Discovering Deutschland: Easter Weekend in Italy

We're back! After a brief 3 month deployment to the Baltics, Chris is back home. Naturally we didn't waste any time planning our next trip. Chris and I entered a photo contest, and with the help of our family, friends and even strangers, we won a trip to Italy. Included on the trip was bus transportation, along with our hotel stay and tour guides in Lake Garda, Verona and Venice.

After traveling all night, we arrived at Riva del Garda on Lake Garda a little before sunrise. We made our way up to the top of a hotel for breakfast, and were treated to a gorgeous sunrise on the lake.

Lake Garda is Italy's largest lake. The lake is so large that it alters the local climate; the area around the lake has a climate much like the Mediterranean, even though the lake is well above the Mediterranean Sea. The lake is owned by 3 different provinces.

Riva del Garda is at the northernmost point of the lake. Our tour guide told us that Riva del Garda was once part of the Austrian Empire until 1918; many Germans still travel here for their vacations. She said that Lake Garda is given the nickname "the southernmost lake of Bavaria."

A Roman bath discovered when workers were building a parking lot.

On our bus ride to Malcesine, we passed a group of sailboats on the lake. Lake Garda, especially in the northern part, is very windy, and therefore a great travel destination for all kinds of wind/water sport enthusiasts

Castello Scaligera (a castle owned by the della Scala family)

Our gorgeous lunch view

No Italian afternoon is complete without gelato!

Our final city of the day was Sirmione, which is a very wealthy peninsula at the south end of the lake. The city is known for their thermal spas.

Rocca Scaligera, a 13th century castle owned by the Scala family of Verona

We sat on a pier and enjoyed the sunshine with all the other tourists

We arrived back at our hotel and wandered over to a shopping mall, which was the only place serving dinner. But an Italian food court isn't like an American food court, we ordered mushroom tortellini which was served to us on a china plate.

The next morning we met our new tour guide who showed us her city of Verona. Verona is the setting of Shakespeare's classic Romeo and Juliet, but our tour guide wanted us to see the city for all of its beauty and history.

View of Verona from a church on a hill above the city

A church in Verona was destroyed in WWII but the statue of Mary survived

So the people built a church on a hill to honor Mary

The church on the hill in the background

St. Anastasia Basilica

The streets of Verona were once flooded, and fossils can still be found in the marble streets

The sign marks how high the water once was

The della Scala family wanted to be buried in grand tombs

Scala means "ladder", which was the family's symbol

Mailboxes around the city allowed citizens to secretly accuse others of particular crimes

We knew we were close to Juliet's balcony when the crowds became extremely dense. The ironic part is that although the Capulet and Monague families existed, the characters and plot that Shakespeare created is fictional, yet thousands of people are desperate to see the balcony that Juliet stood on, even though the balcony was built in the 1930's to please the demand of tourists.

Our tour guide told us that tourists want to add their initials on the wall of Juliet's house to have "eternal love" with their partner....ironically, the white walls are painted over every 4 months or so to allow for more space. So much for eternal!

A portion of the graffiti

Legend has it that rubbing Juliet's bosom will bring new love in your life, so the crowds are desperate to reach the statue of Juliet. This statue is actually the second one; the first had been rubbed so many times that it had a hole in it.

A chocolate Easter egg in a bakery's window

This church was converted into a restaurant (we ate dinner here later in the day)

Verona's Arena (second largest arena still existing, only smaller than Rome's Colosseum)

The Arena is still used today, but instead of gladiators, it hosts opera singers.

Chris crossing over the old moat of the Castelvecchio

View from the castle

Even the gelato in Verona is Romeo and Juliet inspired!

I made it onto Juliet's balcony looking down at my Romeo

Can you spot Chris in the crowd?

View from the top of the Lamberti Tower.

Panoramic view of Verona. The winds were very strong at the top of the tower!

Inside St. Anastasia's Basilica

Our final day was spent in Venice. We started our day with a boat tour exploring the perimeter of the islands.

Our boat for the morning

A beautiful waterfront church we passed

It was a very high tide, so we had a very steep exit from our boat

View from the water of St. Mark's Square

When Napoleon conquered Venice, he tore down a lot of buildings and built a huge, green park

Enjoying our fresh seafood lunch

The symbol for the Gospel writer Mark is a lion with wings; it can be seen all around the city

A typical Venetian "street"

Venice is covered in open squares where the locals congregate

Venice has 420 bridges and 425 gondolas navigating the channels.

St. Mark's Basilica is under restoration, but still gorgeous

Within St. Mark's Square is the Clock Tower, which marks the entrance of the main shopping area.

Torre dell'Orologio

St. Mark was killed in Alexandria by an anti-Christian mob and was buried in a church there. Two Venetian traders saved his tomb from being destroyed and brought his relics back to Venice, where the first church was built in his name.

The body of St. Mark lies within the Basilica

Our view from the famous Rialto Bridge, which crosses the Grand Canal

No trip to Venice would be complete without a gondola ride. It was a pricey boat ride, but very romantic and a one-of-a-kind experience. We learned that it takes a lot of schooling and practice to become a gondolier. Each gondola is custom-made for the height and weight of the gondolier.