Verona! What to say! First off, our hostel was brilliant! We awoke to a tree filled estate, straight out of Romeo and Juliet, with original frescos from the 1600s still on the wall. It was very clean and the price included a wholesome, though simple, breakfast. There were brochures for walking tours and a huge map to gain our bearings. What great luck!

We drove to downtown Verona and saw St. Nick's church, the square (or piazza, as they are called here), the coliseum (second only to Rome's) and of course, Juliet's balcony and tomb! Ha! We even found time to buy some groceries and check our E-mail, though time ran out for more than that. Tessa had a slight cold so we got fruit, Kleenex and foot odour spray (essential!) and headed to Marina di Massa for a three day stay on the Italian Riviera and a side trip to Cinque Terre - a world class, 'Rick Steves' must!