Verona!!

I've fallen behind in my blogging again. I decided to split up our Semana Santa vacation into three parts because I have a hard time choosing which pictures to post...so there are a lot. Once we decided on spending a few days in Northern Italy...Venice was our first choice. Our second choice was to stay at Lake Como. And conveniently located in the middle (ok, closer to Como) is Verona. It made the perfect place to stop and enjoy the day outside as opposed to in a car. From Venice it is about 2 hours. It was a beautiful day to see a beautiful city. Once we parked we walked down the street towards the old gates. Inscribed on a plaque on the way out of the city is Shakespeare's words from Romeo and Juliet, "here is no world without Verona walls

But purgatory, torture, hell itself. Hence “banishèd” is banished from the world, And world’s exile is death. " It was clear by the time we read that on the way back to our car that Shakespeare had left his mark on the city...and the city as well leaves it's mark on you.

Near the Piazza Bra, which is probably the most modern piazza we've seen to date, is the imposing ruins of the arena. Built in AD 30, and surviving earthquakes and wars, it has been renovated in the interior to still seat 15,000 for events.

Once inside you can go up to the stone seating, which we preferred...

Nick and the kids went all the way to the top.
The renovated stage, with red chairs.
Jess and Alexa taking some pictures from the top....turned to pose for Dad at the bottom.
The reason we decided to stop at Verona was of course, Romeo and Juliet. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of Romance. And for some serendipitous reason we've managed to watch "Letters to Juliet" about 10 times on transatlantic voyages and other ways. So we were all excited (Joe because he was studying Romeo and Juliet in his English class) to seek out Juliet's house. We simply followed the crowds. Below is a picture of Piazza delle Erbe, a beautiful little piazza with market stalls (behind the kids) selling fresh fruit and other items.
Juliet's house from the street...
Just about as famous as the balcony is the graffiti that covers the entire entrance to the courtyard. All of it, every word, is an expression of love.
We admired the balcony from outside and the girls and I took a tour inside. No pictures allowed. It is a sparsely decorated building, said to have period furniture from the Montagues and Capulets time. Interestingly enough the story of the feuding families is true and Shakespeare based his play on " Giulietta e Romeo", by Matteo Bandello. Sadly, there were no letters to Juliet left in the wall as now the entire process is digital. Inside one of the rooms they have computers set up where you can leave your notes...very modern. The girls loved it...I thought it lost some of the romance.
Nick has a picture of me on his blackberry on the balcony...one of these days I'm going to see it. ;)
Joe took the following picture...even Mom's get a shout out on the wall.
From there we walked to Castelvecchio, a castle built in the 1300's for the Scaligeri family to protect themselves from their enemies in Venice. (Remember Venice the country extended into mainland Italy at the time) Now aside from the obvious coolness of wandering the grounds of a castle, you can also enjoy the impressive art museum as well.
inside courtyard
I believe this is the family crest...it can be found several places in the castle
Jessica on the walkway above with a view toward the Adige river.
in the distance
another view of the Adige river


We enjoyed a great day in Verona. Definitely an enchanting city...worthy of an even longer stay the next time. And maybe Nick and I will take in an opera at the arena. Ah, "good night, good night, parting is such sweet sorrow. That I shall say good night til it be morrow."