ITALY 2006... THE BREAST FACTOR...

TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 2006 [DAY 6 OF TOUR]

Excerpt from Moleskine: "I dreamt I killed a man... He was throwing rocks at me, so I got his head on my lap and twisted and twisted and twisted. Don't remember his neck snapping or breaking, but it did just go limp. Like a licorice stick..."

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If you ever find yourself in fair Verona, at the statue of Juliet, remember to rub her right breast. Supposedly, this action brings good luck.

According to Rosa, our tour guide, the original concept for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet did not come from Shakespeare, but from a poem by Luigi Daporto (I have no idea if the spelling of his name is correct. I am assuming, though, that our tour guide knew what she was talking about.)

A subtle difference: Rosa always said Juliet & Romeo, NOT Romeo & Juliet.

Unfortunately, it was not a fair day in Verona when we went. It was a cold and rainy day. HotFudge loves the rain. I have nothing against it, but it's hard to hold an umbrella AND take pictures at the same time. This annoyed Screg to no end as he tried to get a good shot of various people from our tour with their hands on Juliet's right breast. And then the statue was swarmed by a bunch of Japanese tourists. Fondling and carressing the Juliet statue. [BTW: I said Japanese tourists because that's what they were. If they were German, I would've said German... if they were Filipino, I would've said Filipino... etc., etc.]

Rosa gave our group some free time to wander around, so, the first thing HotFudge and I did was to try to find the public bathrooms. We followed Rosa's directions, but were unsuccessful. Nothing's worse than when Mother Nature calls and there's no bathroom in sight. You really can't enjoy anything until her call is answered. At one point, HotFudge and I and another couple poked our heads into a coffee shop and asked if we could use their facilities. This was one of those places where we'd have to buy something in order to use the toilet. Now this is where it gets fuzzy. It would have cost .90 cents to purchase something (like a coffee) and "stand" at the counter. It would've been more expensive if we sat down. I repeat: It would've been more expensive if we sat down. I could be totally wrong, but that's the impression we all got. The couple decided to stay. HotFudge and I took our leave.

I wandered into a bookstore. I was on a quest. HotFudge found me and said she used the bathroom in another restaurant across the way. I completed my purchase and went across. I asked for the bathroom. The waitress pointed it out, but I detected a slight irritation in her face. I guess I can understand. Who wants a whole bunch of tourists coming in to just use the facilities (stanking everything up and/or backing everything up) and not ordering anything? And I wasn't the only one either. There were other tourists from a different group standing in line waiting to use the toilet. [A lot of the local tour guides referred to the restroom as the "smiling-room" because you don't go in smiling, but you come out smiling.]

So, after I left the "smiling-room" (and yes, I was smiling... I couldn't help it... It's all about that incredible feeling of relief...), HotFudge and I made our way back to the statue to see if we could get some decent pictures. We did, and spent the rest of our time (about half an hour) looking at souvenirs in the rain. Of course, there were tons of stuff related to the Romeo & Juliet theme...

And, with damp feet and damp sweats, we made our way back to the tour bus for the long drive to Florence...