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That's one of the few lines I remember from Romeo and Juliet. And so, in honor of the “greatest literary playwright” in history, today's adventure brought us to Verona.

To be completely honest, I don't think Verona would receive nearly as many tourists without Shakespeare's depiction of the city. What's coincident is that the city itself had much more history than two feuding families. While there was much noise around the Renaissance, the area proved to be quite dramatic from the early 1000s. Its involvement with local wars was quite frequent, from the late Latin Ages as a small settlement to the Gothic wars. Eventually, it ended up as an Italian city that Shakespeare wrote about, so now it's also on the world map.

A common belief is that Shakespeare never came to Verona. Born in England, he was caught in the Renaissance wave of literature, influencing much of his craft. While his writing took place in Verona, Shakespeare did not explicitly describe the town itself, or the actual people in it. Yes, Romeo and Juliet are characters that have no evidence of actually existing. While I found this hard to believe, writing such a story is much easier to formulate in your head than using all facts. I'm not sure whether every tourist understood that the characters might have been false since the line to view the balcony of "Juliet" said otherwise. Regardless, we went up to the balcony and took a picture. It really was just a tiny standing area outside a window, which I felt kind of overhyped. I don't know how a book motivates so many people to take time out of their lives to see something that is allegedly true. However, there were apparently two major, rich families in the city, although perhaps not angry at each other. They also had names similar to Montague and Capulet, just in Italian. Maybe Shakespeare did have some information to draw up the story, all the more reason for millions to crowd the small courtyard under the balcony.

Outside of the Shakespearian dream, we traveled through the Duomo and Basilica of Saint Anastasia one after another, filled with, you guessed it, renowned paintings, and, you guessed it, marble walls (there is a lot of marble). No matter whether it's the largest cathedral (Duomo) in town or the bishop's residential house (Basilica). After the third church, I lost track of the differences. It's not boring, but it's quite the opposite. They're all too grand, and sometimes I feel so disconnected from them, especially since the local church I go to barely seems like a church in comparison. After a while, you kind of accept them as a class on their own, each a palace filled with riches from the people to the greatest figure in their lives: Jesus. Once again, it's spectacular to see what belief can drive people to do. From marble walls and columns to mosaics on the floor and ceiling, constant miracles come true in the thought of building it for God.

As for me, I thoroughly enjoyed this small inland road tour. It also marked the final day on land. From tomorrow on, I’ll enter the cruise section of this trip.

【红霞译文】

“美丽的维罗纳，我们的故事从这里开始。”

那是《罗密欧与朱丽叶》留在我记忆里寥寥几句台词中的一例，仅仅为了纪念史上“超群绝伦的剧作家”，今天值得我们亲自到维罗纳转悠一趟。

说实话，我觉得要不是莎士比亚笔下生辉，这座城市几乎没法吸引这么多观光游客，无巧不成书，维罗纳本身远比当地两个冤家渊源悠久，早在文艺复兴运动蓬勃发展之前就已经度过上千年峥嵘岁月，其间内忧外患经年不断，起始于拉丁时代晚期的小村庄又横遭哥特战争洗礼，最终被锤炼成备受莎翁青睐的意大利都会，而且荣登世界地图。

人们普遍认为莎士比亚从未来过维罗纳，其出生年代恰好赶上本土英国兰文艺复兴昌盛时期，文学作品又深受改革浪潮的影响，虽说故事情节发生在维罗纳，可是作家却鲜少明确描述当地的风土人情，没有确凿证据表明罗密欧与朱丽叶在历史上确有其人，尽管我发现难以置信，但脑袋瓜里想象的东西要比现实生活中发生的题材更容易编成故事。我不大清楚各位游客是否明白主人公多半是虚构出来的，反正“朱丽叶”晾台前排成长龙，无论怎么着，我们登上晾台并摄影留念，阳台不过是窗外仅供人落脚的狭小空间而已，被吹得天花乱坠，结果让大家信以为真，情愿花时间欣赏子虚乌有的场景。然而，当时维罗纳似有两家富裕大户，但彼此关系未必闹得很僵，意大利名字与蒙太古及凯普莱特相似，也许莎士比亚手头确实掌握了一些资料，这样才好煽情并把成千上万的戏迷忽悠到阳台下令人窒息的庭院里。

走出莎士比亚梦境，我们先后游览了维罗纳大教堂和圣亚纳大西亚主教堂，不出所料，除了闻名于世的油画而外，顶天立地的大理石格外醒目，无论城里规模居首的大教堂还是主教居住的圣殿，一概如此。等参观完第三座教堂，我已经分不清彼此之间有何区别，并非由于它们大同小异，相反却因其雄伟气势，有时难免让我萌生敬畏的感觉。稍候片刻，你下意识就把它们归为另类，每所殿堂荟萃了人文精华与至高无上的福祉神灵：耶稣，再次展示信仰给人以无穷力量，从大理石墙与石柱到马赛克地板与天花板，为荣耀上帝就会不断涌现各种奇迹。

至于自身体会，我非常喜欢小别海岸之行，这也是内陆旅游最后一天，从明天开始，我将乘游轮远航。

Today in History(历史上的今天):

2017: Esztergom the Hungarian Rome, Hungary(匈牙利的罗马—艾斯特根)

2017: Lower Danube, Slovakia-Hungary(斯洛伐克—匈牙利多瑙河下游)

2017: Bratislava—Beauty on the Danube(斯洛伐克多瑙河奇葩—兄弟荣耀)

2017: Bratislava—Little Big Capital, SK(斯洛伐克迷你之都—兄弟荣耀)

2017: Bratislava—Tatra Tiger, SVK(斯洛伐克首都兄弟荣耀—满地老虎)

2016: Dublin the Pale, Ireland(爱尔兰都柏林苍穹)

2016: Dublin—UNESCO City of Literature, IRL(爱尔兰都柏林—联合国科教文之文学城)

2016: Avoca—IRL's Oldest Weaving Mill, Ireland(爱尔兰最老的纺织作坊—小珍宝)

2016: Glendalough Monastery, Ireland(爱尔兰格两湖谷修道院)

2016: County Wicklow the Garden of Ireland(爱尔兰花园—海盗草甸郡)