Visiting Europe was an analysis of romanticisation v. reality. Where Paris - city of lights, city of love, etc, etc - was found to be lacking, Italy was really charming. It does occur to me it may only be because it's the backdrop of Romeo and Juliet, but there's something about Verona. The result of "Hey, Verona is halfway between Venice and Milan, do you want to visit?" crammed Verona into five hours, following this fantastic guide.
Y'know, just a casual first century amphitheatre in the city centre because.
I had braced myself for the crowd at Juliet's Balcony, but people came in waves and there was sometimes no one else there at all. Winter is good. Go in winter.
Rubbing Juliet's right breast is a tradition of good luck, but it's an uncomfortable realisation when you remember she's only thirteen in Shakespeare's play and sixteen at best in the original poem, and you see grown-up men doing it. Well, all the fortune in love for you.
Where the Montague house may have been, the complementary matching plaque graffitied all over.
