Ciao from Florence!

Just a quick update. We finished off Venice on Thursday, having seen a few museums and getting lost more than once. We managed to meet up with Carolyn's uncle Mike and aunt Laura who are travelling in Spain and Italy. A big thanks to Uncle Mike for his amazing and enlightening 'Churches of Venice' tour. I am sure it will make it into the next Lonely Planet guide for Venice.

On Friday we went to Verona, setting of Shakespeare's 'Romeo & Juliet' (even though the original story is supposed to take place in nearby Vicenza). In any case, we did go see the statue of Juliet and the famous balcony, but the real treat of Verona was the great Roman amphitheatre, built in 1 AD. It is the third largest Roman arena in the world, and it is still used today as a venue for concerts, operas, etc. They have added permanent seating overtop the original stone slab seating, but much of the arena is still intact and exposed, so it's really something to see.

From Verona we caught a late train to Florence where we are now. There is just WAY too much to see in Florence, so we will be coming back at some point. So much amazing artwork. But we have reservations in Cinque Terre for Monday, so that's where we're headed next for 2 days, and then Milan, where we are catching a flight to...


Athens, Greece!!!

One last picture from Netherlands...because we can finally post pictures again!

This little guy escaped from his house. Right after I snapped the picture he was snatched back inside.

It is 29 degrees and October!

Well, we made it to Ravenna, Italy. Last night we took an overnight ferry from Split to Anacona, Italy and then the train. We are a little tired, but happy to have hit one of the countries that we have been looking forward to seeing the most. What is in Ravenna? Mosaics! There is the Basilica of San Vitale from the period of Emperor Justinian that has really beauful mosaics. There are also a couple of other chirches that we visited with mosaics as well. One has a mosaic in its crypt that is under water.

This is a photo from inside of the Basilica of San Vitale.


Another shot of this inside...


This is a photo of the Church. It is octagonal.


This is from the San Francesco church. It is the underwater mosaic. We had to pay 0.50 Euros to get the lights on. Notice the fish :)


Lastly, does anyone know what this is?