This week we had to close an apartment in Varese, about an hour north of where we live in Opera. When the Church rented the apartment three years ago, it did not have a kitchen, so the Church paid €1,750 to have IKEA put in a kitchen, with cabinets, sink, etc. (Did the same in the apartment we live in.) The landlord wanted the entire apartment like it was when we first rented it, so we had to remove the kitchen. We tried to give away the kitchen, including sending pix to all stake presidents to send to bishops, etc. to see if anyone wanted it, for free, but after weeks of begging, and no one wanted it, we (actually strong backed young anziani) ended up pulling it out and taking it to the dump.
Dismanteling the kitchen. President Allen showing the elders how to remove the joint in the counter.
We had the kitchen cabinets in another room, hoping someone would take them. We had to thoroughly clean the apartment, including removing mold (muffo) from bathroom and kitchen ceilings.
Putting kitchen and other stuff from the apartment in Varese into the mission's three largest vehicles. This was taken from the balcony. We brought usable things like pots and pans, dishes, microwave, beds, wardrobes, desks, chairs, etc., back to the mission office store room, and took the kitchen to the dump. Sorella Hoopes straightened up and cleaned the store room under the mission office.
On Thursday we went to the nearby Humanitas Hospital so Myrna could have an x-ray and an ultrasound of her shoulder, about which we saw an orthopedic specialist last week at the same hospital complex.
This is building 2 of at least 8 in the complex. (We went in both buildings 2 and 8.)
They were celebrating international Nurses' Day. I tried to email these pix, etc., to Jon Smith and Brenda Bergholm at CMH (hospital in Soda Springs), but apparently they have changed their email addresses. The nurses were interested to hear that I was a hospital CEO in the US and we also celebrated hospital day there. The lady in orange works on an ambulance; they all dress like this..
This is the waiting room where you get a number to wait to register. You show your documents and get another number.
Which you take to another waiting room to wait until you are called to go into an examination room. We had an appointment and didn't ever have to wait very long, but they did make a mistake and wanted Myrna to have an extra x-ray, which I caught. The equipment was up to date, the people were friendly and very professional. Some, but not all, including the doctor, spoke English when they heard me translating for Myrna.
This is the machine where you pay for parking at the hospital. It cost €5 the first day, €3.50 the second time. and only €2.50 the third time, when Myrna saw the doc for the second time. After seeing the radiographs, Dr. DeRosa still thought she is suffering from tendinitis. He gave her a second injection of cortisone and a prescription for some patches containing lidocaine. He said she will need physical therapy in a few weeks (hopefully, when we get home). Her shoulder is still hurting and she has a hard time sleeping because of it.
This is the path leading to parking lot 5, where we parked. The electronic sign shows how many parking spaces are available in this lot, some lots were full.
On the way to the parking lot, we crossed a bridge, and saw a pleasant stream running through the hospital complex. It is a beautiful facility, and they are building a new hospital nearby. Socialized medicine didn't appear to be all that bad, and Myrna really liked the doctor. He spoke pretty good English, although he typed into the medical record with one finger, petty quickly though, mouthing the Italian he was writing. He gave her a paper copy of the entire record, including ultrasound pix.
On Friday afternoon we left the office to drive south to Ravenna. It is normally 3 hours south, but took us 5 because of slowdowns on the freeway around Bologna. The Allens were going to a baptism in Ancona, which is an hour further south, but they wanted to meet us in Ravenna on Saturday to show us the sights. They went there with the senior missionaries, while Amy was here, so they knew where to go. We have a vacant (sister’s—they are always cleaner than elder’s) apartment in Ravenna, that we have the keys to, so we stayed there by ourselves on Friday night. It was pleasant. We met the Allens and toured together all day on Saturday, having lunch together before we both drove back to Opera, which only took 3 hours.
We stopped by the side of the freeway to use the non-facilities. The wine grapes are leafed out and there are tiny grapes.
In some places there are a lot of wild red poppies in bloom. Spring is beautiful.
Near the center of town in Ravenna, where the sister's apartment is located, is all ZTL, zona traffica limitata, so if you drive there you get a ticket, in the mail, about two months later. We just got one on Friday for driving to inspect an apartment in Reggio Emilia during March. The ticket is for €76. This old leaning tower in Ravenna (couldn't figure out what it was for), became a landmark for us in an area with very narrow streets and ZTLs. We parked on the street all night and walked a few blocks to the apartment, carrying our large IKEA bag with bedding, etc,, feeling sort of like gypsies.
On Saturday morning we had an Italian breakfast at this little pastry shop near the apartment.
These cost €1 and have a very good, eggy, cream filling, spread on the outside.
It was right next to the Diabolic pizza place, combined with a theater, which the sign says it also sells hamburgers.
On the other side of the street they were remodeling an old building, so they had a wall with pictures of people on bikes, so it wouldn't be so ugly
Before I show pixs and write about Ravenna, there is some history that I think one must know before seeing Ravenna. An old Roman city, it is near (it used to have a seaport) the Adriatic Sea, and there are still Roman antiquities all over the place. It was also the capital of Italy, so to speak, for a while. But, more importantly, there was a priest/theologian, Arius, born in 256 AD, in Alexandria, Egypt, and died in 336 AD. He believed that Jesus Christ is the son of God the Father, and they are two separate beings. His ideas were opposed by the Homoocasian (meaning the same, now called Trinitarians) Christians, who believed there is just one Spirit (three in one) God. There was ongoing heated debate (people were killed) between the two factions, which caused Constantine, the Roman ruler at that time and “founder” of the Roman Catholic Church, to hold the First Council on Nicaea in 325, where they politically invented the Nicaean Creed, still used by the Catholic Church and nearly all Protestant churches, describing the Godhead as three-in-one. Unfortunately, Arius lost the fight. However, this theology of Arius, that the Father and Son are separate, continued to be believed by many people, including bishops, etc., for several hundred years, finally to be crushed by the Roman church—believe or die. (During the Protestant reformation, some reformers revived Arius' doctrine, but I doubt that Joseph Smith ever heard of it--his knowledge came from direct revelation.) So when the churches we went to see in Ravenna were built, most people there believed in Arius’ concept of God. I read the fairly long article in Wikipedia about Arianism before I went to Ravenna, which I thought helped me appreciate what I saw a lot more.
There are 8 historic churches to see, for which you buy one ticket, for €11.50, to see them all.
This is the first one we saw, all decorated in the 400s with mosaics, which were characteristic of the Byzantyne style of art, from Constantanople (named after Constantine), now Istanbul,Turkey.
It is called St. Apollinare Nuovo (new)
This is inside the church, not now used for regular services, showing the mosaics from the 400's on the upper walls.
On one end is a depiction of the temple in Jerusalem, showing veils.
Close up of temple veils, showing hands on the pillars. The "official" Catholic explanation is that the hands belong to people who were originally depicted, but had to be removed because they believed in a politically incorrect way (Arians). I don't think there is enough room in the pix for bodies behind the tied open veils. (In Sicily, I believe, there are more of these mosaics, from the same time period, maybe even the same artisans, which show distinguishable marks on veils and on the white robes.)
There was a long procession of males on the right, holding their crowns.
On their robes were marks, in black, which appeared to be perhaps Greek letters or some other symbols.
Those on the upper tier had different kinds of symbolic markings on their robes
Those on the bottom tier were waiting to be crowned by Christ, flanked by angels.
And on the left side of the church, there were females with their crowns, waiting to be crowned.
They were following the Three Wise men, taking gifts to Mary. The names, in Latin, of all these saints, including the wise men, on both sides, were written above them.
The king at the time these mosaics were made, Justinian, apparently moved from a different place, hung by himself on a different wall.
In the front end of the church is a much more modern altar area, probably decorated in the 1500s or later.
This was taken from the side of the fairly large church.
There were many stone tombs in the church and outside (we saw them everywhere in Ravenna). Important (rich) people were buried in these stone boxes above ground. But Sorella Allen said she thought this one was a seat for washing, and there was a wash basin next to it on the wall, as can still be seen.
And indeed the back of the box, which could have been on the ground, was decorated (so it did not go on the ground), and there was a stone bench to sit inside, which didn't photograph well. (It was very dark inside and they were remodeling.)
There were lots of more traditional hole-in-the-wall burials, like this newcomer, Lorenzo Caselani and his heirs (wonder how many there were), from 1758.
There were many side altars with more modern art, including many Madonnas with child. and other paintings, etc. These areas were being renovated, and it smelled of plaster work being done. Myrna made an observation that the more ancient art did not show bare breasts, which seemed to be all too common during the later centuries.
The inner courtyard was very pleasant, I wondered what it had been, perhaps a monastery at one time. They call these ambulatori, in other words, you can walk around or ambulate in them.
There were some very large grape vines. To show how large, I am holding my hand around one. I only saw a grape vine this large once before, in Torino, at the castle.
And they are going to produce fruit this fall, assuming they mature.
From there we went to the baptistery, a separate octagonal shaped building. (Octagonal seems to be the preferred shape of baptisteries.)
And it had a real baptismal font, again octagonal, for immersions, as we have seen before in Italy
Maybe this area was used for the witnesses to stand in.
You can read this description, in English, of the font.
When you look up you see the mosaics on the ceiling.
Showing the 12 apostles around Jesus being baptized by John, in the center. Now this is the new baptistery, following later and opposing, Trinitarian (non Arian) beliefs. The old guy in the water is the god of the Jordan River, which is historically shown in some depictions the baptisms that we have seen in Italy. Apparently it comes from Greek or Roman beliefs that the river has a spirit. From what we learned, people in the early centuries were baptized as adults, came to their baptism well dressed, were baptized by immersion naked, then given white robes to wear. Baptisteries were generally built before churches, and were more important, because you couldn't go into the church or participate in worship unless you were baptized.
This is a closeup of the mosaic decoration. It is made from relatively small pieces of glass, stuck on the walls with some mortar, which apparently holds up for almost 2,000 years.
The most important feature of the adjacent and more modern church is, of course, the pipe organ.
There is one on each side, stereo effect. They were originally mechanical organs, probably from the 1600's, but now both playable from a modern console on the floor.
The organ console is hard see, because of poor lighting. I asked if I could play it, but the sacristan, who was in the process of blowing out candles, said he was closing the church for afternoon siesta.
In Ravenna, more than we have seen elsewhere, people are buried in these large stone boxes, some from Roman days. There were many in the sides of this church, which is the duomo or cathedral of Ravenna (no mosaics here--it is too new).
There were also many side altars, probably from the 1500 and 1600s.
As we were leaving we saw an old priest, praying his rosary (fngering beads and mouthing words) going out the side door of the cathedral, where we followed.
Not far was this street, named for Dante, with his tomb at the end of the street. We did not see his tomb, but he was a pretty famous Italian. who was buried in Ravenna. He wrote the "Divine Comedy," a very important work, which some consider anti-catholic, racist, anti-Islamist and anti-Semitic.
Across the street was a theater, named for Dante, of whom there is a statue in the piazza. They were advertising a live performance in the theater, of which the posters looked like it was by a Russian troop of topless dancers.
And not far was another church with an 8 sided baptistery (right). This one was the Arian baptistery, which, after the Trintarians "won" the fight over the definition of the Godhead, was sort of abandoned. This venue was not included in the ticket price, (it not belong to the Catholic Church, but the city) so we had to pay €1 at a machine to get in. It was much smaller, but it did have mosaics on the ceiling. When I asked if we could go into the nearby church, the lady said it is only used on Sundays for orthodox services.
Inside this older, Arian, baptistery you can see where the baptismal font used to be.
President Allen checks out a vase in the otherwise pretty naked baptistery.
This is the mosaic ceiling, with Jesus being baptized with the 12 apostles surrounding, sort of like the ceiling in the newer, non Arian, baptistery.
In this depiction of the baptism, I believe that the Father is shown watching (the Arians believed the Father and Son are separate), with John doing the baptism, maybe he shoved in him (no dish, which we learned was later added to the other baptistery mosaic, it wasn't original), and with the Holy Ghost as a dove above.
So we walked down the street to another old church complex.
After a while, they all look sort of alike. The style of architecture is called Romanesque, like Roman.
Inside the separate building, used as a mausoleum (burial place), there were many interesting mosaics, including this one of burning (Arian) books.
And Jesus with his flock of sheep.
Another side wall, with deer mosaics.
This shows the large stone burial boxes on the floor.
Once outside we walked over to St. Vitale's basilica, which is apparently not being used as a church anymore, but was pretty large, and very impressive, with mosaics on one side and frescoes on another.
There is remodeling going on outside, as well as inside.
There are many side towers, etc., which are apparently not visitable--wonder what is inside.
Inside the old church were a lot more mosaics, from the 400 and 500s.
Including this one of Abel and Melchizedek offering their offerings.
Probably interesting, but didn't know for sure what this was.
Presentations to the king, Justin, maybe.
The twelve apostles going up the wall.
Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac, with God's hand coming out of heaven to stop him, with the three angels he fed nearby.
Right next to this area was another part of the church, decorated with frescoes, several hundred years later than the side with the mosaics.
Where the high altar should have been, there was this throne.
President and Sorella Allen standing on pavement. They took a pix of us, which is on her phone.
The pavement inside the building was made with old pieces of Roman floors and mosaics.
This apparently Roman design was interesting.
This building was petty large, but not much inside--no benches, because mass is not said in this basilica anymore.
But, on one end, it did have a pool of clean water, which had steps leading down into it, which I assume was a baptismal font. At least it was large enough to immerse someone in. (There were coins thrown in it--someone would be rich if they fished them out.)
There were many very ancient, like from Roman days, stone burial boxes in the yard. Myrna considered getting in an open one, so I could take a pix, but we decided it wasn't very dignified.
This gate led to the bishop's museum, three floors, that had a lot of interesting things inside, like paintings, statues, many large and small gold and silver crucifixes, jewelry (rings for the bishops, etc.) many sizes of jeweled goblets for sacrament wine, silk and gold threaded vestments made over many centuries--but you couldn't take pix there, and there were guards to make sure you didn't sneak one, as I have been known to do.
Down the street we saw several nice restaurants; which by now we were ready for lunch.
While waiting for our food to arrive, I snuck this pix of a nearby table with a guy who was apparently taking his mother for lunch (it was the Saturday before mother's day in Italy), she left and was returning, probably from the bathroom, leaving her little dog on the seat next to her. We sat on wooden bottomed seats, but the restaurant put a white cushion on the seat for the dog, a chihuahua-like creature with a pink harness. The dog was really obedient, didn't try to steal any food off her plate, but I did see grandma sneaking it some when the son wasn't looking. In Italy people can take their dogs almost anywhere, except, I think by law, in grocery stores.
Myrna had risotto with asparagus, which is in season. It was pretty good, but the rice was sort of chewey. (I would have cooked it a little longer, but Italians also like their rice "al dente".)
I had spaghetti alla carbonara, which is made with bacon, hard cheese (Pecorino Romano), eggs (they "cook" in the hot bacon drippings and spaghetti water, off the fire). I am trying to perfect my technique to make it, so I have it once in a while at restaurants to see how others make it--this was very good, and the pasta was "al dente". If you don't have the right technique it turns out like scrambled eggs in your spaghetti, not a creamy, cheesy, egg sauce. It makes my mouth water to think about it.
Today is Mother's Day, in both Italy and the US. Our ward had a mother's day party on Friday night, but we went to Ravenna. They gave the women red roses in church today. Jeff had the idea of asking all the missionaries to write Myrna a letter, which most of them did. They emailed them to him and he organized and formatted them, and I printed them. She really enjoyed them. This evening she talked to our kids and several missionaries, including Luca Santoro, who went home a couple of weeks ago and is going to the temple in Switzerland this week with his girlfriend, also released, to decide when they are going to get married.
Ciao for now.
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