“We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next to find ourselves” -Pico Iyer

Not a good start to the day. At seven this morning, we had to make sure our bags were in the lobby in our hotel so the porters had enough time to get our bags to the boat prior to our arrival at the dock. Trust me, it would have been worth losing my bag just so I didn’t have to wake up before seven. Either way, thanks to my wonderful and always charming girlfriend, she was able to drag my sorry ass out of bed and get downstairs on time…and fully clothed! (she truly is an angel)

Today was one of our most jam packed days here in Italia, as we had several stops on our schedule on the long drive towards our final city: Milan. Once we were fully fed, we loaded the boat and departed Venice for the last time. After grabbing a relatively comfortable seat on the bus we took off towards Milan but first we had a stop in Verona.

During our two hour stay in Verona, we conducted our walking tour of the city and were able to gaze upon the most famous area in the city: the homes of Romeo and Juliet (Yes! THAT Romeo and Juliet).

While the story of Romeo and Juliet tends to be regarded as a fictional tale, it is loosely based upon a story of two powerful families in Verona and…well you know the story.

While Romeo’s house is quite dull, Juliet’s has turned into a very popular tourist attraction were lovers write their names on the walls leading into the courtyard, locks populate the far fence of the courtyard (shown in the above picture), a souvenir shop is housed there offering personalized items for couples such as aprons and chef hats but the most prominent detail to this square is the statue of Juliet.

The superstition says that if you go up and grab Juliet’s right breast, you will be lucky in love. Several single members of our group went up to the statue to conduct this exercise but I have yet to hear any “nuptialous” news from any of them.

At the conclusion of our day trip to Verona, we were off to Verolanuova to visit with the folks at Pasta Lensi, a company that ConAgra recently acquired. Once there, the owner of the company gave a brief history of the company along with current market and business strategies. Once the presentation concluded, we were all off to the factory to see how they made their authentic pasta which is actually quite simple. First, the semolina flour is pumped into the factory and water is added to make a dough. The dough is then placed through a dye for the desired shape and finally the pasta is run through several ovens and cooled in order to rid the moisture. Once the pasta is complete, it goes through a strict packaging process and is finally sent off to customers. Even though pasta is something relatively basic, the process of making it is actually extraordinary.

Once the appointment at Pasta Lensi concluded, we were back on the bus and off to Milan. The long day really wore on us however when we arrived in Milan, Lauren got a very recognizable look in her eye…we were going shopping. Thankfully her store wasn’t far and we went shopping at the train station close to our hotel and afterwards grabbed a pizza. The day ended with a moonlit walk back to the hotel and another exciting day in Italy was in the books.