Tuesday, March 20, 2012

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene...

One of my favorite stories of all time is without a doubt, Romeo + Juliet.

No, not because my 10 year old little self found Leonardo DiCaprio to be the most handsome thing I'd ever seen - I swear, I was much more of a JTT girl - but because of the love story. It's no secret that I love love. A lot. And even before I had the slightest grasp of what true, head-over-heels, can't live without you love was, I found myself teary-eyed in the Avery family basement as I watched the re-make for the first time. You can't tell me this scene (at the very least the song - I mean, come on...) doesn't make you cry. Sigh...


Fast forward another 10 years. During an assignment for a college dance class, I found myself - again - succumbing to the beauty (and subsequent tears) as I watched San Francisco's finest ballet dancers in their rendition of the classic production.


Safe to say a trip to Verona was non-negotiable once we moved up to Padova and were just a short train ride away.

We enjoyed holding hands and walking about the picturesque little town. After a quick snack, we climbed the Lamberti Tower which afforded a breath-taking 360 degree view of Verona and surrounding areas. We couldn't have been more happy the rain subsided and the sun came out once we reached the top.


Post Tower, we cruised through town before stopping by the Castelvecchio and the Castelvecchio Bridge. Beautiful and impressive.


In wandering back through town, we happened upon the hippest little ristorante and bopped in for some nutrition (and prosecco, of course). Full to the brim on burata, pasta and polenta, we were off for our final stop of the day, Casa di Giuliette.


Though this could possibly be the definition of "tourist trap", I forced Andy to entertain me with our visit to CDG. Juliet's balcony isn't actually Juliet's balcony at all. They added it to "her house" in the 30s and deemed it "the balcony." While disappointing, I didn't let this minor little detail derail me in any way. Tradition states that everyone who visits Juliet's house must leave something behind for her - a letter, a small piece of jewelry, a graffiti drawing - and who am I to break tradition?

Being this was the second time we'd visited a "lock of love" location together (and having not partaken in the first), I insisted we fork up the 8 euro (I know, that's like four bottles of Conad wine...) to purchase one of our own. Appropriately marked with "amore eterno" and a K & A, I let Andy embarrass himself enough for the both of us by climbing a wrought iron gate to lock it up. Our lock came with three keys and upon realizing this, I insisted we run quickly to the river, make a love-related wish and toss it in. And so we did. But not before affixing our piece of chewing gum on the wall.


The city was a bit "touristy" for our liking but we definitely enjoyed our visit and are super happy we took the time to visit before the influx of spring and summer travelers.

on to the next one...

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