Jeweliet for a Day

"WE'RE GOING TO VERONA AND WE'RE GOING TO SEE JULIET!!!!" This was the cry of happiness that my mom heard for about three weeks before we even made it to Italy and although not everyone counts a Juliet Capulet statue as the 'real deal', I most certainly do. If only I found a Romeo while I was there...*sigh*

Romeo and Juliet is hands-down the most well-known Shakespeare play, read by high school freshmen everywhere and loved by heart-sick romantics across the globe...yours truly included. What could be more captivating then the tragic story of two star-crossed lovers that only ends in death? Although I haven't seen the traditional play on stage, I have seen 'The Last Goodbye' a musical adaptation of the original with songs from late singer/songwriter Jeff Buckley in San Diego, last October. One day, I'll make the pilgrimage to Ashland, Oregon to see and love the Shakespeare festival. Anyway, back to Verona...where we lay our scene. 
Once arriving in Verona, we made a short trek from the train station to our hotel,where we were greeted by unique decor including: a picture of Holland, a Chinese dragon painting, a gray sponge paint wall, an African mask, newly bought picture frames with the filler picture still in the frame, and a trio collage of  a man and his family that we had the pleasure to meet the next morning...when he served us breakfast. We quickly headed away from our view of the two statues outside our window and out into the 'fair' streets.

We walked the quaint streets until we came across a adorable little restaurant for the usual: Pasta.

Personalized food= happiness

The chef was sweet enough to personalize our plates with none other then....barbecue sauce, and these

pesto noodles were amazing and nothing like I'd ever tasted before! We then headed back to browsing the streets that were seemingly right out of Disneyland...

Where's Mickey?

Work it Momma!

In the midst of the town there is what is basically a mini Coliseum. Complete with arches and arena seating inside, the Arena di Verona, dates back to 30 AD and is still in use today. Unfortunately, there was no events going on in the Arena the two days we were in Verona...but maybe that will have to be my excuse to go back to Verona.

I'm regenerating!

We then head off to the most amazing casa ever- Giulietta's house!

Ok, so it's not the real house of the fictional Juliet...but millions of people travel around the world to see the building that Verona has commemorated to the two lovers, complete with balcony and note wall(for all of you 'Letters to Juliet')

Fancy seeing you here, Shakespeare...

Yah...my name's in the signature book, not a big deal or anything.

What a morbid picture to have hanging in your house Juliet!

The square before the attack of the children, European children need to learn some manners. 

No sit sit. You can touch the sculptures, but you can't sit in the chairs...

Lovin' the decor

I'm JEWEL-iet! Where's my Romeo?

Visiting Juliet's house has one more tradition attached besides the obligatory balcony picture as you sing Love Story by Taylor Swift, the boob grab. "What in God's name is that?" is what you're probably thinking...trust me, that's what my mom was thinking when we explained the tradition of rubbing Juliet's left boob for luck and well.. of course taking a picture. Duh.

I was beyond a sonnet with excitement to visit Juliet's house and Verona,where Shakespeare brought multiple plays to life. Looking back, I can see why Shakespeare would have chosen this city, it's so full of life and love you can practically see Romeo swooning over Juliet at the ball and fatal duels being fought at every street corner. Verona will forever remain one of my favorite cities, who knows, maybe I'll go back there with a Romeo of my own someday. Jewel.

Who knew Italy wasn't just beautiful men and spaghetti?

 A few weeks ago I went on the trip of a lifetime to Italy, home of pasta, art, and beautiful men. At least that's all I thought it was before I took a 12 hour flight to Florence with my mom to meet my sister, Kenna, who is studying abroad there for 4 months. I'm going to be perfectly honest, I hate sitting in the same spot for 12 hours. I absolutely hate it. It seems the struggle between my hate of ridiculously long flights and my ever present wanderlust has made itself known. Anyway flying in to Florence from Paris we passed over the Alps, so of course I whipped out my camera for a picture of these snow covered beauties.

After landing we jumped in a taxi and sped(I'm being honest when I say sped, the rules of the road are...well...nonexistent) through the streets of Florence, the cuore of Italian art and culture(in my opinion anyway). The first thing we saw was the magnificent Duomo, only a short jont from our hotel. 

Made of marble, the Duomo was began in 1296 by Arnolfo di Cambio and finished in 1436 by Filippo Brunelleschi after a contest between him and Lorenzo Ghiberti to design and build the dome of the cathedral. Seeing the cathedral leaves you breathless and continously wondering how they built the structure. Trust me, I walked by it over 15 times while I was there and every time I looked up, I was amazed.

My sister had in her head that once we got to Florence we would be dog-tired and want to head straight to bed. However, not only did we somehow skip jet-lag but we were so worked up on an OHMYGOSHIMINITALY- adrenaline rush we had to get out and see the city. So we took a stroll to Piazza della Signoria-a.k.a my soon to be favorite Piazza in Florence(and there's a lot of them) and home of fake David.

Fake David- I would later see the real David- it's amazing if you were wondering.

'Hercules and Cacus' by Baccio Bandinelli

'The Rape of the Sabine Woman' by Giambologna

'Fountain of Neptune' by Bartolomeo Ammanati

Italy has this wonderful "It's beautiful, let people look at it' policy so Piazza della Signoria is partially made up of Loggia dei Lanzi- an outdoor gallery that holds renaissance art, that you can look at and sit next to and take pictures of and the best part is...it's free! I knew there was a reason I loved Piazza della Signoria...between the art and the atmosphere you have happiness and it's only a short walk to a tasty gelato shop.(I went to seven cities and tried gelato in all seven, no that's not a record but it should be).

The next day, we headed over to the River Arno to take a look at the Ponte Vecchio(literally Old Bridge) which is famous for being lined with shops. We would later find out the whole of the bridge is filled with gold and silver shops, but apparently there is a hotel somewhere on the seemingly stable overhangs.

If someone could clarify what these row boats are called that would be great.

'Kenna, stand there and take a picture of me please'

How is this legal- oh wait it's probably not but we're in Italy

What are this? What type of ornamental doorway decoration is this?

My first few days in Florence were amazing and already filled with fun! The next day we would lay our scene in fair Verona and become sisters of the lovely Juliet before heading to Venice for some gondola-filled fun. But just to keep you intrigued here's a picture of mom and Kenna on the morning before our train ride to these amazing places(there train system is the best. Ever.) Jewel.