Verona. I do not understand this.

[PeachesMcLean]

I wondered about putting this in shorthaul but you've got it here instead.

In Verona, you can go and visit "Juliet's balcony". People stand there and have their pictures taken on it.

The fact that it's a fictional story and Shakespeare never went there seems immaterial. It's just a balcony. In Verona. Are there not other balconies? Or just the one.

What's that about then?

Errrmmm - that most people are too thick to realise or too romantic to care?

I've been there (Verona and the balcony) - very pretty.

It'll just be a money spinner, someone with a good idea few years ago decided to start a chinese whisper that it was the genuine balcony, I reckon.

Not only can you visit Juliet's balcony but if you are crossed in love you can write to Juliet and she will answer you. So it must be the real Juliet.

you're supposed to put your hand on one of her breasts and wish

I think people think it's kind of a magical coincidence - that Shakespeare should have set such a romantic scene, on a balcony, in a Verona of his dreams - and that there, in the real everyday ordinary actual Verona, is a balcony that belongs in his dream?

Irrelevantly, there is a place in Canada (Stratford, Ontario) which honours its name with a Shakespeare festival. We went there & had a picnic in an urban area planted with some municipal saplings. It had a big proud sign: BIRNAM WOOD.

the right one

Ooh she's even got a shiny boob? How much rubbing has that had?

The play is based on a true conflict between two families, and their respective castles can apparently be seen some way outside of Verona.

The balcony is just a tourist attraction.

Scrub my explanation, I prefer bink's.

Cali [again]

But will her boob bring me my truelove if DH is there with me???

Anyway. I can't believe anyone really really thinks it's Juliet's balcony. Interested to hear there's a real story attached to the play though, thanks ajandjjmum.

you can also visit her tomb in Verona..

I've been to the balcony. Didn't know about the tomb though.

The balcony in question is an old tomb that some enterprising buffoon dug up in the 1920s and stuck on the frontage of a rather uninspiring building.

Juliet's left tit is all shiny from being rubbed.

Bless.

I think you can see where whatshename jumped off the wall in Lyme Regis as well. From Persuasion.

should be in pedants corner i know, but there is actchewally NO mention of a balcony in Romeo and Juliet.

He calls up to her window.

And she talks about not going in to her nurse. I think a balcony can be assumed. Should I join you in the pedant's corner?

I think in that part of Italy, a balcony can be assumed.

It's interesting, though. I love all this absorbing trivia.

Fantastic, Desi. "The balcony in question is an old tomb that some enterprising buffoon dug up in the 1920s and stuck on the frontage of a rather uninspiring building."
So. Romeo and Juliet are fictional. Shakespeare never went to Verona. There's not necessarily a balcony in the play and the balcony isn't even a balcony.

I love it. I now have to go and see this place for a laugh.