Friday, September 18, 2009

O Romeo, Romeo Wherefore Art Thou Romeo

Today is my birthday and if I understand the rules of blogging you get to write about anything you want on your birthday. Oh wait, that's every day. I guess you know where this post is headed....I'm going straight to my happy place....Italy.

In my defense however two birthdays ago I was sitting right here....

In Verona.

I have three friends whose birthdays fall close to mine and we decided to treat ourselves to some Italian pottery and of course we needed to pick out the pieces ourselves. We wanted to shop in a little town called Nove so we based ourselves for the weekend in Verona which isn't too far away. The first day was spent shopping at the potteries. We bought so many lovely pieces and even today when I look at them sitting in my kitchen and dining room I feel happy.


See how big the smiles are? Italian pottery does that to a girl.


The second day was spent leisurely strolling thru the streets of Verona...walking on pavement made of marble...stopping for Prosecco at a sidewalk cafe...


passing the arena that is third in size only to its more famous cousin in Rome...

checking out the castle...

tasting the gelato...we all know you can't go to Italy without having gelato...
and lots and lots of walking in the gorgeous sunshine around this beautiful city.


Oh, and we laughed alot. That's just what we do.


And oh yeah...we went to the opera.


And we loved it.

I've never been to an opera before and yes, it was all in Italian but it was Romeo and Juliet so we knew the story.

There is really no way to describe how it feels to be sitting in an ancient arena with the warm Italian air around you while amazing voices sing out in the night.

Magical.
That's the word.


5 comments:

  1. What a fabulous way to spend your birthday! I love all the pictures and I especially would love to see pictures of the actual pieces you purchased. I love pottery and need to visit there in order to buy a few things for myself.

    Happy Birthday, Joyce. May the Lord continue to bless you and keep you.

    Hugs,
    Carol

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  2. Happy Birthday!!!! And what a wonderful memorable day you had back in Italy! And now you are enjoying it again by sharing it with all of us.
    Enjoy today!! Hugs!

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  3. Happy Birthday Mommy!! I wish we were in Italy together right now!! Reading your blog is like being with you! Hope you're having a lovely evening! xoxo

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  4. Joyce,
    That is so strange that the comment I sent today didn't get to you!
    I was online at work and I very rarely get on the blog while at work, but I signed in and everything. Makes me wonder where it went? To the best of my recollection this is what I had typed to you this afternoon......

    "Happy birthday to you...
    Happy birthday to you...
    Happy birthday Dear Joyce.......
    Happy birthday to you!"

    Sigh....What a lovely place to spend a birthday. I know you gals had a wonderful time and made many memories to treasure forever. I think it would be my happy place too.

    I hope you had a wonderful day!

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  5. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I posted that your birthday was this weekend and then realized that it was today (Friday). I looked at the date wrong. I hope you had a nice day and were very celebrated!! When I went to Europe, Italy was by far the favorite place I visited. I would love to go back one day. The Italian pottery really looks beautiful. You will have to show us some of your pieces in a blog post one day.
    Love & blessings from NC!

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