Where is Romeo?

Tvt, I have lost myself, I am not here,

This is not Romeo, He's some other where.

That's just some Romeo and Juliet I remember from high school, if I was take a random guess it's from Act 1 Scene 1, but that's just a guess.

After hastily kicking the Aussies out just past eight on Saturday, Allen and I loaded the bus with a less than expected cluster of CIEE students headed northwest to Verona. Upon our arrival we visited the Basilica of San Zeno, my roommate whose last name is Zelno thought their maybe a relation with St. Zeno but dying 380 A.D. it would be not viable to track the genealogy. The Basilica has been rebuilt three times: twice destroyed by invaders and once by an earthquake. Sounds like the architect did a subpar job in placing the church.

This is from the top of a nearby hill, over looking Verona:

After lunch at the former city market, now a tourist market I previewed the shopping, thenthe group reassemble we set off on our afternoon tour. We walked through the Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori seeing a intact ancient roman road from the AD time period. Interesting enough the ancient roman city is virtually intact six meters below the current ground level.

The highlight of the day, for me at least, was touching a Juliet statue and afterwards realizing it gives you good luck. I swear this is where everyone else was touching her:

We saw the supposed house of Romeo, Juliet and Juliet's balcony. Those landmarks were probably conceived by the tourism board a few years back, but it seems to be paying off.

Thanks for asking but no I didn't spend a afternoon in Rome. This is the Arena, completed around 30 AD, which is the third largest in Italy, after Rome's Colosseum and the arena at Capua.

On Monday I learned how to cook lasagna. I'll soon be opening my own Italian restaurant. Please inquire about being my assistant chief, a waiter or, preferable, a waitress.

Ciao.