Italy.....the final installment!

The final leg - from Cortina we went to Verona for a night and day, then to Bologna for me to work, then on our last day we did a day trip from Bologna to Ravenna. 

Vernona, the capital of Veneto. We did a touristy bus tour around, which was okay, but a little expensive for what it actually covered. We did get this great view of the city. We also learnt that Romeo and Juliet was not a Shakespeare original, but an ancient italian story retold many times, and most famously by our British bard - despite which Verona totally embraces his telling of the story. We also learnt that Panettone comes from Vernona. Learnt a lot really....

Two romans catching a quick cigarette outside the Arena

A very cute little piazza outside the Arena.

And inside the Arena itself. This was probably my favourite ruin/museum we went to. It's one of the largest remaining roman arena's in Italy, and is still used for opera's, theatre and concerts. I really wished we were staying longer to go to one of the events, it was so beautiful and full of history to me. As we sat on the stone seating I could just imagine being there amongst the many togas watching gladiators........sounds cheesy, but I really could.....

Weighed down by god anyone? One of Verona's churches fonts. 

Inside the Castelvecchio - one of the great "castles" around Vernona that was actually built to protect a paranoid lord Scala from his neighbours. It now houses a museum and was about the point both of us became over-museumed.....

A real Italiano dinner with my colleague Marco (second from left) and Barbara in Bologna with some of their friends. After a packed day of sampling corals for me, was a really fun evening, that ended in watching Wallace and Gromit....!

The Bologna library, very cool inside and out. 

The Piazza Neptuno in Bologna, with good old Neptune standing in a fountain that also had many mermaids with water pouring out of their boobs.

Better than Platform 9 3/4......Bologna train station had Binari (Platform) 0.2......

Ravenna....inside one of the many beautiful churches...

This was signature Ravenna.........inside the Basillica de San Vitale. All these scenes in gold are actually mosaics...

Really impressive....
We rented (free) bikes from the tourist office and went on a cycle tour of Ravenna (we tried to find the ocean but failed.....not good for two marine biologists). Our final stop was Theodoric's mausoleum, which while pretty on the outside was full of pigeons on the inside. 

The next morning we woke up early and headed to the airport for the long ride home.