Post-Europe Trip Reflection #5: In Fair Verona Where We Lay Our Scene

11 July

Slept in. Sigh, what a beautiful thing to do on holiday! As much as there was lots to be seen, the pace of our journey so far caught up to me at this point. We enjoyed our first Italian breakfast, complete with our host's homemade berry jam, fig jam, muffins and glorious, oh so glorious, Italian coffee. I decided from then on, to partake of espresso as often as I could whilst in Italy.

I then took some time to take photos of this lovely little farm we were living at. Here is an olive tree and then a fig tree.

Before we started back on our treacherous journey back down the mountain, we had a little pow wow. As life goes sometimes, there were things left unsaid, that really needed to be brought out. We took some time that morning to each share where we were at and how we were feeling about the trip thus far. Traveling with friends is obviously different than the countless trips I have taken with students and with me as their leader. At the same time, this morning ended up being a much needed "team meeting" of sorts. And it was good.

We made our way back down the "mountain", without any incident!

Verona, as our first Italian city, was lovely. We just wandered around, took pictures, sat at a terrace cafe and ate amazing little pizza thingies, took in the style of those just walking around, admired the many Vespas and bicycles and checked out Casa di Giulietta: the home of the Capulet family inn and the supposed balcony which inspired Shakespeare. Here visitors add countless graffiti and glue love notes to the wall, but this is not why we were there! We were there to see the famed bronze breast. And see it we did. Juliet's right breast is bright bronzed in comparison to her left, thanks to the many who come specifically to rub it! Apparently, rubbing the breast is meant to grant one luck in love. And of course, being the token single in our group, partook of this great tradition I did. Twice! (For the best photo opportunities, of course.)

What else did we do in Verona? Checked out some other monstrous melons whilst shopping for dinner groceries!

If I haven't mentioned this already, I was reminded that one of my favourite things to do in another country is shop at their supermarket. We had the chance to do this often in an attempt to save some money. We stood in line with a rather inebriated fellow, who for some reason decided to approach us later in a city plaza and spit on one of my friends!! Not a pleasant experience at all. Right around this time, I stepped into some of the nicest public bathrooms I have ever had the privilege of experiencing. Cost 50 cents.

Those groceries and the nicely selected bottle of Italian wine made for an amazing home-cooked meal, a lovely end to a long day of walking (and shopping).