Suggestions - what to do & what to see, Verona

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Parco Natura Viva is a very extensive zoo. It consists practically in two sections. One is a kind of zoo safari park. You must enter this on your own car. Here you could see lions, giraffes, gazelles and lots of other animals. The other part of this zoo is Parco faunistico. Lots of species of animals from every continent are hosted here. Here you see also a tropical greenhouse with fishes, butterflies and some caimans which I didn't spot.

Parco Natura Viva has some cafes, a playground area, lavatories and a souvenir shop.

It is located in Bussolengo; a village some 18 km far fom Verona.

If exploring the city has taken it out of you a little, relax in Piazza Bra next to the world-famous Arena. The green oasis in the centre is a perfect vantage point for people watching or admiring the Roman, mediaeval and newer architecture side by side; the Arena, the Listone and the Palazzio. There are plenty of benches to sit on and enjoy the views in this usually quiet, pleasant square, which gets its name from the Latin 'pratum', meaning meadow, as this was previously outside the town walls, in a field. If you visit just before an opera is staged in the Arena, you may be able to wander amongst the enormous props (when we were there an almost life-sized sphynx watched over the square outside the Arena!), and if you're hungry there's plenty on offer at the coffee bars and restaurants of the famous Listone strip.

Like this one of Mr Ruffo, a great manager and producer of industrial machines.
Only in a few years wines from Tenuta Chiccheri have made their name known and they can be found in many restaurants in Italy - even in the US

Once the water fight was over, we had to find Alsi under all that water (Tal almost drowned her ;O))) We then took a walk along the river to "dry out". You may notice that Lorenzo is without a shirt ....Alsi is in his nice DRY shirt and we are waiting for her to dry out so we can continue to Juliets home (Juliet would not appreicate the puddles of water on the entrance floor). You can see Asli thinking to herself "Okay, now how do I get my revenge on Tal and Martin"....

Well, it was a hot day and we spied this cool fountain that had an upper pool into which the water spouted and then lapped over the edge into another pool around the base. So we decided to utilize it. Stand in the cool water below and dunk our hands and faces into the cool water above. Well at this point Asli decided to splash me !!! and I of course splashed her back, then she splashed me, then I splashed her (can you see where this is going ^O^). But then to my rescue came Tal, she rushed in to "save" her father from his attacker. Needless to say Alsi "lost" this water fight, she just did not realise what she was up against.......this picture was taken just before it all began. After it began, all the camera holders (Zohara and Lorenzo) were running for their lives, so no pictures, sorry...

While Verona is know as the city of Romeo and Juliet, should not miss the more mundane pleasures of the city. We took a look here at the river that runs through the city and the section of the city that sits on the hill overlooking the river is very beautiful.

Lorenzo stopped to admire the street actor we found and then found himself becoming part of the act itself. The actor, who was a "statue" suddenly moved and motioned Lorenzo to sign his ledger.....While Lorenzo was signing he scratched Lorenzo's head which made us all laugh, but we missed the photo, sorry...

Take a walk around Verona along Adige river. Just follow Lungadige Rubele and then Lungadige Matteotti. You have wonderful views on the surroundings of old Verona, on the lovely bridges including famous Ponte Scaligero, on the beautiful Castel San Pietro and on Castelvecchio.

not sure whether it qualifies for this category but will share it with you anyways:
As soon as you arrive at the train station which by the way is extremely nice, you need to catch a bus to get to the hostel, unless you’d like to walk with a heavy back-pack on your shoulders. Now, the tricky thing is that the number of the bus you need to wait for is different for different days in the week. Ok, I admit, this can a drag, but if you ask someone around they’ll tell you. Just try some kind of Italian, it will work!!!
Giulietta’s house is NOT open on Mondays. And also the Amphitheater. So… have that in mind, if you wanna enter.

You can start the visit of the city from the Roman monument of the Gavi Arch, today placed in the small square beside the Scaliger Castle; it originally stood in the middle of the road and served as a main gate to the city walls, major remains of which can be seen in the walls of the castle itself, a jewel of European architeture of the city-state era: the postern of Morbio (XII Century), so called after the owner of the farm-holding which opened out on the banks of the river. To the east, the wall is hidden by the houses in Via Roma, but one can still se the Tower (in Via Manin), rebuilt on the site of an older tower dating from the times of the tyrant Ezzelino (XIII Century) and a previous city tower of the XII Century. Another tower (in the picture) dating from the city-state period is even large, again a built by Ezzelino and subsequently rebuilt several times: the Pentagonal tower, to the side of the Bra Gates opening out into the Corso Porta Nuova, which runs on the western side of the Visconti 'Citadel'.