Field trip!

Do you know what medieval history teachers do on hundred-degree days in Italy? Track down Byzantine mosaics, of course!!  I know, I know, I'm such a dork.  But I've wanted to see these mosaics of Justinian and Theodora since I started teaching about Byzantium and this was finally my chance.  

The train station ticket machines were irksome because they couldn't find a route to get me to Ravenna before late afternoon, which just didn't seem right based on the guidebooks.  So I bought a ticket to Bologna, the connection spot, hoping there would be a train from there.  There was! Not sure why it didn't show up in Florence but it all worked out.  

First stop was lunch, piadine, a folded flat red sandwich on the piazza del popolo in Ravenna.  The city was almost dead on a hot Sunday afternoon.  Then it was off to the big attraction- the church of San Vitale where the mosaics are.  You get really weird looks when you walk in and say things like "there you are!" to the dead guys depicted on the walls.  It was so cool to see them up close, and so much more vibrant that the images in my PowerPoint!  

The ticket included five other stops that featured Byzantine mosaics.  It's hard to believe that this was once the capital of the (failing) Roman Empire because there was just no one around and very little architecture from the time.  Once you went inside the buildings, though- wow, the art.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Home was pretty easy.  I had a long conversation with some older Italian ladies who assumed I spoke Italian.  It was mostly about weather,  I think.  I only got about every tenth word. :)