Final Adventures with Beth and David

Beth, David, and I had lots of fun in their last few days in Italy.

Bethy showed me the Anatomical Theater in Bologna where they used to do surgeries. So creepy.

There was stadium-style seating all along the walls of the room, allowing the audience to view the operation table perfectly. Still creepy.

We went to Ferrara!

The castle had a moat. I don't think I've ever seen a real moat before...

I love Italian cities because pretty much all of the sites (at least for smaller cities) are in one spot--the historical center. It makes it very easy to reach everything by foot. Like this beautiful cathedral!

On Saturday, we tried to go to Florence. We failed. The tickets were completely sold out. I've never experienced that before.

So we went to Ravenna. It actually turned out to be a good last-minute decision--it's a great little town and much less packed than Florence would have been.

Dante's tomb!

We were looking for a place for lunch, but not in a very efficient manner. We were wandering without any destination in mind. At one point, I realized we had wandered out of the center and there didn't appear to be any restaurants around anymore. So I brought up my googlemaps and noticed a trattoria right around the corner. We checked out the menu and decided to go for it.

Thank God we did. It was one of the best meals that I've had in Italy. And it was served by the most adorable Italian man of all time.

At Trattoria al Cerchio we got prosciutto bruschetta to start. Incredible bread drizzled with olive oil served with freshly sliced prosciutto. Like everything here, it was totally simple and completely delicious.

I got passatelli, one of my favorite new dishes. I have a feeling that one of the reasons you don't find it in American restaurants is because it isn't pretty enough.

This one was delicious, with the tastiest chicken broth. We got two vegetable sides and veal as seconds. I was full, but I still finished both plates of perfectly cooked veggies.

My aunt and uncle told our waiter/host that the meal was delicious. He didn't speak English, but told me in Italian that all the food was made from the heart. Seriously. The most adorable human on the planet.

Ravenna is famous for mosaics.

Well, this one's a painting, but it was in the basilica with other mosaics.

There's a mosaic!

That is some amazing craftsmanship.

We had our last meal together in Bologna. Roasted veggies to start.

Then gnocchetti for me with tomato, mozzarella, and basil. Like little pillows of happiness, those gnocchetti.

Then Bethy convinced me to take a sip of Lemoncello. I then proceeded to spit it out/choke on it. Blech. You just can't take me anywhere.

Beth and David were supposed to fly out yesterday, but their flight got cancelled. Hope they arrive safely today!

-Meri