Where for art thou on day seven?

The answer, Verona. Why the question? Well you will have to keep on reading to find out!

We we started the morning in Padua, taking advantage of the hotel’s thermal pools. Just about all the girls we’re in the water by 8:30am — so for the parents out there who have trouble getting your kids up before noon, the answer is Italian thermal pools :)

After breakfast and swimming, we got on the bus and headed to Verona for the afternoon. we set the girls free to explore and what we learned is that shopping is higher on the priority list than historical sightseeing for many of them! Many “amazing deals” on Birkenstocks were found, so hopefully we all make the suitcase weight limit on the way home 😂

For the few that did explore the city, here are the highlights:

1) The Verona Arena — the arena is an amphitheater in Piazza Bra that was built in the 1st century — we’re talking the year 50 — and was originally used for gladiator fights and exotic animal hunts. Through the years it had many other uses (it even was a brothel for a while!) but now it serves as one of the most famous opera venues in Italy.

For $8 (1/10 of a Birkenstock purchase) you could go inside to explore the arena...so the adults did. Enjoy!

2) Juliette's Balcony — turns out Romeo and Juliette is loosely based in limited reality and the tale stretches back to two feuding families in 14th century Verona. So where for art thou? Verona.

A family with the surname Cappelletti lived in town and a balcony overlooking the terrace is now celebrated as the ‘Casa di Giulietta’

We even found a few of our girls who went inside Juliet’s house, hanging out over a balcony on the other side of the square!

And for the hopeless romantics out there, the alleyway leading to the balcony is where all the Letters to Julie are posted.

We finished up in Verona by 5pm to get back to the bus and head to Lake Garda for the evening. But before we take you there, here are some more sights from Verona!

We left Verona and headed to Lake Garda — the largest lake in 🇮🇹. Fun fact: it gets it name from the Getmanic word “warda” which loosely translates to “place of observation” because of its beauty.

We we got about an hour to walk around and enjoy the crystal-clear water before walking to dinner on the water. A few girls even jumped in!

Dinner was everything you imagine an Italian meal on the water to be. Pasta. Pizza. Pure deliciousness. And then the sunset views were the dessert we needed! Also, HUGE photo-bombing swans everywhere.

All in all, our first full day in Italy was magical. Great food. Beautiful scenes. And another experience there is little doubt we will ever forget.