To paraphrase Shakespeare…

Two people, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene

From tiny Singapore, setting off on an adventure

Where discoveries are made and new experiences gained

Ok, that was really bad, but I am obviously no Shakespeare, otherwise I would be a published author by now :p

So, fair Verona, where we went to get one last fix of Italy before we head off to the rest of Europe. We did actually managed to squeeze in one final meal at Gargenelli where we had fabulous food way back in February. We kept talking about the food there and since it was kind of on our way (actually 2hr detour) to Verona, we just had to make a pit stop there. The food was every bit as delicious as we imagined and it was great to go there for one last time.

Words cannot describe our love for the food here

neither can the pictures express enough

We started the day in Verona, visiting what else but a church. Well we were in Italy afterall so visiting a church was definitely in order. We visited Basilica of San Zeno famed for its façade as well as for being the place of marriage between Romeo and Juliet. BUT it was undergoing major restoration, so we actually couldn’t see the façade. The bronze doors were quite a work of art though. They were assembled from different periods and from different artists and depicted scenes from the New Testament as well as the Old Testament. There was also a crypt which had a ‘forest of columns’ and they even had the body of Saint Zeno, the patron saint of Verona, preserved in the urn in the apse. It was a little freaky but interesting.

Intricately cast bronze doors

After getting a fix of some lovely Italian food which we will miss so much, we went to the famous Casa di Giulietta aka the location of the famous balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. If you are so inclined, you could actually pay 4 euros (I think) to enter the house, pose on the balcony and make-believe you are Juliet wondering ‘wherefore art thou Romeo’. Otherwise if you are like me, you just enter the courtyard for free and laugh at all the silly women posing on the balcony above. 

Beautiful Juliet once stood there wondering
(the balcony is fake by the way, built for tourists)

Today tourists stand there waiting for their Romeo to take their photo

There is also a bronze statue of Juliet in the courtyard and its supposed to be good luck to rub her right breast for luck, we thought it was too pervy to do so we gave that a miss. Finally, it seems to be quite the thing to scrawl various messages of love on the wall near the courtyard. We saw this teenage boy climbing on top of his friends to scrawl a message but he only brought a ball-point pen to do it! Totally pointless…

Wall of sweet nothings
(Graffiti to me)

Verona was touristy and a little tacky but still pretty fun to walk around. It was a good to say our farewells to Italy before heading towards the Sound of Music!