Oh wowza, what a fat day. Literally. This was a really wonderful day. Amelia had organized to accompany us to Ravenna, to visit her sister and show us around the city for the day. We were truly given the grandest of tours by Antonella and her husband, who I am ashamed to say I have forgotten the name of, God they were the sweetest couple. I attempted a few Italian sentences, the randomest things keep coming back to me, like "Sono al verde" ("I am broke") and the always-depressing finale to one of my writing tasks from school "Quando ero picolla, il mondo mi affascinava, ma adesso, mi spaventa" ("When I was a child the world fascinated me, but now its scares me.") We had espresso right after the train ride, I am so addicted to the short and sweet Italian style of coffee now, it is so much sexier that those high-rise venti lattes from startbucks (although I will walways have a soft spot for them on rainy Sydney days.)

The main sights in Ravenna were the mind-bogglingly beautiful,. UNESCO protected mosaics in a number of different churches. We went to all of them, it took us most of the day to do them all, but by george were they amazing. I have never seen such perfection and symmetry and story telling in my life, they were simply dazzling. And so perfectly restored. Sparkling, delicate details could be focused on for hours.

The lunch they cooked for us was art in itself, what a feast! Linguini with baby mussels and this oily lemony sauce which was delicious, and I don't even like mussels even though I had never tried them…Then bigger mussels with lemon and bread to mop it all up and fruit and wine. And then came the best part of all: a plate of all these little pieces of cheese of all kinds, all with toothpicks in them, next to these dishes of different kinds of jams. Dippers! Soooooo good, oh my god I don't think there is any two things that go better together they should just get married.

I feel so grateful to have been welcomed into these peoples lives for those days. And all because of Servas and Amelia's kindness. Ti amo Italia!