Verona:
This weekend we made a few day trips to some local Italian treasures, the first being Verona. Now, before I read about Verona the only thing I wanted to do was go to Juliet's House... big mistake. Only because Verona is bigger than originally expected and there was a good deal of places to go and things to see. Also, originally Jessy and I were going to be exploring on our own but we were able to switch some days around to meet up with the Boldrini boys (Stephen, Gabe, Chris, and Brian) which was a nice surprise. We ended making a massive loop around the city starting with a church slightly out of the way but one of the four main ones in Verona. S. Zeno. Then we went to the Arena which was really cool but small compared to the Colosseum (at least that's what I have been told). From there (after several photos and climbing a bunch of stairs) we headed toward S. Anastasia and of course I started singing songs from the movie. I don't know how to explain the churches, they were beautiful but all similar styles.
Then we came across La Casa di Giulietta which was subpar. I mean it is romantic and cool and there were a lot of very attractive young men in the court yard but it costs a lot to go in the museum and up to the balcony. But seeing her statue, the locks on the gates (with lovers names on them), the graffiti of thousands of visitors all over the walls, and the balcony itself is definitely cool. I just liked the atmosphere. Minus the tourist nature of it.
The next two churches were S. Fermo and the Duomo. Funny story about the Duomo... there was a service of some sort going on and I guess it isn't appropriate to take pictures or wear shorts or jeans for that matter. Awkward because I totally was wearing jean shorts and took pictures and a video... oh well. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I was going to get the most out of it.
After the four churches, which in my mind are now muddled together... (thank God for pictures), we headed to Castlevecchio (meaning literally "old castle"-original) which was a major castle with a really cool bridge. After many fun pictures we crossed and went into the Museo Archeologico and Teatro Romano. We saw people climbing up the old looking stairs and seeing that it was 3 euro we couldn't say no. Totally worth it. The view was beautiful and probably the best part of the trip. The museum was nifty as well, some cool treasures in there but the views were definitely more impressive. The theater was neat as well.
Overall, we definitely walked about 8 solid miles. I was impressed.
Ravenna:
I loved this little hidden treasure. I recommend people going there if they get a chance because the Basilicas were all very unique and covered in amazing mosaics. With Melia, Jessy, and Ed accompanying me, I got the opportunity to see many of the places I had learned about in classes at Dickinson. There are five main places to visit on one ticket: Basilica S. Apollinare Nuovo, Museo Arcivescovile, Battista Neoniano, Basilica S. Vitale, and Mausoleum di Galla Placidia. The main attractions are S. Vitale and Galla Placidia as they have the most well known mosaics but there were endearing qualities about all five places. We also hit some free sites like Dante's tomb (which was just cool to see), Arian Baptistry (which was tiny), Basilica of S. Francesco (which had this awesome indoor fish pool under the altar), and this random church that we pasted by.
In S. Apollinare Nuovo there were these mosaics that covered the longitudinal axis of the building. It was cool to look at the different saints and scenes. This was also the brightest church inside due to the amount of windows. Also, the shape was slightly different. S. Vitale and Galla Placidia were sooo exciting especially since I had studied the mosaics and buildings in art history. Gall Placidia was wayyy smaller than originally expected. Literally it was tiny. S. Vitale was as spectacular as I imagined. I can't believe how they took glass shards and gold and made these life like (relatively) scenes. It must have taken forever to create them. Also, how did they stay so high up putting them in for so long? It's crazy to imagine. Then we went to the Archiepiscopal Museum where pictures were kind of prohibited... however I snuck one of the ivory chair where the Preacher would sit during service. This one was just way too cool to not take a picture of. The museum itself was pretty cool. They had bishop robes and slabs of stone from different buildings as well as crosses and other church type artifacts. The craftsmanship was beautiful.
Earlier than most of these sites we stopped at a cute little cafe right outside the wall of S. Vitale that was surprisingly not expensive. I got a four seasons pizza, cappuccino, and shared this nutella piadina with the others. It was delicious and our waiter was awesome. The town itself was nice because it wasn't touristy. Or rather the majority of the tourists were Italian. Also, there were very few cars, most people walked around or biked. It did rain a tiny bit but overall the weather was fine, not as sunny and warm as Verona however.
Ok, so we did stop at this gelato place after our dessert... haha and got gelato. It was probably the best I have had yet. Fresh fruit was also on mine. AH so goodddd.
Alright well I have been writing this for a while and it is getting long so I will leave it at that.
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