The Basilica was huge and had some very impressive art, the Mausoleum is about tiny as our living room, but the art there is also amazing.
I learned about these places from art history, so seeing them in person was awesome. A combination ticket for 8.50 euro gets you into 5 of these Unesco World Heritage sites, and it was complet
ely worth it. The St. Lawrence burning his books was probably my favorite image from that art history lesson so seeing it in person, was outstanding. I then decided to walk to see the Ancient Home of the Stone Carpets which is this underground archaeological site that shows the remains of the floor mosaics from a former Byzantine palace. 
This was pretty neat and only costed 3 euros because of a student discount. After this I walked over to the Baptistery Neoniano. It's the oldest of the buildings and has been there since 430 AD. It shows John the Baptist baptizing Jesus and the twelve apostles. 
Right next to it was the Museo Arcivescovile which houses The very tiny Archbishop's Chapel dedicated to Saint Andrew. They didn't allow pictures but it had some very cool mosaics in the chapel. The museum also had an ivory throne carved for Archbishop Maximian. The artwork on this ivory throne was absolutely outstanding. They also had a cross with 2 pieces from the Crown of Thorns in it, so I guess this has to make up for me missing the crown of thorns inside the Notre Dame. I then went to the real tomb of Dante Aligheri, since he was exiled and died in Ravenna. It's a cool little shrine off the beaten path which houses his tomb. 
It's funny that every year, the Florentine mayor writes a letter asking for the remains and the Ravenna mayor tells them you didn't appreciate him in life, you don't deserve to appreciate him in death. After this I went to no.5 on the combo ticket which is the Sant' Apollinare Nuovo. It's a huge church but it has awesome mosaics with Jesus Christ and Virgin Mary. 
After this, I went to the free but not as well known Arian Baptistery. 
There is another mosaic of the baptism of Jesus Christ at this location. Then I decided to walk all the to Theodoric's Mausoleum across the train tracks. On the way there you walk by the old fortress or city gates of Ravenna, so it was cool seeing what used to be moat, a drawbridge, etc. He was King of the Ostrogoths and reigned right after the fall of the Western Roman empire. His tomb wasn't there, but it's the outside of the Mausoleum that is cool. Rather than a catch the bus to Basilica of Sant' Apollinare in Classe, I decided to eat Mcdonalds at the train station and catch the next train to Florence. The train ride to Florence was interesting because instead of going to Bologna and going back down to Florence, we went through Tuscany. I had zero idea where I was, going through all these small train stations. Some weren't even train stations, some were just roads, without a platform. Anyways, half way through, the door on our train car wouldn't shut so we were delayed somewhere in Tuscany. It was neat seeing all the hills, homes on hills, farm area, that you think of when you think of Tuscany. I finally made it home to Florence, 25 minutes ish after our scheduled arrival, but I finished reading the book we had to read for this week's class all on my time spent on the train yesterday. Ravenna was completely worth it, and I was glad to see all these Unesco heritage sites.I had a voucher dinner, and p.s. mom, I'm willingly ordering and eating Bruschetta. I don't know if I'll eat tomatoes back home, but I'm not minding eating them here.
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