All roads lead to rome!

So I know Jim has been posting about Rome already, but I want to talk briefly about a few of our stops on the way to rome. After leaving Venice, we drive about an hour to Verona, where obscure play Romeo and Juliet was set. It was actually a very pretty city apart from the whole Romeo and Juliet thing, but I don't think that's what draws in the crowds. Here you can see me in the crowd with the supposed balcony where Romeo wooed Juliet.

There are a few interesting things to note. As Romeo and Juliet is fiction, this whole thing was really just put on to bring in tourists to the city. But on the other hand, the house shown above has been owned by the Capoletto (not sure on the spelling there) family since the 1200's, and that's of course where Shakespeare got the name Capulet, so the site is not without history of meaning. Also there is a statue of Juliet right below the balcony. There bronze has substantial wear on the right boob, I think you can guess why.

After getting some of the best Gelato in Italy, we drove about three hours to where we stayed for the night. It was this very strange camping resort in Tuscany with spectacular views of the Tuscan countryside. It was kind of like the beach resorts they have in the Caribbean, except not all-inclusive or on a beach. It was full of Europeans though, and they told us the tap water wasn't drinkable, possibly mimicking the resorts in Mexico, except there it actually is dangerous to drink the water.

The next day we went to Assisi in Umbria on the way to Rome. If you are like me and not familiar with Catholic history or hill towns in Italy, you wouldn't know that Assisi is famous for being the home of St. Francis. He brought the message of the gospel to the commoners (the bible was only in Latin in the middle ages) gave all his riches to the poor, and started a radical evangelical movement. Soon after his death, a cathedral was built in his honor and to house this remains. No pictures inside, but here is a shot of it from the outside.

Other than that there wasn't really much to Assisi. We then spotted a cool looking town up on a hill near the road we were on, and decided to go take a look. It was fun exploring the town, called Trevi, and it had a really weird playground. It was nothing like you see in the states. Here I am doing the rope swing. It was kind of like a zipline, but you sat down.

Finally on to Rome, which is seems you have already heard a lot about. More to come from me on that soon I hope. By the way, if you would like to see more pictures, Trillion has been posting them on facebook as we go, so if you friend her, you will be able to see more than just the few I put up here. One last thing. I want to talk about at least one meal each post, but the food at these places was subpar at best, so I am going to cover a place in Rome because the food here has been spectacular. At dar Poeta Pizzaria I got the pizza with spicy salami and chilies. It was the best pizza I have had so far on this trip. They also had excellent bruschetta. It's off to Sorrento tomorrow!