Absolut Love.

During my recent trip to Verona, I happened upon this button. It seems so appropriate for the city in which Shakespeare's love story, Romeo and Juliet, is based.

Verona is a great city. It's like a smaller version of Rome. It has an arena, reminiscent of Rome's Colosseum and the overall feel of the city is similar too. We hadn't planned on spending our Sunday here but a train strike kept us from traveling from Verona to Vicenza. The joys of strikes in Italy...I swear they happen ALL the TIME!

I took one of my favorite photos in Verona. Lately, I've been taking pictures with only my iPhone and playing with the light using the ProCamera app. This picture I edited in Instagram. I posted one version to Facebook, but here's another.

Verona...on a drizzly Sunday morning

This iPhoneography fun is causing me some problems. I take so many versions of the same shot I can't decide which to use. The solution has become not to decide, which results in a lack of blog posts and photo sharing on Facebook. Here is one I like from later in the day.

Verona...the weather having improved

We also did the tourist thing and checked out Juliet's house. We went early so that it wouldn't be too crowded and checked out the balcony, wall of locks, and, of course, the gift shop!

From the courtyard of Juliet's house

This weekend trip in early October began in Mantova, a town about an hour south of Verona. This town is famous for its zucca (pumpkin) dishes, so I was desperate to feast on these delights. Mantova was a nice small town. Kate and I wandered through churches and markets. We happened upon a vendor, who I'm convinced must do "As Seen on TV" advertising. He would be perfect. What do you think?

Kate, considering the kitchen tool that would make her zucchini into spaghetti!

So, back to the zucca. In Mantova, we ate at a busy place that was along a touristy street. It was probably not our best decision. We ordered a cheese plate that I'm pretty sure came from the local grocery store, nothing worth remembering. And, we each had the tortelli di zucca in a butter and sage sauce. It was rather disappointing overall. Perhaps, I'm becoming too selective in my zucca preferences.

The zucca in Mantova...only okay, unfortunately.

While in Verona we ate at a restaurant that also had tortelli di zucca on the menu. So. Much. Better.

The zucca in Verona...looks way more homemade than the Mantova version!

Arrivederci tutti! I promise to work on my pictures from Copenhagen and post about last weekend's trip soon!