On Friday I had my first vocal performance with my choir! We were performing at a school so that meant that I was able to leave school early to sing. I went to my italian lesson in the morning until 10 am and than I had to bike to Aselli, my school, to show them my justification for not staying in for rest of my classes. Next I went home, changed into my black dress and then went to meet Louisa, my friend in the choir, and Michele who was driving us. When we arrived at the school we ran though a few of the songs and then waited for the the auditorium to fill with students. Once we were finally ready to start the mistero introduced the choir as a whole but then he did something that surprised me, he introduced me alone, saying that I was from Canada and that his choir was now officially international. To be fare I have no idea if that was how he said it or not because I only understood a few words. The performance went really well and I felt proud that I was able to learn 12 songs, some that were even in Spanish, in only 2 weeks. Although I did not feel the usual rush that I normally get when I sing solo, I love performing in front of a crowd all the same!
On Saturday afternoon, Lauretta and her mother, took me to Valeia Romana. A small Roman town in the mountains. It was a beautiful day and the leave were just starting to turn. It reminded me of Canada at the end of September! The drive took about an hour and once we reached the mountains it was like being on a roller coaster. The road we were on was so windy and up and down and it would curve to the right and then severely back to the left it was crazy! When we finally arrived at the archaeological site of Valeia Romana, I was feeling a little queasy. The site was small but the ruins were still pretty well preserved. I saw the Thermal baths, there was one for cold, medium, and hot water, those Romans were sure smart when it came to their bathing techniques! There were also the remains of the houses and stores that made up the small city. As well as the Basilica, where the day to day proceeding took place!
It felt so strange to be standing where these people lived 2000 years ago!
On Sunday Lauretta took Kayleigh, Ashley, Elizabeth and I to Verona!!! I was so excited and could not wait to see La Casa di Guiletta (Juliet's House...Romeo and Juliet). We drove to Brescia before boarding a train the rest of the way to Verona in total it was about 2 hours of travel time. When we arrived at the station in Verona we all needed to go to the bathroom but big shock here, you had to pay 0.80 cents to enter the washroom. I have never seen that before, and it wasn't as if the bathroom was immaculate it was very dingy and the hand dryers didn't even work!
The first thing we did when we left the station was walk to the Arena, a smaller, older version of the coliseum in Rome. I definitely think that it was my favourite part of Verona.
The Arena can hold up to 30,000 people and is now used for opera's!
After the Arena we walked to La Casa di Gulietta. Which was a huge disappointment, it was very crowded and not at all like how it is in the movie Letters to Juliet. However I did get my picture taken with the statue of Juliet and I touched her boob for good luck. It was funny because you could actually see that the boob and surrounding area was much more faded than that of the rest of her statue!
After that La Casa di Gulietta we walked to some old and beautiful churches, where we could see the tombs of past and ancient princes of Verona. For some reason they liked to have there tombs up high and on display for the whole world to see!
After lunch we walked to the river which had the most amazing views I have ever seen since I have been in Italy!
We walked a long this river for a few km before arriving at a CASTLE! which was really cool!
We walked around on the wall and on the bridge that stretched across the river and then we walked through the museum! The museum was the inside of the castle and it was incredible I have never seen anything so cool! Walked all along the inside of the towers and courtyard and multiple living areas turned art galleries. It was all very interesting!
Once we left the castle we walked for another 20 minutes or so to another church but it was different than the other churches we went to, this one was massive. It was so beautiful that when you walk in you are immediately stunned in to silence. People who know me know that I am not an overly religious person but even I felt the need to sit down and send a prayer to God.
Once we left the church we wandered around for a little while trying to find a bus to take us to the station but to no avail. Apparently city buses don't run on Sundays in Verona. Keep that in mind if you ever want to visit the beautiful city. So we finally made it back to the station, our feet where dead but we made it :)
The train was pretty full so we didn't all get to sit together like on the way there, so I just put in my head phones and relaxed. It is now a day later and my feet still hurt from all the walking we did!
So long for now!!
Amanda ♥
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