Verona Birthday visit not a Grecian island but still very intriguing

So Pianogurl wanted a cruise to a Grecian island for her birthday...well wouldn't we all.  Instead she was happy to get a chance to go visit the historic city of Verona.  It's an awesome mix of Roman, Venetian, ancient all in one package.  The pictures tell the

CastelVecchio (Old Castle) from 1355...built by the
aristocatic family Scaligieri

Cool lamp we saw on the above listed castle

The Arena of Verona, one of the best preserved in Italy, is still in use today.  Yes it's super old (2000 years or so)!
(We have an upcoming blog post on the opera we saw here later).  Very different than the coliseum in Rome that you can't really walk all over.  This one you can.

The Net and Deep Thinker were really impressed
by the scenery of the opera Il Trovatore (we must have 25 different photos of the battling knights).

One example of the battling knights...20 feet tall

These are the cheep seats...solid, cool and old.

The Roman water flow system of Verona's Coliseum is still in use today.

Cool photo shot of the riverAdige from the bridge of the Castelvecchio (courtesy of the Net)

Very life-like statue in the 12th Century Chiesa di San Lorenzo

For the Romeo and Juliet fans out there, Verona has plaques like the above throughout the city...
 and of course Juliet's balcony

Ancient Roman entrance to Verona called Porta Borsari

Classic Italian roadway in old town Verona

La Piazza del Erbe used to be the center of activity in medieval times.
Today's ambiance is still super neat with restaurants, shopping, fountains
and Greek Gods watching the whole scene...see below 

Greek Gods and the lion the symbol of Venice.

Here's the infamous Juliet's balcony...
she never really existed but... 

But there's a very happy lock salesman making money on tourists
expressing their love and commitment through a good, trusty lock.

I couldn't resist taking a photo of this super cool, probably 400 year old window...which is probably older than the USA!