My Verona

Fair Verona is where we lay our first scene of our Italian holiday...at this point, we had been awake and traveling for about two days, but Verona was the perfect little stop on our way to Venice to recharge our sense of excitement and adventure.

Verona is the Northern Italian city where Shakespeare set his tragedy Romeo and Juliet. Tucked away in a quaint courtyard, entered through a little alley, is the small balcony where the fictional Juliet longed for her Romeo..."Ay me!" I could just imagine a little girl in love on that balcony, sighing and swooning at the stars on a warm summer night. Even in a city full of, like, real historical sites, I loved that there is a balcony dedicated to Juliet in Verona, even if it was added to the house in the 20th Century. Unless your woman's soul is void of a romantic sensibility, I can't imagine this place not wooing you with its charm.
Plaque on the house.
Letters and graffiti to Juliet in the alley.There is also a bronze statue of Juliet in the courtyard, and legend holds that touching her breasts will lead to good fortune in love. So, Hayley and I did some holding ourselves--I mean, if the fate of our love lives was on the line...One of my other favorite things in Verona was the incredibly well-preserved Roman amphitheater, called The Arena. It's the third largest Roman amphitheater in Italy, after the Roman Collosseum and the arena at Capua. Built in AD 30, the amphitheater could hold 30,000 spectators in ancient times.
Today the Arena is used for open-air opera performances. Can you imagine? Ay me!

Next stop...Venice!