Today would officially be my last day in Europe. We had no intention of slowing down as Andrej wanted me to fully utilize each and every day of my time here. So after Brescia, he wanted to take me to Verona and Venice before checking into the last hotel we had booked in Treviso. I did not know we were going to Verona until the very last minute. Like I said before, he’s sneaky like that and prefers to surprise me every time instead of informing my poor soul well in advance of our next “adventure.” And I let him take the lead because I knew he was capable of planning things well and being organized. After touring Central Europe with him as my guide, my friend, my lover, and my bugger and getting to see places that only existed in my imagination or in books I took comfort in before now, I felt as if I became a more complete person. It has been such a whirlwind of a tour; one the one hand, it is as if I can barely keep count of all the wondrous cities and towns we have been to. On the other, every scene, every sight, every place comes back to life every time I drift back to the endless expanses of my memory. They would keep recurring like a dream work in my mind.
We packed our bags and headed downstairs to the restaurant for the complimentary breakfast. The hotel was so well decorated that the wood paneling on the ceiling, the exposed bricks on the wall and the homely, rustic interior reminded me of a nice cabin by the woods. I ate a heavy one as usual while Andrej had his fill with bread. Often he tells me that I should get used to eating bread and baguette like a European and I would retort back with a Biblical verse, “man shall not live by bread alone.” I would watch him eat a baguette and would wonder to myself how one could chew on something so dry? I’m finicky when it comes to eating habits and Andrej very well knows how much of annoyance this can cause to him as well. He counseled me that if I were to ever travel with him again, I would have to shed this habit of mine and eat whatever he eats and whatever the locals eat. Honestly, I don’t mind, so long as they’re not serving silk worms on the plate! It was another sappy moment as we drove away from the hotel and go on the highway to drive to Verona. At first I wondered why we were driving to Verona and then hit me, of course I know why…it’s the city of Romeo and Juliet! But I had no idea they had a balcony that was purported to be Juliet Capulet’s. Again, I thought to myself… why does Andrej claim to be an antithesis to anything connected with romance when his actions speak louder than the words he never dares utter? I felt tempted to harass him a bit about this but decided not to and was delighted that we were going to go see a historical city and the setting for one of the Bard’s most beloved plays.
It took us about a couple of hours or more to reach Verona. At first sight from the car, it reminded me a lot like Salzburg. But soon I was to realize the city was one of its own kinds and had a distinctive artistic heritage and old world charm to it. We drove about the city for a few minutes in search for a parking space. After parking the car, Andrej recommended this city to be the quintessential city of romance and not Paris. I thought any place could be romantic as wrong as one is with the right person and in their right elements. Every part of Verona seemed to have sprung out of an old world with the old and the new buildings standing by each other. The roads were cobbled in a typically European fashion and the streets were abundant with cafes and restaurants but in the distance one could also see remnants of ancient civilization fitting right into the modern façade of the city. Before finding Juliet’s balcony, Andrej wanted to show me an ancient amphitheater built by the Romans. The structure was well preserved and there were tourists thronging the area. He told me Rome would have been the ideal place to see architectural marvels such as this but even the amphitheater in Verona could be considered as good as the ones in Rome. We took a few pictures of the place before heading into the narrow lanes of the city which was full of designer shops. I had expected women in Paris to be the icons for style and elegance but during our 4-night stay, I did not come across any French lady I could call as such. And the relatively better looking people turned out to be foreign tourists. This was strange to me because being one of the fashion capitals of the world, I thought Paris would steal my heart in the fashion sense but it didn’t. Fair estimation or not, I told myself no one does it better than New Yorkers because on the New York subway, it’s a usual sight to get to see hoards of classy, well-dressed men and women. But unlike Paris, here in this little city of Verona, the ladies were stylish and looked prim and proper from top to bottom. This came as a pleasant surprise to me because I did not expect the place to have so many well-dressed Italian ladies or all the upscale designer stores that lined up the streets.
After walking for about fifteen minutes into the square, we finally reached Juliet’s “home.” As we walked into a tunnel like entrance, we could see the walls on both sides had graffiti of lovers’ names and love quotes left by visitors. There was barely any space left to write on the walls. I had expected Juliet’s Casa to be grander but it looked like a simple stone building. The place was teeming with visitors and everyone wanted to get a picture of the famous balcony. There was a souvenir shop in the complex and Andrej and I decided to check it out. As romantic as I may like to be, I don’t really follow in the footsteps of cheesy teenage love habits like exchanging hearts or sweet nothings etc., but I came across a keychain that had two hearts conjoined in the center by a magnet. One half had Romeo’s name and the other Juliet’s. I don’t really know what I was thinking but I got it anyhow for keepsake I thought. While making our way out of the place, I hastily look for my pen, called Andrej over and wrote our initials “A+J” and encircled it with a heart shape on the minutest white space left on the wall. We had a good laugh about this. We had frozen yoghurt after this, walked into a few stores and window shopped; then headed back to the car to make our way to Venice. Verona to me was even more beautiful than Milan as least from the parts that I saw of both cities.
Andrej was not very keen on going to Venice but since I wanted to see the gondolas and what not, he was being a sweetheart and decided to drive me there. He had got information from some people that the parking costs nearly 30 Euros in the city and therefore it would be more economical to take the ferry to and fro to Venice from Fusina. It took us a while to find Fusina and when we arrived, we got to learn that the parking fee along with the tickets for the ferry turned out to be way more expensive. In other words, our plan to not incur money on the parking in Venice had gone futile. We walked around the area as we waited for our ferry and saw people sun bathing in the open space. We left at 4:30 PM and the ride to Venice took about 20 minutes. Andrej decided to nap on the ferry while I enjoyed the wind blowing against my hair and attempted to take snapshots of us, of the waters and the indistinct view of Venice in the distance. Venice looked beautiful from the ferry with its multicolored homes and historic buildings. Some of the building looked dilapidated and forlorn but the revelry in the canals courtesy the gondola riders serenading their passengers. I thought riding on the gondolas at night would be a dreamy experience but Andrej disputed with me on how one could call these rides romantic with all the traffic and crowd. I was amused by this argument because I never thought about the crowd or the traffic until he mentioned and thought he had a point! We walked at the main center of the city which had the St. Mark’s Basilica and Piazza San Marco. Since Andrej said he did not like the city, I had promised him I wouldn’t take too long. After seeing the main attractions, we hurried back to catch the ferry. The one souvenir I could not forget to pick up from this place was as a Venetian masquerade mask. Every shop and kiosks on the streets sold masks and I wished I could have picked one in every size! The city had a carnivalesque-effect because of these flamboyant artifacts they sold which seemed to contradict the otherwise somber atmosphere of the place. Andrej got me a small mask of my choice before we headed back to catch our ferry which we would have missed had we arrived a few moments late. I looked at Venice from the ferry and bid it a silent goodbye.
After Venice, we were to drive to Treviso and spend our last night together in a budget hotel we had booked in advance. When we got to the place, the building looked derelict and uninhabited. It reminded me of the motels in slayer-slasher movies where two unassuming couples check in for the night without any knowledge of what gory circumstances await them. But there was a somewhat decent looking sushi restaurant in the ground floor so we thought it could not be that bad. We stood there waiting for nearly fifteen minutes for someone to turn up. Andrej thought maybe we should book another place as I would not incur any loss here in any case as they only had my debit card details and the hotel accepted only credit. Soon after, a family of four arrived in the scene. A girl came over to speak with us in French but Andrej could not understand a single word she spoke. She called her brother/a male companion over who could speak English. He informed us that the owner of the Casa was on his way. After completing the formalities, we checked into our room. The room looked very neat and tiny for the price we paid and so did the shared bathroom. The people in the next room were very friendly and offered us their snacks and some peaches which they had put out on the table. Andrej and I headed out to the nearby grocery store to get some snacks to keep us going for the night.
When we came back, I finished packing up my bags and we watched the remaining parts of “Volver.” This was our last night together and I consciously tried to avoid drowning in any emotion. We knew we had to get back to our lives, to our routine, to our countries. So I/we tried to make the most of our last moments together and keep our moods hopeful. I thought Volver was a great movie and for once, Andrej and I did not disagree on his movie choice.
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