with a phone, and wanted to eat the gelato ASAP when we got it.

Vittorio Emanuele - On the walk back to the train station we stopped for one more spritz at a random cafe outside of the Colosseum in Piazza Bra... not only was it the most expensive spritz the entire trip...it was the worst! You pay for the view I guess, but not worth it at all.

Overall we really enjoyed Verona. We could have possibly spent another day there if we wanted to take our time, but for a quick day trip it was lovely. I ended up getting a foot cramp on our walk back to the train station that nearly dropped me, but thankfully after some massaging that night it was all better the next day.