Ancient Arenas in Pink

I am sitting in Imst, Austria, looking out a large window at the Austrian Alps and at a tree with yellow leaves. The mountains are covered in fog, and are possibly being covered in snow as I type, but I know they are there. My first morning here I woke up, looked outside, and went for my camera. Jonna and her roommates live in a village, in a valley with mountains all around, it is gorgeous. Today we are going to hike down the hill she lives on to find pumpkins at the market. Then we will carve them while watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, which she brought from home for our holiday enjoyment. We are also going to bake banana bread and we leave for Salzburg tomorrow afternoon. I love this vacation.

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When I arrived in Paris, last Friday, I could feel that my life here in Europe was finally going places. It felt so good to be back in that lively city and to recognize the buildings and shops and streets that I know. I can't wait to spend a whole weekend there in November. Marjerie met me at the train station and we walked through the Jardin de Luxembourg, which is, by the way, beautiful in the Fall, to find a sandwich shop near the Odeon. She lives across the street from the garden, I was pretty jealous. Paris felt familiar and exciting; I can't wait to re-explore the neighborhoods where I lived for those few weeks in 2007. 

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Milan hosts the beautiful Duomo - the one with dozens of spires with statues atop each one, and a golden statue of Christ atop the center spire. Also, in Milan, is Da Vinci's The Last Supper, which we did not see because that requires a 3 month advance reservation thanks to Dan Brown. We did, however, stumble upon Michelangelo's unfinished Pieta sculpture, with the upright Mary, in the Castle of Milan, along with a ceiling fresco painted by Da Vinci himself.

Verona was picturesque-Italian but also very touristy. Jonna and I made the pilgrimage to the five main cathedrals in Verona and saw Titan's Assumption. We also managed to have gelato, pizza, and wine every day so we considered it a successful trip to Italy. 

But the most important thing to remember about Verona is Juliet. More specifically, Juliet's left breast! Yes, the main tourist stop in Verona is a bronze statue of the unfortunate lover, standing tall in the courtyard beneath the balcony. People come from all over the world to rub the left breast of the statue because it supposedly brings good luck in love! As soon as we read the myth, Jonna and I were determined to make it to that statue and come back with photographic proof of our newfound luck in love. We were almost pushed out of the way by a huge crowd of about 50 Asian tourists who came in right after we did, but we held our ground (literally, I would not budge from the statue until Jonna came up and took my place for her photo) and got our pictures.

We also saw the fountain of love and couple of ancient Roman gates and bridges in Verona. Our hotel was right in the center of town and our room had a view of the ancient arena (think a smaller Colosseo) out the window, which the town lit up hot pink at night, for some reason. It was a nice little city and small enough to see almost everything in the twenty-four hours we had.

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I just looked up to find that the clouds have moved even lower, and it is now snowing the day before Halloween. That's Imst for you. We may need to re-think this pumpkin business...