Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Italy, part 2

Next Stop: Ravenna, a pretty town north of Rimini about 50 miles. Because Rimini is really nothing to look at--literally--it was voted by the constituencies of our party to take a day trip by train to this beautiful spot.


A main street in Ravenna
I have completely forgotten the name of this church, resulting from an overpopulation of churhces in Italy...but in my mind the most beautiful one in Europe. The pictures I took don't do justice to the beauty and intricacy of the mosaics on the ceiling and walls.










mosaics are made of quarter-inch tiles cut from precious stone.
This church was built in the 1400's...I forget exactly when.






Note the painted stripes on this street--they are bike lanes. Everyone bikes everywhere; old ladies, moms with small children, girls wearing spike heels, men in business suits....














heels+cobblestone streets=disaster. For me, anyway. Obviously not for the local ladies, I guess, because 99.9% of Italian women wear heels.





Tommy's European division.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Those streets are GORGEOUS! And the cobblestones--they're so level! :) Lovely pictures, dahling--love the church. And the gumball machine.

Kristen said...

What a neat church! I hope the next time we get together I can hear all the details of your adventures!

lol... high heels on slippery cobblestones... I can't imagine.