Romeo, O Romeo

The second day in the Fiat 500 took us to Verona, where there are tons of things to see, but we only managed two.  What the pictures may or may not show is that it was an incredibly hot day - 95 degrees - and just standing in the shade was close to unbearable.  But, standing in Verona, Italy made it more bearable.  (It is supposed to stay in the 90s for a few more days yet).  

Our first stop (after parking and buying bottles of icy water for only 1 euro each) was the Roman arena.  It is a still working amphitheater where they put on operas all summer long. We watched them loading in the set of Carmen with cranes lifting the set pieces over the walls of the arena.  Hard to believe that they change out the set regularly as the operas change every couple of days, back and forth between five or so different shows.  It would be really fun to see something there, sitting on the steps that people have been using for hundreds of years.

From there, we had a big lunch nearby.  Our habit has become to have this midday meal be our largest of the day - with much smaller dinners -  mostly because we are gorging ourselves so completely at lunch it is hard to eat much else the rest of the day.  If Italians eat like this, it makes total sense that they need a three-hour "lunch pause" - I could have used a nap after that meal of spaghetti bolognese!  

The walk to Juliette's house from the arena was down a street full of shops and vendors.  And beautiful old buildings.   Turning into the little alleyway to the house that has been in the Capulet family since the 1200s, you knew you were nearing Juliette by all the notes and graffitti left to her over the years.  We all wished for luck in love (which is more likely to come true apparently if you touch Juliette's left breast for some extra luck).  We went into her home and stood on the balcony.  In an effort to stop people from defacing the building to leave notes in the walls of her home, and as a sign of the times, you can now email Juliette with your questions of love.  The heat of the day was only amplified as we walked up the four stories of the old house.  As we tried to find some relief from the heat we entertained the idea of continuing on with our plan for the day and walking to the Giardino Giusti (gardens with a hedge maze) but decided heading home was a better idea.  We needed to return the car in time to be home for the Eurocup Finals - which ended as expected with Spain victorious over Italy.