February 27, 2010

  • Una bella giornata a Pavia

    As mentioned in the last entry, I had decided that it was high time for another trip. I've been much less able to go on trips recently due to time constraints. I was going to save the trip until next Saturday (which would have made more sense, for various reasons), but I got excited planning it on Thurs night and decided I couldn't wait. Plus the forecast for today was great (for the morning at least), so I wanted to just go! In the end, it has turned out to be a sort of post-CELTA reward. The 1 hour lesson went really well and the feedback was great, so I was really chuffed. I'm now half way through the teaching practice section and have the next 3 weeks off observed teaching which is great!!

    So, the place I had decided to go on this trip was to Pavia. Previously when I had looked into the timings I hadn't been sure that I would be able to fit what I wanted to into the day but in the end I was able to work it out so that I could - yay!

    Basically the main attraction is the 'Certosa di Pavia', which is about 10 mins on the train from Pavia at its own little stop. The trains are VERY irregular, so I had to get the train from Brescia at 6.27am (ouch!), arriving at 8am. The station was one of those tiny ones where you have to wait for the train to move off so that you can cross back across the platform to get out! From the station it was about a 15 minute walk all the way round the walls to get to the monastery. It's in a lovely secluded spot, very very peaceful. The weather was gorgeous during the morning (very sunny, think I might actually have caught it a bit) and blue sky...shame it got duller in the afternoon.
    Anyway, I wandered around at a leisurely pace, knowing that the monastery didn't open til 9am. I arrived early enough to have to wait quite a while. At first I was waiting on my own and was wondering if I was going to be the only one mad enough to turn up for opening time, but gradually lots of people started arriving and we were quite a large group by the time the doors opened at 9am.

    The place was absolutely stunning. The church itself has the most elaborate facade - intricate carvings and detail on every single inch. It's magnificent.

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    I explored as much as you are allowed to on your own, and then, as instructed, asked when there would be a guided tour. The man's answer was "later". I asked "when" later. "It depends"...."whenever he turns up". Ok....
    So this was about 9.30am and I had no idea when I was going to be able to see the rest, but as it turned out, he turned up at 10.10am which was perfect.

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    The tour was led by one of the Carthusian monks, released from his strict vow of silence to do the tour. The guy was absolutely brilliant! Really thorough explanation of everything, but also such a great sense of humour. His way of talking just brought a smile to everyone's face. It ended up with about 70 of us on the tour and at one point, after telling us all about one of the bits of the church, he had everyone say a Padre Nostro - it was a lovely touch. I'm still quite excited about knowing it off by heart in Italian now (even if it's not actually that impressive to do so!!). Anyway, with him we got to see lots of otherwise closed bits... the refectory, the large cloister which is surrounded by the monks' houses (no longer in use as currently being restored). We got to go inside one as well which was fascinating. The whole thing really was incredible...no wonder the Rough Guide says it's "one of the most elaborate monasteries in Europe".

    Now the whole thing was free, but obviously donations were more than welcome. I'd been very stupid and forgotten to fill up my wallet (having run out of money the day before). Luckily I had realised this on the way to the train station at 6am this morning and managed to get some cash out from my English account, but the machines always give you €50 notes. So that was all I had... so I wasn't able to give a donation on the way out of the tour, and felt really guilty about that as it had been so amazing. So I went and spent lots of money in the shop instead, buying a bottle of Nocino liqueur (made by the monks). No idea what it will be like or whether I will like it, but I was glad to make a contribution, even if I did get something in return for it!!

    The tour finished in pretty good timing as the next (and only train for an hour) was at 12.03. So I wandered back to tiny station to get a train on to Pavia. The ticket machine was out of service, and just before the train departed a Trenitalia man went past so I asked him, and he said I had to go to the bar... err, great. So I said I didn't have time now and he said just to ask the capotreno on the train. So I got on, walked and found the guy and bought a ticket off him. He said "there is a machine at that station you know" and I said "yes, but it's broken" (as I had already explained to him). He didn't enjoy selling me a ticket, but too bad, it's his job!

    Next stop was Pavia city itself. I have to say that I wasn't as excited about this as I thought I was going to be. Perhaps because the morning had just been so good, and also partly because the skies had gone quite grey. Also there was the ever-annoying fact of arriving at 12.15pm just when EVERYTHING is closed, so I had to just wander around until 3pm when everything opened again. Always find that a bit tedious.
    Still, there were a lot of interesting things. The Duomo is unfortunately being restored at the moment (both inside and out) so that was a bit disappointing. The university is one of the oldest in Europe and I enjoyed having a look round that. The medieval towers were interesting, it reminded me of Bologna (also saw a large rat running around...interesting, but not in quite the same way!!). Lots of interesting churches (once it had come round to 3pm and I could actually get in them!!).

    I was very lucky on my return trip. I thought I was arriving at Pavia station about 25 mins early for a train, but when I got there, the train I had originally thought about getting was JUST leaving. So I ran down, stamped my ticket in the machine at the bottom and jumped on the train. Luckily the train didn't leave straight away because when I looked again at my ticket, I realised it hadn't actually stamped it! I think it had run out of ink. Anyway so then I had to get off...as I went to get off the whistle blew and I thought I was going to be stuck on and just have to have the second "discussion" of the day with the capotreno. But then I decided just to get off and wait for the later train after all. But then there was another validation machine right by the train door, so I stamped the ticket and was still JUST in time to jump back on the train (as the doors were closing). It was nice to get home a bit earlier, having had the early start (and a late night last night as well after a long day in Verona!)

    All in all a lovely day... just means I have to cram all the lesson planning into just one day (tomorrow) as I haven't actually planned some of my school lessons yet. Usually I am a few weeks ahead with those so only have to worry about the private lessons at the weekend, but the school lessons have caught up with me and I'm now behind. Lots of work for tomorrow!! Still, at least I don't have CELTA to worry about for a few weeks, and I've finished the first assignment (due next week) and most of the 2nd one (due in 2 weeks), so I can definitely be a tiny bit more relaxed for a bit. Maybe I'll go somewhere next Saturday as well!!

    For some reason Xanga is refusing to let me add photos to this blog, but anyway, the complete set of photos are here (you shouldn't have to log in): http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=195831&id=223300445&l=d3a464846a