Beautiful Verona

Just for kicks, I booked a night at the Casa Padri Stimmatini del Santuario di Nostra Signora di Lourdes monastery via Monastery Stays. I thought it’d be a good idea since it’s pretty cheap (17.50 EUR a night) and sounded interesting. Well, it would’ve been if I weren’t a noob.

I took a cab to the monastery because according to Google Maps, it’d take me a day to walk there. It was located on top of a hill. I didn’t meet anybody there except a man who shouted out of his window because I was at the wrong block, and another man who checked me in. No nuns, no cafes, no restaurants, nothing.

It was early afternoon but crazy thoughts were already beginning to flood my mind. I called my sister in Singapore and she said, “Jie, I think you better get out of there. Forget about the money (paid for the lodging), just leave!” I packed my stuff and attempted to sneak out quietly but I bumped into the man who checked me in. I froze and my heart stopped. He asked me where I was going and I told him that I was going out to get some food, complete with my backpack and handcarry on the trolley thingy I bought in Rome. He didn’t probe and so I quickly took my leave.

There were no cabs, hardly any cars. I waited and waited for the bus that never came and panicked when I realise I didn’t have a ticket. I decided to walk and so I went downhill, dragging the bag behind me and going ‘ke-bump! ke-bump! ke-bump!’ down the steps and took a photo of Verona. I didn’t have a map, I didn’t know where I was going and there were no strangers to help me. I was lost. I trudged on in the rain till dark and I felt like crying but my head disagreed so I sucked it in and kept going. I finally found civilisation after walking for about 3 hours (not that long now that I’ve verified the time with the train tickets) and took 2 buses and a train back to Florence.

P/S: I was pretty upset about Verona for awhile after that incident and swore not to go there again, but that’s just me being silly. If given another chance, I’d return to the monastery and visit Juliet’s balcony.