Holiday Inn Ravenna

... Dave is having a lot more success at tanning than me.<br><br>So the time has come to move on again. Tomorrow we are getting the morning train to Venice, hopefully giving us the afternoon to look around and have some dinner before getting the night train to Budapest. It will be our first experience of a sleeper train and we have heard mixed reviews. Still, we are both excited and can't wait to get to Hungary... a step closer to Moscow!<br><br>Love!<br><br>Amy and Dave xx<br><br><br><br>

... end of the road! Depending if it's my morning or afternoon shift, I'll either have a few chores to do around the yard, or might wander into the village, sit on the terrace and read, or have a siesta which is pretty much mandatory daily occurrence! It's peaceful. It's tranquil. And it is so real, grass roots and down-home county! I'm sure it is good for this city girl to try out life without my daily latte and manicured nails! We work outside once it starts to get cooler, working the ...

... bye to Michelle, I headed to Athens where I spent the night. Not much to report. I don't even have any pictures because my camera stopped working there the whole time in that city! Weird! So I arrived to Roma the next day, found my hostel, and could not wipe off the ear to ear grin from my face! HOLY SH** - I'M IN ROME!!<br><br>I think of Roma and I start to swoon. It is the most beautiful, magical, enchanting and sexy city I have ever seen! The food ...

... lustige Begebenheiten hab ich davon meinen Damen **zählt - und die haben ziemlichen Spass dabei gehabt .... grrrrr :-( ;-) :-)<br><br>Haben dann ab** auf einen Aufenthalt in C**via v**zichtet und uns am Campingplatz in Cesenatico einquarti**t.<br><br>Leck** Abendessen im Restaurant am Platz ( Sepiaspiesse für Sarah ) - Pasta für Hannah - und nach ein** 3/4 Stunde Calzone für Paps :-)

We got to Rimini later that night after Pompeii. It was another 6 hour drive so again we were exhausted. We checked into the hotel and it was perfect. Nicer than the last one we were at. We had booked in advance for the night and the rate was 30eros cheaper than the next night so we (I) thought we would just get there and tell them we wanted another night at the same price. Unfortunately they played me harder than I played them and said they had no availability ...

... Byzantine mozaics in the world, Ravenna is small, has free bike hire and a bike/pedestiran only town centre, and of the sites apart from one lie within a few hundred metres of one another. Another highlight - the place is free of the hoards of tourists we encountered everywhere else in Italy.<br><br>And the mosaics - my pictures don't do them any justice at all, you really must go for ...

... the track prices were so high for the gear and we got it for joining the fan club. From here we went to the town of Rimini and tried to find the Italian National motorcycle Museum. The GPS had us in the area but we couldn&#8217;t find it , even asking around was fruitless so we drove around the local airport side road amongst farm houses and came upon it tucked up a side road with very little signage. The man was heading out for lunch but also told us ...

... il mio italiano.<br>Le cose più belle sono successe in questo viaggio. Ho conosciuto gente dal tutto il mondo e ho fatto amici veramente di cuore. Al corso italiano che andavo ho conosciuto l'amore della mia vita e la persona migliore per girare il mondo. Ho cominciato a viaggiare molto purtoppo finora solo in Europa ma con la intenzione di andare dappertutto.<br>Milano, la grigia città secondo molti, la città più brutta di Italia, per me era incredibile...<br><br>

... an espresso and headed out to see some mosaics. As the capital of Byzantium, Ravenna's buildings hold the most famous examples of Byzantine mosaics. What differentiates these mosaics from others we have seen is the use of glass tiles, giving them a brilliant color. A review- Church of St. Vitale and Tomb of Galla Placidia Shilo's thoughts- St. Vitale was truly amazing. It had the size of a modern cathedral, but the dank cave like medieval charm that only the Byzantine culture ...

Bologna to Ravenna, Wednesday May 17th I had plans to meet Pam and Gary at their hotel, which is located near the train station. Our plans were to do a day trip together to Ravenna. We all wanted to see the fabulous mosaics. I met them at their hotel about 8:20am, sort of skipping my breakfast at the hotel but I did make a small ham and cheese sandwich for the walk. Our original plans were to take the 9:08am train but we got there a ...