Torino 2006, Here I Come!

I'm going to the Olympics next weekend!

YAY!!!

I am so excited!!!! The details are not quite worked out yet, as in I don't actually have tickets for an event, but I have checked the availability online. I want to go to the speedskating event, but the tickets are temporarily unavailable online. Maybe tomorrow they will be available again. If not the speedskating, then I will go to the luge instead.

The main thing is that I have a place to stay for the night. There was nothing in Torino, so I decided to stay in Milan instead. It is only about 1 1/2 to 2 hours on the train from one city to the other.

Again, I say YAY!!!

In other news, my roomies and I took a field trip to Verona today. What a beautiful little town!

Way better than Padova! I ask you "Of all the towns in Italy......" But no matter because it is still Europe, and on a lesser scale Italy and it means I can go to the Olympics! :D

But back to Verona:

It was lovely. We saw the Roman arena (think Colosseum here, but smaller) and were able to wander around inside it and climb up to the top.

Trust me those stairs were a workout. The bigger ones are about 45cm high. I opted for the "wee stairs" when I had the chance. Then we went to La Casa di Romeo e Giulietta (Romeo and Juliette's house). We saw her balcony and a statue of Juliette. I even touched her right breast!

How cheeky! Actually, it is supposed to be for good luck, you know like rubbing the boar's nose in Florence, or throwing a coin in the Trevi Fountain in Rome, dropping a penny off the CN Tower in Toronto........oh wait---that's not for good luck!

Before heading back to Padova we went to McDonald's (*gasp* Oh the horror! I know, I know. But after 6 months you would get pretty sick of pasta and pizza too!!!) for a bite to eat, where we discovered further proof of Italy's backwards state of being:

They STILL use styrofoam containers!!! And with all the progressive recycling efforts: 4 categories for waste. *tsk tsk tsk*