Pavia on October 11

The destination for my first “field trip” from Alessandria was Pavia with the emphasis on the last syllable. The weather was forecasted to be warmer than yesterday. I had already purchased my train ticket with an 8:17 departure. Gloria had suggested Pavia, and when I looked it up on Virtual Tourist, I got some more specific ideas on why it was worth seeing. Pavia is an incredibly old city, going back to the 600’s according to Wikipedia. There is great variety in the architecture, which, of course, meant seeing some more churches!

Certosa Monastery

Fortunately when I arrived I went into a hotel right across the street from the station. They gave me better directions on how to get to the Monastery by bus and gave me a map of the town. So I walked down the street to the bus station to buy a ticket for Milan, and I would get off at the first stop. (Bus stations, by the way, do have the most vile bathrooms imaginable, in case you have missed this experience recently! At the least they serve a function even if it is like what you would imagine in a third world country.) The very helpful hotel map said that the monastery would close at 11:30. The Monastero Cistercense della Certosa di Pavia is referred to Certosa-WHEW! I walked a kilometer down a peaceful street to see it. I laughed as I asked a little old lady where Certosa was, and she said, "diretto, diretto"; this is what everyone told me as I asked for directions to include Gloria when she explained how to get around Alessandria when I first arrived.) It was an amazing building and looked to be made all of mosaics. On this day it was very quiet with one tour group listening to a monk describing the actual church.  It was so non-commercial that they did not even have a sign for the gift shop. I did find it, but the monk-clerk not only did not seem to understand my usual question ("do you speak English" in pidgin Italian), but I do not think he could hear me. There was one big garden area I could see, but it had only some sad boring begonias in it, so they spend more time making a variety of things to sell-teas, soaps, liqueurs, etc.. The detail of the frescoes and the mosaics were impressive!

My next stop when I was back in town was to buy a pizza slice for lunch, which I enjoying sitting in the sun! I did not see any interesting restaurants around, and I was starved, since tea was all I had had so far! Ponte Coperto, the Covered Bridge, was reconstructed after WWII, when the original 14^th century bridge was destroyed. I walked along the Ticono River to see the bridge in the beautiful sunshiny day!  There were some four other churches I had planned to see for the different styles, and I won’t elaborate, because I am certainly NOT an architectural student! I did end up visiting more than that because I just walked by! The Romanesque S.Pietro in Ciel d’oro (St. Peter in the Golden Sky) is where St. Augustine is buried. The University of Pavia has a definite presence in the city with many old buildings and young students! I walked by a smiling young woman wearing what looked like a crown of mountain laurel and carrying a beautiful, huge bouquet of flowers. She was walking with maybe a professor, followed by what looked like her well-dressed, very pleased parents. I should have stopped to ask what she seemed to be celebrating!

Pavia used to be called the “City of a Hundred Towers”, so I went looking for the Medieval Towers listed on my map, and I found three right in the middle of the campus. The Municipal Museums, founded in the late 14^th century, are large, but unfortunately by the time I found them were closed until 3. They were advertising an exhibit about Montmartre artists to include Lautrec. BUT I was DONE! I had to find my way back to the train, and I got there minutes before to get on the 14:39 which arrived in Alessandria at 5:10. It took twice as long to get back to Alessandria, because it stopped at many small towns where students got off! But it was another very interesting day to get to know more about Italy!