Today has been a really funny day all things considered. 

At school we had a bit of trouble from the older class - Lindsay had had to speak to them in the morning during lessons, then at lunch time we had to speak to all of them together after a bit of silly name calling (the boys "it was the girls", the girls "it was the boys) etc and general upset. Lindsay threatened our host's daughter with the fact that she was going to tell her parents all about it... which she did! But Eleonora had got in first and told her parents not to listen to anything we said! Anyway they got in a bit of trouble (both girls) over that and were a bit sulky... before supper both girls had a friend from the course over, which meant almost 50% of our course were hanging out at home with us.... not too much fun really, it's all a bit close!! 

That all blew over though and after lovely home cooked pizza for supper, we set off down to another relative's house for ice cream! Now in this house live our host family (2+2), the dad's sister and family (2+2) and 2 grandparents. The other grandparents have also popped in and out frequently, so we've met them all, and I am thoroughly confused about who is who!!

We set off on the ice cream trip with the mum and 4 kids (our two girls and their 2 cousins) on scooters. The mum told them where to stop and wait for her. They didn't. She had to run after them. We were going along gently behind. When we got to the destination house, the mum was absolutely YELLING at the kids. Like, really yelling. They hadn't waited and had gone across the road on their own, and she had actually stopped a motorbike which was going too fast and got in an argument with the driver, and run past the full pizzeria after the kids, and was thoroughly embarrassed. Then the kids were all upset and crying and the sister in law (whose house we were at) said she'd never seen the mum like that! She was quite right to be cross, but it was kind of embarrassing to witness!!! Anyway the house we were at was our host mum's brother's house. At the "party" were.... host mum, host dad, host kids. host dad's brother in law and his 2 kids. host mum's brother and his wife. grandma and grandpa and a random cousin. Took quite a while to figure out who they all were!!! Very nice evening though - ice cream followed by wine. The brother (don't ask which) is a wine seller and we had a very nice bottle of red. 

We didn't finish it though - not living up to our name which is now "the wine girls" (oops...we've been drinking a lot of grandpa's homemade wine...) and this is where the rest ended up... on a very handy wine carrier!!! 

 

On our way home we saw this cutie....

 

All in all a lovely evening.... and all VERY good Italian practice, especially being acting interpreter for much of it!!! I really enjoyed it  

Since Sunday I have been temporarily resident in Martignano, another village near to Cognola where we were before (and where the school is). I'm staying in the same family as the other teacher, Lindsay from Scotland. The family are nice, as is the house. Two girls - Eleonora, aged 11 (in Lindsay's class) and Sofia, aged 9 (in my class). They also have a dog called Luna and 2 rabbits. They're a really nice family and we have been well looked after so far!

We're sharing a room and were amused to find it has bunk beds... but luckily the ladder wasn't ready yet so they had to put a camp bed up for the first 2 nights, and we have managed to persuade them just to leave it for the rest of the time!!

The course itself is sooooo much more relaxing this week! Only 10 kids makes all the difference. My class is of 4, so there are no discipline or control issues whatsoever. I am really enjoying not having to get cross at naughty children all the time, and just being very relaxed and getting on with all the activities! It's good fun!! The days are going quickly and I'm really enjoying it. The only thing is that it's getting so much hotter, and will do until it breaks at the weekend (according to the forecast)...looking forward to the beginning of next week being a little bit cooler!

Not much else to report really! 1.5 weeks left here, then 2 interviews to get through (and therefore lots of travelling) before going home to the UK 2 weeks tomorrow!

Some of you may remember that I had my wallet nicked in Venice on February 6th (almost 5 months ago!). Well....

Last week I had a message on Facebook from my housemate saying that the Brescia police had been round to our flat looking for me, and I had to call them! In a kind of "what am I doing wrong?" when you see blue flashing lights behind you whilst driving, I was wondering why on earth the police were after me! Eventually got through to them and they told me my wallet had been found in Venice! Yay! Really amazing after that long.... no idea why the police actually went round rather than just ringing, but perhaps they haven't got enough to do...

They gave me the number of the Venice police to ring, which I did. They asked for an address to send it to, and I gave them the one where I am now. Didn't think I'd hear any more until getting it in the post. (This was about 2 weeks ago now). I started getting miscalls from a Venice number while I was at work, and then yesterday had a message from a lady in the Venice police office asking me to ring back either before midday or on Weds afternoon. Now it was just after midday when I got the message so I thought I'd try anyway. I got through to a man who knew absolutely nothing about it. Then last night I had another message from a totally different lady in a different office asking me to ring THEM (the lost property office) tomorrow morning (ie. today). So today I rang that number, and got through to another man who didn't know anything about it. He asked me to ring back in 10 minutes. I did so and he'd got through to a colleague which was the first woman who rang - the first thing the man said to me was that the woman had told me to ring back TOMORROW afternoon not today! So I explained that I'd had another differnet message saying to ring today! Confusing! All these offices who don't seem to know what's going on, and only one person in each office seems to know anything at all about it...

Anyway, this man was helpful and told me the wallet is at the lost property office and I have to go there in person to collect it (in Venezia Mestre). It's not open to the public so I have to ring the person who runs it to make an appointment..... more phone calls! Fun fun fun. Not sure it'll be worth it, but I said that to the guy and he said for documents it's always worth it! If I can get an appointment on Saturday then we can easily get the cheap train from Trento to Venice and have a few hours in Venice, but it's a bit of a pain really. Going to ring the guy later and find out exactly what's left in the wallet and evaluate whether it's worth it. Or maybe I can sweet talk him into posting it to me!! All fun and games anyway, but quite astonishing that it turned up! I wonder whether it floated along some canal somewhere

(I'll update as soon as I can about camp number 2... watch this space!)

---

Updated to add:
So I rang the number I was given and that man is away on holiday. The woman there didn't know anything about it. WHAT A SURPRISE! She said she'd hunt around and get back to me! In the meantime, I had another message from the same woman as last night, the one I was trying to get hold of this morning. When I got through to her she told me that she's got my wallet, with everything in it except money. I explained that I'd spoken to someone else this morning who told me it was in Mestre, and she said no no, it's here in Venice!!!! GREAT! She said the only options were to get it in person or to arrange for a courier to pick it up. Since it's only €16 return to get to Venice from here (and can have a mini day out too) it makes more sense to do that - a courier would be far more complicated! The only thing is, her office is closed on Saturday so she is sending it to the police office in Piazza San Marco. That's the one that I was told to go and report the theft at, and when I went they said "no no we can't do that here, go to this other office..." So who knows whether it will actually be there for me to get on Saturday or not!!! Oh well, can only try. I'd given it up for lost anyway, and I wouldn't bother except that it would be useful to have duplicates of the driving licence, ID card etc (especially as I had to pay for all the replacements) and also to see what else was in there that I can't remember! plus my Exeter student card which I couldn't replace, and my UK EHIC card which I would have to reapply for when I got back to the UK.
It's worth going, it's just that it's going to be SO HOT! I vowed never to go to Venice in July again after the last time we went in July, which unbelievably was 12 years ago!! Anyway, watch this space for the saga to be continued from Saturday.....haha!

Been back in Brescia all of 24 hours and have already been bitten several times again. Bloody insects! Amazingly didn't notice any new bites whilst in Trento, although the old ones still look a bit of a mess! 

Anyway, I got back last night and had a lovvvvvvvvvvely long sleep in my own bed last night. I'm looking forward to another one starting shortly, and then tomorrow I'm packing up my bag again to go back to Trento. It's definitely been nice to come back home for a bit. In fact it worked out perfectly because Kirsty was also back mid-camp this weekend and we just went out for drinks, dinner and catch up.... very nice to swap camp experiences and have a general chill out session!

The next camp is going to be very different. 10 kids total instead of 32. Staying together with the other teacher in the same family, who have 2 daughters doing camp (so that's 20% of the camp we'll be living with!). It'll be much easier in some ways, and harder in others. More time to focus on individual students and can definitely get through more, but that means more preparation! It should be good though, I'm looking forward to it!

Strange that the first one has already finished, and have had to say goodbye to half of the team. Always a shame to say goodbye to people you get on well with, even though I'm fairly used to having to do so now!! Still, new people next week and hopefully it will be just as good, even if much lower key!

I will try and keep you posted!!  

That has to be THE most frustrating thing! I just wrote a long long blog all about the past week and the weekend, and the computer crashed so I lost it. Can I be bothered to write it all out again? No. Grrrr.

A summary of the main points:

1) Camp is fun but exhausting!! My class still run a bit riot but are generally good, and I am learning ways to make them settle down. I'm quite enjoying the lessons now. I reckon the next 4 days are going to go very quickly!

2) I can't believe that this time next week we will have said goodbye to all these kids, and the teaching team (three out of the 5 I'm currently working with aren't staying for the second camp). It's going to be a smaller group next week so there are only going to be two teachers. The other one is flying out just for this one, but she did it last year. So it'll be 2 female teachers instead of me being the only girl!!

3) Even sports was great fun in the end! Rounders went much better the second day. On Friday and today I was in charge of "Silly Olympics" which was basically school sports day stuff... egg and spoon, sack race, wheelbarrow, back to back, skipping etc. It was fun!!We also did an amazing spelling race competition today. The kids got SO competitive! Who knew spelling could be so much fun!!

4) The weather has been TERRIBLE. I've never seen so much rain. They say it rains in England.... well this was something else! Not quite the summer we were expecting yet! Better that way than too hot though, although it was a shame last week that we couldn't get the kids out at playtime and in the afternoon, so they were a bit cooped up.  But I am definitely glad it's cooled down from the 30/35 degrees we had a week or so ago! Happy medium though....

5) I just realised I've broken my sunglasses which is VERY annoying. They were in the bottom of my bag and one of the arms has broken off. I hope I can superglue it back on (I know where the superglue is kept in the house I'm staying in because Niccolo' got it out at the weekend....). Otherwise I'll have to get some new ones, eek! I HATE choosing sunglasses!!

6) On Saturday night I was invited to dinner at old friends' house. A family who I knew 3 years ago when I did Erasmus here. They've got three children, all much bigger now (not surprisingly, after 3 years!). We played all the same games again though and it was fun!! We also played the card game that we used to call Slam! which I used to absolutely love!! I really wish I'd got my playing cards with me here now so that I could rope someone else in to playing it!!!

7) On Sunday Will (another teacher) and I went for lunch out in Trento and then Dave (the other teacher) joined us and we went to a bar to watch Italy v.New Zealand. I felt my loyalties were a bit divided on that game... it may seem silly but seeing the Union Jack in the corner of the NZ flag made me feel all patriotic! Also the Italians were being SO melodramatic and the ref seemed to be quite biased towards Italy too, so I feel NZ were robbed! It was quite exciting when they scored the first goal!!

8) On Sunday evening the family had some guests over for dinner. I was able to join them which was nice. My Italian hasn't been having a very good week recently, but it seemed to have picked itself up last night and I was able to chat. After dinner the kids put on loads of plays for the audience of parents and company (me) and I was roped in to be the narrator for the last one... reading an Italian script! Scary but funny!! Hehe

Right, can't remember what else I'd put, but I'd better submit this before it deletes it again!!!

Well, what better time than a train journey to write this blog that I wasn't sure I was going to have time to?! In fact, on the first leg of the journey (Brescia - Verona) I slept like a log the whole way... I am certain that if I put this thing down and closed my eyes I would do the same now. But, that would be boring wouldn't it! I actually logged on because I *thought* that I had lots of internet time to use up today. Often when it gets to the end of my month, the day before it debits my next month's amount, I normally have several hours left of the 100 hours internet time. I was under the impression that it ended today, but I've just checked and it actually ended yesterday. It's okay though because I'm not going to have time to use the internet much this next month - going to be far too busy! I'm offline at the moment anyway while I write this.

So, Liguria... well, it was beautiful. End of blog!

No, ok....
DAY ONE
We set off early on Saturday morning in order to get the train which would get us to La Spezia at around midday. We had a bit of time to spare in Sarzana, but not enough time to actually visit the place. We arrived in La Spezia, quite hot and tired after a long journey. The hotel was a 15 minute walk from the station. Actually the walk was very easy as it was just straight up the main road through the centre of the old town. It wasn't quite what we were expecting.... chosen because it was recommended by the Rough Guide as a comfortable, friendly and cheapish place... it turned out to be the whole of the first floor of a normal appartment block, quite shabby and run down. The guy wasn't exactly "friendly" either - perfectly pleasant, but not overly welcoming or anything. He informed us when we went into our room that the previous occupants had broken the flush, so instead of pushing the button like normal we had to pull on a cord. We tried... nothing. Didn't work. Got him to come in and try and he fiddled with it to get water coming out and said the plumber couldn't come until Monday morning. Tried again...still nothing. The water was just going straight through but not doing anything. In the end he said he'd give us a discount and charge us for a room without bathroom. That actually worked quite well as the shared bathroom was only just over the corridor, and we still had our own private shower. And it was a bit cheaper. Once you got over the strangeness of the whole place, it really wasn't that bad. We had our own keys to all the doors which meant we could just come and go as we pleased.

We had decided that as the weather was very nice - hot and sunny, that would be a good day to head straight to a beach to get some swimming in. We chose Levanto as it's not one of the Cinque Terre (which we were going to visit the next couple of days) and, having bought our 3 day Cinque Terre cards which include all train travel, we set off. The beach there turned out to be a fair walk from the station, but it was worth it just for the lovely dip in the sea, and slightly less crowded beach! Italian beaches aren't that great... it was really gritty, rocky and horrible, but once we'd got over the initial coldness of the water, it was lovely and definitely refreshing after the boiling travelling! 
Afterwards we explored the village a little bit. There was a wedding going on at the church and they were having a sort of party outside which was nice to see. Then we had prosecco in a bar, mmmmmm!
Having made our way back to the station we went off to explore La Spezia a bit. Not a whole lot to see, as we knew. The harbour was reasonably pretty but stank quite badly! Then we went on the hunt for the "cathedral" which we had seen marked on the map. Well, what a monstrosity! We didn't go inside as it was late a nd would have been closed, but from the outside.... really a very ugly building which looked a lot like the top of a multistorey carpark or something. Not that beautiful!
From there we went in search of somewhere to eat. Of course it was Saturday night and was by now gone 8pm, so most of the restaurants were full. We found a nice looking osteria (which actually served those microwave type meals, but was still really yummy) and were kept entertained by the antics of the tiny baby belonging to the couple on the table next to us, which was being kept amused by the waitress while the couple ate their dinner.
From there it was back to the hotel for an early night! Long day of travelling and up early in the morning to get on with the walking!

DAY TWO
We had decided to do the first two stretches of the walk that morning. Starting with the Via dell'Amore, the stretch which goes from Riomaggiore to Manarola. This is perhaps the most famous part of the walks and the most "touristised" - the path is totally flat concrete, very very easy so that anyone can walk it. I liked it though...others have said they've been disappointed by it, but I really liked it and the views were indeed stunning! 
When we got to Manarola we had a bit of a look round the town, including going into the local wine museum - can't remember the name of the wine offhand, and have just realised we never tried it in the end! (some sort of raisin wine). Went up to the church and were surprised by the number of guided tours of Italians!
The views from up there were stunning back across Manarola.

From there we took the second stretch of the path, from Manarola to Corniglia. This was still a very easy walk, but slightly more ups and downs than the first, and a slightly less even path. Stunning views again. We were amazed by how many people had just clambered down onto the most precarious looking rockfaces to sunbathe, all on their own by the looks of things.
It was so peaceful and lovely, hearing the waves crashing against the rocks etc.

Now, when you get to Corniglia station, you have two options (well, three) to get to the village, which is up a bit higher than the sea. Either you take the steps: 33 flights, 382 stairs. Or you walk up the road. Or, you chicken out and get the free shuttle bus. Who can blame us for doing the latter when the bus was right there when we got to the station... ? I'm very glad we did as the steps were pretty meaty. (We came down them later on).
So, we got the bus up and visited Corniglia. There we bought a guide book which entertained us with some hiliarous translations and little tidbits of information about the various shops and restaurants (e.g. Fanny's Bazaar where we actually bought the book! I'm struggling to remember what it said Fanny would do to us no, but something along the lines of charming us with her welcoming nature....). There we had a nice pesto lasagne for lunch (sent back first time because it came out half cold!) and prosecco again, in a little cafe. 

Now we were on the hunt for another beach. Monterosso sul Mare (another of the 5 villages) had one that we had seen from the station, but Corniglia was also supposed to have a good one. Then there was Guvano beach, nearby, a naturist one. Having gone down the 382 steps and got back to the station, we went down some more steps thinking we were following signs for one or other of those beaches, but it turned out it just took us to lots of rocks, and we didn't really fancy risking our lives swimming there.... so we had to go back up the steps again! I actually thought I wasn't going to make it because I got the giggles half way up and just couldn't walk anymore for laughing! Luckily we did make it, and hopped on a train to Monterosso, where we basically got out the train, went straight to the beach right opposite the train station, stripped off and went in the sea. I killed my feet on the way because again, the beach was really rocky, pebby and generally quite uncomfortable to walk on. But, the coolness of the water was again worth it! After the swim we stayed on the beach a bit to dry off, sunbathing/reading. 

We were saving the next walks for the following day, but as we were in Monterosso already we decided it made sense to visit it. Also as the weather forecast was a bit dodgy for the following day. So, we explored Monterosso and discovered they were setting up for the Corpus Domini flower festival, laying out petals everywhere and decorating the streets with wonderful petal pictures.
From there we got the boat across to Vernazza because the guides had said it was best approached from the sea. It was lovely to get a boat actually, even if it was only a very short (5 min) trip. Vernazza was also celebrating Corpus Domini, and while we were drinking our prosecco in a bar near the harbour, we were able to watch the beginning of the procession, including watching the two big strong men having the crosses lifted up into their pouches to carry them. Quite amazing really as you could see how heavy they were from the struggle the 4 men had to lift them up. I'm amazed they managed to carry them that far!
After wandering around Vernazza for a bit we got a train on to Riomaggiore, as we hadn't actually visited it in the morning. It was getting quite dark there, but they were also having a Corpus Domini celebration, but much later. We explored the marina and then went and found pizza for supper, and then waited until 9pm which is when the procession was said to be starting. We waited, and waited... the locals were waiting too. About 10pm I think they finally appeared. We went up onto a viewpoint where you could see down to the marina. They were blessing the sea, they had set up a little altar on a boat there. It was quite nice really. Same procession with the petals as well.

From there we got a train back to La Spezia, back to the hotel a lot later than expected (we got the train at 10.56pm I think), ready to pack and get ready for the next day.

DAY THREE
We checked out in the morning and took all our stuff to put in left luggage at the station, which made a lot of sense. Stopped for breakfast on the way and then got the train to Vernazza, ready to do the walk from Vernazza to Corniglia. We weren't going to have time to do the other one (the most difficult stretch - Monterosso to Vernazza) so we settled for this one. It was a pretty long walk, very much up hill for the first half and mostly downhill for the second half. LOTS Of uphill, LOTS of steps uphill...generally quite a lot of exertion for a Monday morning!! It was well worth it though for the views and the satisfaction. The path was a lot more uneven than either of the other two, with lots of quite rocky and difficult bits. We were lucky it wasn't quite such a hot day (though the rain forecast never appeared!) because the day before the walks, although easier, had been very hot in the full blazing sun! Monday was a bit more overcast so we were able to walk in slightly more comfort, although no less hot really!! 

In Corniglia we rewarded ourselves with a nice lunch...I had the local speciality, trofie with pesto. Yum yum! We were kept amused by trying to work out the relationship between a small group of Americans who were on a group tour, but a very funny sort of group tour.... 2 teenage boys, a woman who didn't look old enough to be their mother at first but clearly was the mother of one, the other boy was clearly infatuated with her... then the tour guide and one other randomer. All very odd! In fact, I was surprised by quite how many Americans there were on the walks and stuff... they seemed to be the biggest component of foreigners there really. Though there were quite a few English too.

From Corniglia it was back to Riomaggiore to explore properly in daylight. This time we got the lift up to the top and wandered around from there, taking in the parish church, the castle, a chapel and just generally enjoying wandering through the narrow streets with the funny coloured houses built on 2 levels.  

From there it was sadly time to head to the station to go home... we had a little while to wait at La Spezia Centrale, but both managed to finish our books on the journey home which was good.

The following day we had a nice lazy start (we had earnt it - all that walking!) and then explored Brescia... more walking up hill to the castle!! More prosecco and Pirlo (celebrating my CELTA result as well that day!!) and a nice meal in Brescia, before heading home to pack etc and get ready for Verona the following day as Dee was flying back home.

All in all, a lovely holiday, and I am so glad we got to visit such a beautiful place. I definitely wouldn't have wanted to do the trip on my own so I am very grateful for Dee coming to do it with me  

I have spectacularly failed to update this for the past 2 weeks, and now I'm off so I haven't really got time to!

In about 2 hours I leave for Trentino. For those who don't know, I'm off to teach at a couple of summer camps (2 weeks each) with kids aged 8-12. My class for the first camp are the 8 year olds. This could be interesting!!! I'm not feeling very prepared at all, and am not sure my French cricket and badminton skills are up to much.... but hopefully it will be fun anyway! I'm staying with a host family whose little girl is going to be in my class. I hope they're nice!! 
I will undoubtedly come back to Brescia at the end of the first camp (on June 25th) before heading back for the following one. I'm 99% sure I'm changing family half way as well so it makes sense to have that break. Of course I have the option of coming back next weekend as well...the beauty of not going too far away I guess.

Since writing last time, I have been on a lovely holiday to Le Cinque Terre with my aunt. We had a great time with a combination of lots of walking on the trails between the 5 villages, swimming in the Ligurian sea and drinking lots of prosecco! I had intended to write a proper blog about it, but then never got round to it. Perhaps if I ever have any time the next few weeks (very unlikely!) I will.

When we got back to Brescia from Liguria, my CELTA provisional result was waiting for me.... Pass A Very very happy with that!
I still need to find a job for next year, though of course the school who I am working for this next month are using this as a sort of trial period, so I may well be able to work for them. I've got another interview fixed up as well, in Bologna.... ! It's just after I get back from Trentino before heading home for a bit, so by then I might not want to go there anymore anyway. All still very much up in the air!

Now got to focus on planning lessons and games etc for 8 year olds...slightly worried about the fact that I know what I'm doing tomorrow but not at all really from Tuesday on! I'm sure it'll be fine..... !!!  

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of '97. Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you one tip for the future, sunscreen 
would be it. The 
long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by 
scientists whereas the 
rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my 
own meandering 
experience... I will dispense this advice now
(Baz Lurhmann, Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen)

Oh how I wish I had remembered that advice today! I sort of forgot to take sunscreen with me when I went to Lago d'Iseo. I've burnt... my arms, my chest, my face (nice red nose and forehead)...at least most of me was covered up!! It was a really hot day and very clear blue sky. It didn't actually feel that hot, and usually I can feel that I'm burning. All the people on the boat (including various English) were lathering the cream on and I thought I was fine, but then I did feel myself starting to burn as I was walking along the lakeside path. Sitting in the shade for a while didn't help! 

Anyway, Lago d'Iseo is supposedly one of the undiscovered gems. Less well known that Lake Garda so far less invaded by tourists. That said, there were a fair few (but nothing at all like the other lakes)...I was actually surprised by quite how many English people there were!

I got the train from Brescia to Iseo and, having wandered around Iseo for a bit, got the boat across the lake to Montisola. This lake island is the largest in Europe! It's lovely and peaceful as no cars are allowed on the island. Everyone has motorbikes/scooters or bikes. It's 9km in diameter so there are lots of walking itineraries. Next time I will do some proper walking...this time I was wearing crappy canvas shoes which have given me lots of blisters - NOT idea preparation for waking in Le Cinque Terre next weekend!  I did do a fair amount along the lake path though. Enjoyed seeing lots of tiny ducklings!
I'll definitely have to go back again sometime to do the things I didn't do, with the proper precautions like suncream and hat and stuff!!

Looking forward to my next trip which is tomorrow...watch this space for where I'm going... !! 

Yesterday at about midnight I was a bit fed up about still not knowing anything about the summer, and this was my Facebook status: 

I would really like to know: whether/when I am going to be working during the summer; where I am going to be working next year; when I am going to be able to go to England this summer; when I am going to be able to go to Taize this summer. Bored of waiting for news. BORED.

I now know that:

From 13/06/10 to 10/07/10 I will be working in Trento at two summer camps
On 15/07/10 I am flying from Bergamo to Bristol
I will go to Taize either the week of 25th July, or the week of August 1st, travelling from England
I will return to Italy at some point yet to be decided, potentially and hopefully in time for more work.

So, the only thing I don't now know from my last night's rant is where I will be working next year. Fingers crossed for news this week or next!  

Ravenna has been on my list to visit for a long time. I didn't take the module which covered a lot of its history in 2nd year, but had heard enough about it to want to go there. I had originally been planning to do a multi-trip to Modena, Ferrara and Ravenna all together over Easter, but then I went to Taize instead and a day trip to Modena. It turned out the trains didn't combine very well for going to Ferrara at the same time, and I'm VERY glad because Ravenna warranted a whole trip of its own, there was so much to fit in!

While there I visited:
8 UNESCO World Heritage sites:
Basilica of San Vitale; Mauseoleum of Galla Placida; Arian Baptistery; Orthodox Baptistery; Chapel of San Andrea; Basilica of San Apollinare Nuovo, Basilica of San Apollinare in Classe, Mausoleo di Teodorico.
Exhibitions
Histrionica (theatre, masks and shows in the ancient world) - San Nicolo complex
The Pre-Raphaelites and the Italian dream - MAR (City Art Museum)
Other museums
Domus dei Tappeti di Pietra
National Museum of Ravenna
Cripta Rasponi e Giardini 
Archiepiscopal Museum
Dante's Tomb
and various other churches

For those of you who don't know, Ravenna is particularly noted for its mosaics. These are what have earned it the 8 UNESCO World Heritage site listings. They were certainly something quite spectacular. 

I set off on Saturday morning, aiming to arrive at 2pm ish (5 hours on the train, changing 3 times). There were problems straight away at Brescia station. The train to Trieste was delayed (it is ALWAYS delayed) which was holding up other trains, and eventually they cancelled it altogether, and randomly put on another train going to Verona. Luckily in the end this one still arrived in time for me to make my connection to Bologna. The train to Bologna was also late and I didn't have a hope of making the connection because, even if it had been slightly more on time, we were waiting by the door which turned out to be broken, and then I got stuck behind a pushchair and various other slow people trying to get off, who were also having to fight people trying to get on at the same time. So I actually had quite a long wait in Bologna, but it was lunchtime so that was quite good. Also bumped into Laura (another assistant who I visited in Modena) which was quite random and nice! Eventually I got the train to Ravenna and managed, with about a minute to spare, to get the train straight to this small place called Classe which is just outside Ravenna and has one of the UNESCO sites there. I bought my combined ticket for the monuments and went in. WOW.

The mosaics really are incredible... I ended up investing in a photo guidebook in the shop there so that I could have a look better at what the mosaics were of (found a cheap book that was less than half price, mostly because the pictures aren't that great! But it helped to have a guide...). Anyway, luckily as although totally stunning, at the end of the day each of the monuments didn't take that long to look at because it wasn't like going round a huge place but just looking at one thing really. So I was able to get the train back to Ravenna at 15.57. I didn't have a ticket and the station was too small to have a machine, so I basically had time to get on the train, walk the length of it to find the conductor to buy a ticket and then whizz to the loo before the train arrived in Ravenna! 

From there I walked (bit of a trek) to visit the next out of town thing - the Mausoleo Teodorico. This was an interesting building but definitely my least favourite of all the things I visited. On the way I saw the Rocca Brancaleone as well (a sort of castle). Time was still on my side, and rather than needing to go to the hostel from there, I was able to go on and do 3 more of the major sites. All in the same place, I first visited the Basilica of San Vitale with more stunning mosaics, then the Mausoleum of Galla Placida with yet more stunning mosaics and then fitted in the Museo Nazionale as well! Not bad going!
The Mausoleum visit was quite hilarious! While I was in there a huge group of Italians came in, and the tour guide was literally yelling at the group (composed of mostly retired adults) to stop all their chatting...she said she was fed up of being a bambinaia (nanny). It was really funny... lots of eye rolling from the members of the group around me! 

From there I wandered around the city a bit getting a feel for it and a taster for the following day. It was a really hot, bright blue sky day... almost too hot for so much wandering really! 
So, I wanted to get to the hostel, and following the advice of the lady in the tourist office I decided to get the bus. I was just deciding this wasn't going to work as the hours were really odd when one turned up. I asked the driver if he went near the hostel, he said he did and I asked him to tell me when to get off. He not only did that but also gave me precise directions to the hostel door, which was really nice! Not that it was difficult to find, straight up the road, but I wouldn't have known that! 
Nice hostel...the Ostello Dante. I liked how each door had a Dante quote above it. I especially liked that I recognised them all from studying him We were opposite Paolo and Francesca and beside Guido da Montefeltro There was an English girl in my room already and another one was there when I got back. I got back late because I ended up going downstairs and got sucked in to watching the Champions League final between Bayern and Inter. Now I don't watch football at all, but once I had started and it was 1-0 to Inter at half time, I wanted to stay and see the rest. They won, 2-0. Was quite fun watching with a few Inter supporters and a few other Italians desperate for them to lose! Went to bed after that and although it was very very hot, managed to sleep fairly well. We all got up in the middle of the night about the same time but then I slept through until later than I had intended, but it turned out to be perfect. The hostel breakfast was better than any I've ever had before...a proper buffet like in a hotel! Really good.  Oh and I'm now a proper member of the YHA again. You used to have to buy those welcome stamps for €3 per night if you weren't a member. I was annoyed because I'd got 3 in Cagliari but then lost the card when my wallet was stolen. However, at the moment the whole year's membership is only €3 so I am now a proper member and don't have to worry about the extra cost wherever I go. Also got given the nice guide to all the hostels and had fun counting up all the ones I've stayed in! Nice map to put on my wall too! 

On Sunday morning I set off the day walking as there were definitely no buses. It wasn't actually that far at all into town, just far too hot! First stop was going to be S.Apollinare Nuovo but I happened past the Palazzo Teodorico which was free and had loads more mosaics upstairs. Then went to the church and was one again wowed by stunning mosaics! I was glad I had the book which told me what various scenes were, but I also invested €1 in the audio guide there to really get the detail... all the scenes of Jesus' miracles down one side and his life on the other, but right at the top so quite hard to see! I'm just amazed by how incredibly intricate the work is... don't think I've ever seen so many mosaics in one place! 
From there I went to the Arian Baptistery and then wandered through the main bits of town (Piazza del Popolo etc). From there I went to the Domus dei Tappetti di Pietra which put Brescia's domus to shame... wonderful mosaics in this one, much more intact and interesting...really enjoyed it! 
The Duomo isn't that interesting, well compared to all the other sites in Ravenna anyway!! Didn't spend long there, but next door is the other Baptistery with even more fantastic mosaics.  The best bit was that because none of these are painted and so prone to deterioration, photos were allowed, even with flash. In all of them except the Capella Sant'Andrea that is, which I hadn't noticed and got told off for taking some...after I'd taken 3, hehe. There were some other wonderful artefacts in the Museo Archivescovile where the chapel is as well. Really amazing.

Nice lunch in a nice little cafe...sat in the shade outside to eat, lovely! Then from there I went to the Histrionica exhibition - theatre etc in the ancient world. Most of the exhibits came from the Naples Museum (so I probably saw them there but wouldn't remember!) but it was really interesting nonetheless, and in an interesting church too. Then I did another cultural visit, this time art... I went to an exhibition at the city art museum - The Pre-Raphaelites and the Italian dream. This was actually run in conjunction with the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and will be there from September-December 2010. It got huge press coverage in Italy (there was a large display of all the newspaper cuttings) and was great.  I really found it interesting. After 3 floors of doing that, I didn't do the rest of the museum, but felt I had got quite a fill of art already!!

From there it was off to the last few things. San Francesco, the church where Dante's tomb is. Beside the tomb is also the mound where his remains were buried from 1944-45 to protect them. That was very interesting. I also paid to go in a crypt with more mosaics and up on a roof garden, which was fairly pointless if I'm honest! But nice to have done absolutely everything possible, hehe. One last church and then I was ready to go home. In fact in the last church they were getting ready for a wedding, and I hadn't realised quite how soon it was...so soon that I was there (along with lots of other people) when the bride came in. It actually brought a tear to my eye!! Was lovely... luckily I had thrown my 3 newly filled water bottles on the floor BEFORE she made her entrance... that was quite embarrassing!!! Really loud and they rolled miles!! 

The journey home took a lonnnnng time. Only 3 changes of train but they were just all so slow. I was really tired, but not tired enough to sleep. Also the newer Italian regional trains seem to have been built for dwarfs. No leg room whatsoever and really uncomfortable. The only leg I slept right through on was the Verona to Brescia one, with the normal trains that I am used to and sleep on on a weekly basis!  I was glad I got a much earlier train from Ravenna as I was home by 11pm...still late enough! All in all, a wonderful weekend! 

Now I'm in to the final week... first of the final lessons went well today! 11 to go.... 

(Lots and lots of Ravenna photos here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=203061&id=223300445&l=619060ec94 - this is the public link)