Ravenna--the City I Dream About

We came to Ravenna for the weekend with our friends Eric and Loree Thorderson. They're about to finish their mission as temple missionaries, and although they had already been to Ravenna, they wanted to come with us since I was a missionary here and know a little of the history of the famous cathedrals in the area.

I think I have the tenderest  feelings for this city of all of Italy. There were things that happened to me here that   changed the trajectory of my whole life. I cried all the way through sacrament meeting yesterday. When I was here during the last century, my companion and I were the only members of the Church here.  Now, there is a very strong branch. 

There are 3 cathedrals in this city that are very much like temples--with startling differences from typical Italian cathedrals.

We left Rome Saturday after our shift at the temple ended around noon. The night before, we went out with Alberto Albanese and his wife Domenica, and at the end of the night he asked if we had snow chains for our car.  I hadn't even thought about getting them. He noted that if you're on the freeway between November and March without either chains or snow tires you are subject to significant fines. Sometimes I think we're watched over to keep us safe. Eric purchased some chains while we were in the temple.

We needed to go over a mountain range to get here, and one of the other temple workers told us to be careful driving in the snow. We thought he was being overly dramatic because Italians wear heavy parkas, scarves, gloves and stocking caps when the temperature drops into the 50's.  That is, until we were going through the mountains in a driving snow storm. We made it here safely with only a few brown alerts; but Robyn thought it was great fun and was gleefully taking photos while I tried not to cry.

It's now time to get dressed and check out of our hotel for the trip home.  I'll continue this later.