Verona

Oh Verona...
Some will recognise the name from Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet", "Taming of the Shrew" or "Two Gentlemen from VERONA", others might recall it thanks to that terribly sappy film Letters to Juliet, some might not remember where the hell they've heard the name before.

Although the city holds Italy's third largest amphitheatre and is generally an absolutely gorgeous place Verona somehow generally rides on the attention it got from Shakespeare's description and adopts a romantic façade to all its landmarks. In contrast to Bologna's medieval red brick structures she flaunts one of the biggest white marble piazzas in the country and sports beautiful white arches.

My mother and I arrived at our Bed and Breakfast after squabbling at the train station about which bus to take. The Bed and Breakfast was very easy to find (had my topographically handicapped mother initially accepted to follow my lead) sitting right next to Piazza Bra. We headed upstairs to find a lovely lady who didn't speak any English introduce us to our room. We left our bags in the room and I immediately went to enquire about a restaurant the hostess could suggest for us to attend for lunch. I made a strong emphasis on how it shouldn't be too touristy and perhaps know their wine.

Tourist restaurants are the worst. They count on one time visits so they don't try to impress anyone with quality of food. The staff is generally friendly and welcoming, but ingredients are terrible and the dishes are generally over-priced.

She nodded understandingly and went to fetch a map for us. She then pointed out Osteria Casa Vino
which is situated across the road from the Castelvecchio. After a beautiful lunch and great wine we were so impressed we reserved a table for dinner and headed out to the castle!

Gold in Castelvecchio's museum

We then went on to look for Juliet's alleged house. Apparently, it was once an inn that the Italian's have turned into a museum. The balcony of the museum is the famous balcony Romeo climbs to steal a kiss and ladies from all over the world crowd to pay for a photo on it. I don't understand the appeal, since the characters are not only fictional, but reach a very tragic end. Nonetheless... My mom and I went into the courtyard and I had her pose with the Juliet statue. Apparently groping her breast is supposed to bring you all sorts of love and luck.

My mommy looking like a psychopath. <3

We then walked around Verona some more, browsing Piazza delle Erbe, Piazza Signori, but soon it started to rain so I had to stop taking photos and find shelter because mom is still recovering from a virus and sinusitis. Mom insisted we find refuge in the shops and try on all possible clothes. It was then that we realised eating all that pasta didn't do us much good. So when returning back to dinner I got experimental and ordered the seasonal Italian dish of zucchini flowers.

Stuffed with ricotta.

We head to Milan next morning.