Frescoed

Day 93
Today was my three month anniversary. I picked today to go and see Ravenna, a place that I have wanted to visit for some time. Its a cute little medieval town with a whole bunch of excellent frescoes to check out. I was a bit nervous though when I first got off of the train, I was greeted with a large scary statue of a lion.

The greeting at the easy to find tourist office was much better. They gave me a map and told me what the best places to visit. The weather decided to be uncooperative at this point and it started to pour. I ducked into a pizza place called Cupid to figure out what I would do for the day.

My first stop was the Basilica of Saint Vitale, built in 547. However, there had been several rebuilds and I have no idea when they happened. It was sort of frustrating to be unable to find out when the amazing mosaics were created. I think they were some of the best that I have seen so far. The main arch had Jesus at top and center with the disciples on either side of him. There were also several easy to recognize bible stories and saints. On the floor was a mosaic of a labyrinth. I might not have noticed it, except for the book that I am currently reading called Labyrinth where it is briefly mentioned.

Right next door is the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. To be honest I never quite got around to figuring out who was buried here. The stone sarcophagi were nothing special. The ceiling however, was. It was painted to look like the night sky. The blue and white stars seemed to twinkle in the half light. Outside there was a big sign that visits could only last five minutes. They didn't seem to mind that I stayed much longer than that. It was just breathtaking. I didn't leave until some people brought in their screaming children. That sort of ruined the moment and I moved on.

Also included in my cathedral ticket was entrance to the Ortodossi Bapistry. On the way there I walked past JFK Plazza, it was a parking lot. The baptistry was nice, built in 475. The mosaics here were also spectacular. They radiated gold. The one in the middle either showed Jesus being baptized or vis versa, both of the faces were the same. What was the most interesting was how the river was depicted. Right next door was a small museum of church art. I was getting a little churched out at this point though and didn't stay long.

After attempting to go into the St. James Church to see Dantes grave I moved on to the last place my universal ticket granted me entrance to, the basilica of Saint Apollinare Nuovo. This too had stunning frescoes. Ravenna is chock full of these things!

As this was my three month anniversary decided to go ahead and just treat myself for the day, even if it was a little silly. I decided to return to Bologna and try to find a museum that was closed on my last visit. Getting to Bologna was easy, according to my guidebook I got there just an hour before the museum was to close. Well, that would infer that the museum still existed. It turns out that the entire building it was in was closed down. Bummer. I thought I would do the other thing I didn't have a chance for the last time I was here. That was have a fabulous dinner. Instead, I was side tracked by a book store with a huge English section. I ended up with a few books and eating on the run at the train station. I did get to take a nice little tour of Bologna while I walked to the station though. They have a couple of leaning towers too.

By the time that I got back to Florence I was exhausted and it was quite late. I was looking forward to having my tent to myself. When I was walking up to the hill I could see flashlights in my tent. After all the nights of having it to myself I felt like it was mine. There was a Spanish couple in the room who I found to be a bit rude. It was after 11 and they refused to be quiet. Eventually I did fall asleep though.