Before we left on Sunday morning we did a little site seeing in the sun. The river ran behind our hotel so we strolled along to Verona's oldest bridge that had been bombed in WW2. The residents of Verona had fished out as much of the original as they could and reconstructed the bridge using the original material.

Across the river were the roman theatre ruins, which looked interesting.

Roman theatre ruins

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We came back past our hotel and passed what some people believe to be Romeo's house and then continued on past piazza’s including gates to old barracks (see photo) and saw the Scaligeri (important ruling family of Verona in 14th century) family tombs

Scaligeri family tombs Click to enlarge

Scaligeri family tombs Click to enlarge

We shortly caught up with the hordes walking to Juliet’s house. It has to be one of the most bizarre places, disgusting was Gavin's term with graffiti all over the building, including love messages written in chewing gum and stuck on the walls. There were hundreds of people in the small piazza and of course there was the famous balcony. A statue of Juliet is there for people to have their photos with and it is said touching her left breast would bring you a new lover. Neither of us tried it out so we can't comment on its effectiveness.

Love notes in Juliet's courtyard

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Fighting our way back through the millions of people we made our way back through some more piazza's back to the hotel and our car.

Piazza Del Erbe

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With a better map getting out of the city was easy and we were off on our way to Bologna.

Bologna is in the Emilia Romagna region, and the architecture was quite different. Most of the buildings had a veranda roof over the pavement with arched walls at the edge of the pavement and road.

We had lunch in Piazza Maggiore overlooking San Petronio church (built 1390 - mid17C) and then wandered around in the sun looking for a potential restaurant for the evening.

San Petronio in Piazza Maggiore

Click to enlarge

Many restaurants closed for Sunday night anyway let alone Easter Sunday. A few small alleys later we were feeling a bit uncomfortable and not thinking much of the city. Back on the main road and walking past about our fourth McDonalds, we were wondering if that was going to be the menu for the evening. As we had come to Bologna for the food and the fact that Bolognese and Lasagne were born there, we were hoping for something better than a Big Mac.

At the top of the main road we stopped for ice creams and then walked back through the university area to our hotel.

Near our hotel was were 2 towers (Torre degli Asinelli and Torre Garisenda) built in the 12 century. One is 97.5 metres tall, leaning 1.23 metres off the perpendicular, the other a lot shorter (48 metres) as the ground started to subside while it was being built causing it to lean 3.22 metres off the perpendicular.

We got a recommendation a place for dinner from our hotel but they couldn't confirm if they were open or not. Taking our chances, we walked down a lovely Strada Maggoire and found the restaurant not only open but with a lovely menu and atmosphere.

The lady tried English at first but for the most part ended up speaking Italian reinforcing our view that the restraint was quite authentic. We were given hard-boiled eggs when we arrived and weren't sure if this was an Easter thing or just something they normally started their meals with. Then Gavin started with Lasagne, and I had Tagatelle Bologna style - ie spag bol, although the sauce didn't have as much tomato as we use here. Gavin was very happy with his starter as it has been on his list of to do's for a while. We both had a beef main that was also lovely.

Next - Bologna - Maranello

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