We drove into Verona that morning, and dad found the parking lot of his dreams! It had LED lights indicating open parking spaces, clean bathrooms, and  music.  After parking, dad contemplated spending the whole day in Verona..in the parking lot.  Parking is serious business for the Texas Roadies.

I couldn’t wait to see Juliet’s house.  Dad and the boys found a bench and didn’t even feign interest  🙂

When we reached her house I slowly walked through the corridor covered with couples names, just staring in awe and smiling like an idiot.

I had to see everything … the love locks, phones, and mailboxes.

I saved the real romance for last…Juliet’s statue, her home, and the balcony.  I stood under Juliet’s balcony…having the time of my life….imagining that she and Romeo were there in front of me.

Dad and the boys finally tore me away from my day dreams because they were hungry.  Food… their true love.  We bought some hot lasagna to go and had a picnic in Verona’s main plaza.  After lunch dad wanted to just relax, after all he didn’t have to worry about parking.

However, we did want to see Milan that night.

We hit the road, leaving behind the dream parking lot, Romeo and Juliet, and made our way to Milan.  We hoped to park near Milan’s train station, but the multiple no traffic zones got us completely lost.   Parking nightmares seemed a certain reality.   Finding a lot took forever, but we eventually found one surprisingly  close to the metro. We parked, got our things and headed to the metro.

The metro dropped us off at the Duomo Cathedral.

We explored the incredible church.  It is beautiful.

After the Duomo, we walked across the street to the Galleria.

The Galleria was breathtaking! And laced with some of my favorite stores (Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton)!!!!!

After window shopping, we walked to the fashion district and took in the fancy cars and beautiful, impeccably dressed people strolling by. We had forgotten to make dinner reservations for that night, so we solved our dilemma by buying some pizza inside the Galleria.  Then we walked across the street to the Duomo Cathedral square and had a picnic as the street lights lit up the area.  Perfect night!