(Live from Ravenna - May 1)

A diary of my latest 6 hours in Ravenna requires a more detailed explanation of how I escaped the Cesenatico convention I was at, like a thief in the night, literally. I hoped I'd go to bed earlier, but my cousin drove me back at 1 am after a pizza in an incredible place: Gradara. So my 3 or 4 roommates (I had lost track) were already asleep.

I had a plan. I had used the common bathroom downstairs, so I would not disturb them. Unfortunately the room door clicked loudly when I closed it. Also I still had to prepare a pack to leave with my friends with stuff I wasn't going to need in Ravenna - mostly towels and dirty clothes, for their joy, but I couldn't prepare those in advance since I was still wearing them. But most of my things were in the locker beside my bed and just next to the unhappy occupant of the neighbouring bed, and of course I packed them with maximum racket. I could also have remembered that we were advised to take cloth sacks for the Camino de Santiago, not to disturb the other pilgrims when getting up early - and of course I had only noisy plastic sacks.

Since I was going to leave early in the morning - 8 am, but that's the crack of dawn for a convention - I also had to lay out everything at the ready. When I tried to set the alarm, I discovered my cell was completely discharged. So I rummaged again in my pack for the charger, connected it to the socket in the bathroom and went to bed in my denims. I had to forbid myself to fall asleep for half an hour before I could retrieve a partially charged phone and have a chance to wake up in the morning.

Which I did - much earlier than the alarm, of course. I tried to sleep again clutching my cell phone to be ready to silence it as soon as the alarm sounded, but in the end I simply turned off the alarm and waited for 8 am.

By then my roommates were still sound asleep. So I did an even braver thing than sleeping in my denims: I got up, put on the rest of my clothes, picked up the things I had neatly laid out and slipped out to go wash in the bathroom downstairs.

At least I managed the basic biological functions, but when I had a look at the sink I noticed the wastebasket was overflowing with paper and... crawling with tiny black insects. OK. I washed my hands in a hurry and ran out of the hotel in a cool sunny morning, sorry for disappointing my friends, with my backpack not that much lighter for leaving the dirty clothes behind, thinking I was going to make a true impression of an Ostrogoth charging into Ravenna in a state of unholy filthiness, but totally elated!

Luckily I was early at the Cesenatico station, and it had a nice clean bathroom. There I stood on the platform a few minutes later, much cleaner (apart for my denims which felt like a second skin) and feeling the old magic.

I scanned the countryside to catch a glimpse of Sant'Apollinare in Classe since I wouldn't be able to see it. I took a picture of something that turned out to be something else entirely... next time I might try looking out the right side of the train.

About half an hour later...
Convention: 150 euro.
Train tickets: 60 euro.
Breakfast in the capital: priceless!

It rained while I was in Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, but for the rest I had sun and refreshing wind. I think I spent close to 3 hours inside the church, with the camera growing out of my face like an Aelf-Borg (unit designation 1 of 1). How did I do all that stuff that first time in 5 hours? When I got out I had barely the time to run out and go pay my respects at the Mausoleum.

It's the fourth time, and always a great emotion. This time I studied the various damages and reconstructions which I've discovered lately and which are quite extensive. If one doesn't know, the overall effect is beautiful, but being able to read the scars is saddening. Still it's fascinating to know one is looking at an artifact of a millennium and half ago. Patched up though it is, the largest portion is still there.

The works around the Mausoleum and in the park are going on. There are still wooden partitions around a section of the monument, so it's not at its best yet. I wish wish WISH they planted again the cypresses behind it, but I fear they won't. On the other hand they fixed the road, so one now really can get there from the station in under 20 minutes. But please, Sire - next time have at least ONE of the bathrooms in the TWO visitors' centres working, or I'll pee in the Trajan Acqueduct.

Now here I am, sitting on the floor of the Ravenna-Bologna local train, because here lots of people travel during these extended weekends, and so there are less trains, of course. I need a shower and a real bathroom, but wow... I above all needed this.