Bella Notte in Italy: Wherefort art thou Romeo?

From the title it's pretty easy to guess where I've been. Verona! Beautiful Verona! I was there for two days Thursday and Friday. In those two days I managed to take about 200 photos and see about 3/4 of Verona. (We had two small children in tow so we had to accommodate to them.) What can I say? It's a beautiful city.
We arrived Thursday afternoon and we stayed with friends of my host parents. They're originally from Russia but because of work, they moved to Italy some years ago and now have two small kids with a third one on the way. We had a late lunch and then went into the center of Verona. It was dark but the light from the street lamps made it very magical. First we went to the Roman arena. We couldn't go inside because it was closing but from the outside it was still amazing. Then we hit up Guilieta's balcony. It was so cool! I know it's a balcony but to think of the love story that went on in that small yard, it just sends me into shear happiness. Next, we went to Piazza of Herba which is the main square which leads into a smaller square. There in the square you have stores and market stalls. Very cool. Since it was next another square we went there. In the middle of this square stands a statue of Dante. Dante, when he was fleeing from the Church, came and stayed in Verona with the highest family, Le Scaligera. Their house is right in that square so... very important square plus their tombs are right next to it. After this we went back home and slept.
The next day, we went up to the old castle on the hill. From here you can see all of Verona. It's a breathtaking sight. You have the old city next to the new city and it's all in closed with the wall. Honestly, I could have spent all day just looking at Verona from afar. Then we went across the main bridge into Verona and walked around. The day went soooo fast! We visited the castle in the city and walked across another bridge. (Verona is surrounded by a river. To get in and out of town, you have to pass through the wall and then a bridge or vise vies.) Then we went back to the main square, and walked around, ate a lot, visited some tombs. By then it was getting dark and I wanted to see Guilieta's tomb. So we went there. First, we had to go through the museum with all the old frescos that used to be in the church next to the tomb and then we got to go into the tomb. That coffin is way to small to have held some one. I mean, it's really small. But the story goes, that we don't know if this is really Guilieta's tomb. When Shakespeare came to Verona, he said this is her tomb and my word is law. So we're going by Shakespeare's word.
What did you do for Halloween Annie? Well, sadly this is the first year I haven't dressed up for Halloween. But I did get to sleep over at a friend's house and I got to see Rocky Horror Picture Show with her and a few other friends. And it was in English! Not dubbed! They did have subtitles which was nice because I came out of the theater knowing some more vocab words than before. It was a ton of fun!
Then yesterday, I got to go to another birthday party for two friends in my class. We played Just Dance (which I'm very bad at) and talked. It was so much fun! I mean I was able to talk with everyone and just hang out. I feel accepted now!

So now without further adew some pictures: