Italia Tre

Ah, here we are again. I'm not quite procrastinating, I'm just making something useful out of my necessary study breaks... right...

Well, here we go with the last batch of Italy pictures. After the Amalfi coast, we made our way through Assisi (hometown of St. Francis), Ravenna and Venice, our last Italian stop. We were in Italy for nearly three weeks. It wasn't nearly long enough, but that was the refrain of the whole trip.

This is the chapel of San Damiano monastery, where St. Francis heard the Lord say to him "rebuild my church." Francis initially took this literally and started to work on the walls. He later learned to understand metaphor!
Class is in session outside of San Vitale in Ravenna. San Vitale was completed in 548, making it one of the oldest existing basilicas in the world. Lots of early church and state political stuff tied up in this place too!
Some very cool looking marble columns inside San Vitale.
Here's me standing on a bridge over one of Venice's innumerable canals. Venice is a ridiculously photogenic city, and its a crime the amount of stuff that I'll have to leave out of this post. Maybe I'll revisit the city later on, but we've gotta keep this thing moving.
The stereotypes are true: there's gondolas everywhere. We learned that they've never actually been a truly local form of transportation - it's always been all about the tourists with these babies.
So of course, we had to ride one. Come on, it's Venice! How can't you?
This is the kind of stunning view you get from the gondola. It was so tranquil and just plain lovely in these minor canals.
You can guarantee that you won't find this sign anywhere else...
And finally, just to prove that there is land in Venice, I present this view from the top of the Rialto Bridge, one of Venice's main bridges. As you can see, Venice is a thriving tourist trap.

Well, that's it for Italy. Next stop, Munich.