Verona - Sun and Hail

The day started off beautifully and was GORGEOUS until around 4 pm, as you'll see below.

One view from my favorite church in Verona - San Fermo Maggiore, discussed in the last posting.

The front view of San Fermo Maggiore.
See how it looks like a completely different church from the photo taken at the other end?

The front of Residenza Carducci, the place we stayed.
The owner, Giovanna Berni, had the whole front of the building restored,
including the old sign from when it was a trattoria (traditional restaurant).
This place has been in her family for 400 years.

Typical view down a side street in the neighborhood where we're staying.

There are loads of these buildings with random pieces of extremely old frescoes on the front. Click to embiggen.

Another facade with a fresco.

I love how this looks like a black and white photo or even a pencil drawing, even though it's in full color.
The facade looks to me like a painted stage set, but it's 100% real.

We wandered through one neighborhood with these houses in a very distinct style, circa 1890, I think.

One more in that style.

Here's the front of the restored theatre where we went to see the Vienna State ballet.
This photo was taken about two hours before the ballet is to start.

We went into a nearby restaurant to get some food before the 9 pm performance time.
We arrived at 7:20 pm. We were the first ones in the restaurant.
That gave us time to enjoy the translations in the menu.
We considered asking if the owner of the restaurant was from Alabama,
after seeing "Sweet Home" on the menu.

Frayed horse, anyone? How about "coke vegetables" instead of cooked vegetables?
(I can laugh because of course I never make any mitsakes.)

Here's the theatre about 20 minutes before the performance.

A panorama view of one half of the interior of this restored theatre.
It had been abandoned for decades and is now a state of the art intimate-sized performance hall.
I would guess it seats about 400. The ballet, by the way, was outstanding.
(And we think we might have been the only Americans there.)

The exterior of Basilica San Zeno, the patron saint of Verona.

The bronze doors have LOTS of panels with biblical stories.

No idea what biblical story this is about.
Frankly, I think this guy looks like Animal, the Muppet drummer.

Here they're either giving Zeno a bath, or moving his corpse.

Their pride and joy, and rightfully so, is this stunning altarpiece by Mantegna. Recently restored. 

The altarpiece in context. (But what's with the plain windows? Did the money run out before putting in stained glass?)

Detail of the Mantegna altarpiece.

Statue of San Zeno himself. One tradition has it that he came from North Africa, hence the darker skin.

He's known as the smiling saint.

Perhaps he's smiling because he caught this fish hanging from his bishop's crook.
Note also the giant hand that looks like those foam #1 finger "gloves" at baseball games: "Verona's #1!" 

Cool if gruesome modern painting in the crypt below.
An extremely foreshortened crucifixion, with actual nails glued all over the canvas.

Okay, this made me laugh. It's Adam and Eve at the top of a pillar.
Not the most flattering of poses.

Looking toward the main altar, from the doors.

Beautiful cloister as well. Notice the gorgeous sky.

More cloister. More sky.

Walking back along the river.

Okay, maybe a few more clouds.

Ooh, look at the pretty fluffy clouds.

  We got back to our room for our typical mid-afternoon break. John started reading. I started working on the blog. I noticed how it was starting to get dark outside. And was that a truck that just rolled by? We should probably bring in the laundry that's hanging out on our balcony. Hmm. I think that's thunder. Wow, it's really starting to get dark. Yep. Some sprinkles. Glad we got the laundry in. HOLY FREAKING COW, IT'S POURING!! IS THAT HAIL??!! WHEEEE!!! (I really miss thunderstorms since I moved to Seattle from Texas.)  Within maybe 20 minutes, here's the hail that accumulated on our balcony.

And now the skies are clearing again. The birds are singing, the church bells are ringing, and all is right with the world.

Tomorrow we leave Verona for Rome and more adventures.