30/08/03
Dear diary,
We went to Verona. It was about an hour drive from our campsite. We went to Verona because there are a lot of famous buildings and statues. The most famous one is the Roman Arena. It's found 14 century, but it's actually built in the first century BC. It's the third largest Roman Arena in the world, but it was also the best well-kept Roman Arena in the world. Mum said we couldn't go in there today because we had bought the ticket for tomorrow's opera, Aida.
Then of course, we visited the old clock in city centre. It's higher than any other buildings in a square, except for the statue of a winged lion standing on the scroll of parchment and set on a white marble pillar. I thought it meant to tell us not to waste time even the lion, king of the beasts, had to learn hard at what must be learnt to reach a higher level.
The thing we HAD to see was Juliet's birthplace. Yes, the Juliet in Romeo & Juliet. Up until now I had always thought Romeo & Juliet as a kind story. You know the lovey-dovey sort. A war between two families and the enemy boy loved the enemy girl and they met in secret, then the girl drunk a potion so that everybody will think that she was dead. She did it because she had been forced to marry another man. The boy thought she was dead so he killed himself. Then the girl woke up and saw the boy was dead so she killed herself because he was dead. Because of that the two families become best of friends. Up until now I believed in this story, but I didn't seriously thought it was real and I was still not sure that I believed in it. Mum gave Mick and me 2 euros to go in and have a tour of Juliet's house.
It was really old fashioned inside, but most of the furniture had been removed except for some simple furniture like polished wooden table and large wooden crates. There was a bedroom on top of a wooden staircase with a straw-filled bed covered with a white sheet. There were also two sets of clothing. One was a red and blue tunic probably wore by the master of the house. Another was a dirty-looking brown dress with LACES! I COULDN'T imagine anyone wearing clothes with laces they don't half itch like mad, but of course the most famous place at the house of Juliet's was Juliet's balcony. Romeo climbed over Juliet's balcony at night to meet Juliet at her. Many lovers went on the balcony. Dad even took a picture of a couple! Hee hee! It was a pity that they didn't kiss. It was also a pity that the day had to end here. I'll show you some photos some other time!
Bye.
P.S. I ate four ice creams today! Two chocolates and two vanillas.
PPS. My pen's running out, I would had to get a new one soon.
爸爸的註解：
1.趁有時間，再繼續上傳暑假的歐陸遊記，應算是接在第四十四篇之後。
2.維羅納位在意大利北邊米蘭和威尼斯之間，市中心區頗為雅緻，但最知名的還是古羅馬競技場及茱莉葉故居，隨時可見參觀人潮，而義大利的冰淇淋，與巴黎比起來，真的算是物超所值。
3.義大利雖然充滿各類博物館及文化古蹟，我們也悠遊其中，不過相較於法、英，實在不是家庭旅行的友善國家，只要不是歐盟國家公民，即使是小孩，通常都要付費參觀，而且價格頗不便宜，不僅和倫敦免費的大英博物館、自然歷史博館館、國家藝廊等不能並提，連巴黎羅浮宮也比不上，當然這只是旅人的牢騷，每個城市自有他的考量。不管如何，為了省錢(當然，也覺得無可觀處)，茱莉葉故居我們就只讓Jenny和Mick二人進去參觀，我們只在外面人擠人盯著那個知名陽台和茱莉葉塑像，以及密佈牆上，由來自世界各地戀人，用各類方法塗鴉的戀人絮語。
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