Fabulous Verona (apart from the theives...)

Friday and Saturday we were in Verona. Chris' friend Nico who speaks about 6 languages and knows a huge amount about the history of Verona showed us around on Friday evening and Saturday morning.
I have heard that many people in Italy don't really think that Verona is anything very special, but from my point of view it was absolutely lovely. A little reminiscent of Florence with the river snaking through the middle of the city, we had a great walk around, looking at the castle, and the view down to the river and the city below from the top of the hill - it was quite a climb, but worth it!
Verona - up in the North East of Italy - is clearly a wealthy city. The people are very well dressed and there was a lot of shopping going on (and some fabulous stores). We joined the thousands of Asians queing to take a picture with their hand on Giulietta's - as in Romeo and.... - breast (poor giulietta - it is such a dignified statue and a most undignified scene!) The whole thing is made worse somehow by the wall of grafitti on the way in - declarations of love written in tippex, hot pink marker and paint are less than romantic for me! Maybe the Veronese should take a leaf out of the Japanese book, and put trees so people can tie declarations of lurve to those on paper - much prettier - and less cleaning up too! We didn't make it up to the balcony either.
The osterie in Verona are also lovely - we found one under the arches for drinking a glass of wine and eating a panini. Yum - and cheap at only about 2 euros a head.
The only downside in the Verona segment was that someone broke into Massimo's car and snatched his pc from the boot. It was clearly a professional job - the cars were parked close together in a quiet residential street and they smashed the window and helped themselves. It was a good reminder that I need to think about security sometimes - I am a bit complacent about this stuff after Hong Kong, and Max's encounter started the exchange of stories, with one of his friends saying that their car had once been broken into for a pair of shoes.
But don't let the theives put you off - Verona is a fabulous city and well worth a visit. I might try to go back in the summer, to see Aida at the Arena. Or to go to lake Garda. Or to Soave.....