Another day trip that we took was to the Certosa, just outside of Pavia. Rachel had told us about this our first weekend in Milan, and we had decided to meet up again and go there. Rachael drove out to Pavia with her two young daughters to pick us up. As I have previously mentioned, Pavia is only a short 30 minutes away from Milan. However, what we didn’t know is that we would spend more than 30 minutes touring this little area of Italy just LOOKING for the Certosa. As it turned out Rachael’s GPS of the car was not updated, and it seemed that for once in the history of Italy the town had recently altered its streets. Just our luck right? So we drove around in circles with the GPS lady constantly correcting us. “Turn left at the next street…. You missed your turn. Please make a U-turn at the first available opportunity.” Of course we missed our left turn, and the right one, and the one after that. The roads had suddenly been turned into one way streets. We laughed at our situation, because the Certosa is not something that can be missed. It is huge and easily viewable when passing on the train.
Eventually we finally made it, and it was pretty cool. The tour was a bit difficult to understand as it was all in Italian. However, we followed the guide around as he told us snippets about the history of the building and the monks that lived there. My favorite part was hearing about the life that the monks led. They were completely separated from regular society. They we often silent and had rules about when they could even engage with each other. They often went for days without contact as they would stay in their rooms and meditate. Their food was even passed through a door designed to not allow them the opportunity to see one another.
The building itself was pretty neat as well. It had a lot of history involved, and the faces of many famous historical figures carved into it. I thought the artwork was also very unique as it incorporated dragons and skulls.
After the Certosa Rachael took Ross and I to our first agriturismo. It was a nice little restaurant where they grow all their ingredients. The food was mouth-watering and beyond savory. It was the classic authentic Italian meal in every way. It had multiple plates of all variations of food and lasted for a while. We got bread rolls, fresh vegetables, savory bits of meat cooked to perfection, this amazing risotto con vino (rice with red wine) dish that was probably one of my favorites, pasta, and desert! Besides the food the meal was genuinely a good time. As the girls played outside, Rachael, Ross, and I swapped stories of our different experiences living in Italy and other various topics. I hold a lot of respect for Rachael knowing and understanding the courage she had to move and live for the past 20 years in a country that is in many ways entirely different from the States. So after we had ate and talked for hours, and our stomachs could hold no more, we slowly drug ourselves to the car.
We returned back to Pavia, but our sightseeing was not over. We were to be the official tour guides of Pavia. Our first stop was the Castello. We went inside the Casello, which was cool to see. Plus it had just recently rained so there were large puddles with images of the Castello reflecting back into them. From there we walked by our University into the main square. The chocolate festival was still going on at this point so that was nice to walk around and see… and by “see” I mean taste ;). As we cut across the chocolate festival in Piazza Victory we headed towards the Duomo before returning and saying our goodbyes.
I found out a couple weeks later that there is a superstition about the Certosa. They say that if you go to the Certosa before you graduate, you will not graduate. As a result, I am one of the few that have actually seen it in my collegio. Myth? Lets hope so!
No comments:
Post a Comment