Today is the first weekday that I haven’t had work since getting to Italy. I celebrated by buying last minute train tickets to Brescia and Verona, which was $90 extremely well spent.

Brescia is one of my favorite places in the world now, I believe. I had no plans when I stepped off the train, having done no research past “Brescia is not often visited by tourists and has a medieval history.” So, when I got out of the train station I just sort of walked, following the major roads and a couple signs to the city centre. There, I found lots of shopping and little restaurants, as well as some extremely italian streets, with little balconies and bridges and flower boxes. There was a huge square and, behind that, the very edge of a castle up on a high hill. I started walking uphill on the side of a road, dodging cars, until I found an old staircase going up the incline. I opted to be adventurous.

An impromptu hike ensued, with lots of beautiful foliage and moss and grass, and I was happy enough just walking through the trees on the zig zagging paths and staircases. Eventually the paths led me to an edge overlooking the city, and it literally took my breath away. I didn’t feel like I could breathe. I actually teared up, it was so beautiful.

I kept hiking onwards and upwards until I reached a paved lot and saw a medieval castle taking shape ahead of me. I had no idea whether I would actually reach the castle, so the fact that I could walk right inside was amazing. I explored tunnels and lookouts and sat on the edge of one of the towers.

By the time I was done exploring I was exhausted and wasn’t entirely sure how to get back to the station, so I headed back to catch my train to Verona.

Shakespeare’s setting for Romeo and Juliet seemed very… lovely. It was very italian, very nice and beautiful and interesting, and I got to walk through a street market and look at a roman theatre. After an amazing hike and an awesome castle, though, it’s kind of hard to be extremely interested in Verona. But it was certainly pretty and I would have liked to spend more time there.

Sadly, though, I had to leave to catch my train. On the bus back I taught a nice New Zealander how to use the ticket machine (which I had to figure out myself only a couple of hours earlier) and found that after a month and a half of living in Italy, I had finally started bringing my umbrella with me every day. Which is important because it poured rain on my way to the station.

 

Also, here’s a fun fact for you–

How to know if you are near a gelato stand at any time:

1. Are you in Italy?

2. The answer is yes.

 

Well, after one of the most productive Mondays ever (After a final step count, I walked 9 miles today and visited two cities), I’m going to sit down with some food and watch TV.

 

See you in a few days, America.