ITALY – A trip to Verona with a troubled son & dolphins that are fishes (#TBT)

Verona - Italy - Europe
Verona - Italy - Europe

#TBT [ThrowBackThursday] week 44 of 2015. This week, something I remember from my visit to Italy, 1 of the 52 countries I visited prior to 2015.

I have been only once to Italy prior to 2015; I should be ashamed a bit I guess. There is so much to see and do with history dating back millennia. The place I visited was Verona together with my son who was then six years old. After getting permission from school for an additional day off we booked our tickets from Amsterdam with a stop in Munich. His first time on a plane and he loved it!

Without going into much detail it was a difficult time for my son. Due to the accident of my wife which I shared with you in a previous #TBT he was not comfortable in his skin. It was a year later that we learned that his IQ could not be measured as it was off the charts. As he was verbally just on average but thinking faster this amplified the situation. Just an extreme example when the mother of one of his friends died of cancer he asked me “Dad, how do you think the MOTHER feels about leaving her son alone when she dies?”. I guess most kids would just think about the kids losing the mother. It was a difficult time for him but he managed and can express himself very well now. I hope this will continue in the next two years during his puberty 😉

Even if you think it doesn’t work out, just take your kids on a trip!

Verona - Italy - Europe
Verona – Italy – Europe

So what’s with Verona? What I remember most is the time with my son during this city trip. We visited all the places worth of interest. At one church he got a bit stubborn and I learned from experience the best is to leave him alone and have him sort it out. He then climbed up one of the altars and started preaching. I’m not going to share details, but let’s say that the majority of the people did not like it and so did the security. It was not that he was shouting or whatever, he was preaching a real story but it simply did not really align with the thoughts of the church.

After the long weekend we returned home and the next day he had to go to school again. He prepared a presentation for the whole class to share his experience. This was part of the deal to get extra days off. I hope the teacher understood his presentation as in a biology course she kept insisting on the fact that a dolphin is a fish and my son had to leave the classroom for an hour as he argued that. A great time I had in Italy with my son.

Curious what I did more in Italy? Read it here.

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Did you visit Italy too or do you have questions? Please leave a comment at the bottom of the page. Love to hear from you!

Verona - Italy - Europe
Verona – Italy – Europe