Sunday we made plans to meet up with some friends in Verona. We decided to go a bit earlier than meeting with our pals to visit the city as a date. Since it was Sunday, we first went to mass in Peschiera's Madonna del Frasino. This is a church where the priests are all friars of the Franciscan order. They take vows of apostolic poverty, clothing themselves with rough brown clothes, eat the minimal to survive, help the poor and devote themselves to prayer and through that they pray for the spiritual life of everyone. Franciscans are lifetime students of the Bible, speak quietly and live with the minimum needs of life. I am sure there are so many things that I miss here but it is just to give the idea of who was preaching on Sunday. The priest, a calm quiet man, gave a wonderful sermon on the importance of lent, how the 40 days of lent signify the 40 days that Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted by Satan and Jesus didn't eat, he only prayed. The priest encouraged us all to give up as many carnal (physical) pleasures as possible for these 40 days before Easter. He encouraged us to use this as a period to renounce to ourselves and to grow closer to God and our spiritual relationship with him. He recommended eating less, watching less or no TV, using the internet less, and of course not doing anything that disrespected men or God. I walked away determined to get through lent by devoting myself more to the spiritual world of prayer and less to my physical and vain needs. Then, we went to Verona. Sunday was a glorious spring day, full of sunshine and happiness.
Parents filled the streets of Verona with their kiddies.
And I noticed that everyone was fulfilling their carnal desires with gelato, shopping, kisses and the passion of spring. Ahhhh...primavera.
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| keep the gelato still and say "Cheese!" |
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| Shop till you drop |
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| I don't think I will see my Franciscan brothers in here. |
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| "I'm giving up smoking for lent, what about you, Mercutio?" |
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| Part one: "Isn't Verona dreamy, Benvolio?" |
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| Part Two: Benvolio agrees... |
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| Louis Vuitton. Very nice purse but what does it mean? A status symbol? A message to others? For what? I should contemplate this alone especially because I think the purse is adorable. |
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| Mr. Capulet and Miss Montague meet. It's amore. |
We walked across the city making our way to St. Peter's hill.
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| "The Space Between": This picture reminds of of this song by Dave Matthews |
We hiked up St. Peter's hill that has a spectacular view of the city of Verona. I highly recommend friends and lovers to go there, the view is incredibly spectacular and should not be seen alone.
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| St. Peter's Hill |
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| walking up the hill |
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| WOW! take a look! |
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| Lunch on the edge |
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| perfect place for a girl chat |
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| A Veronese cat named Romeo |
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"What's in a name? That which we call catnip by any other name would not smell as sweet"
- Bill, Romeo and Juliet, 2.2 |
We saw the Roman theater that was first built on St. Peters hill. Then we saw the Castel San Pietro that was built ontop of the Roman ruins, then destroyed, then rebuilt, then destroyed by Napoleon, then the Austrians came and freed Verona taking the city as part of Austria and rebuilt the castle again 1840. It was then abandoned after a few years and is now restored. The Roman ruins underneath are currently getting escavated by archeological experts.
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| Part of the Roman theater |
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| Castel San Pietro |
I loved this Sunday trip as each time I visit Verona I see something new, beautiful and that I fall in love with. A city by any other name would not look as sweet.
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