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Published: October 7th 2014
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Navigli Pavese
On the way there - water break! On Sunday (5th October, 2014) Julio (spanish guy from my lab), Weber (brazilian dude from the warehouse), two people I met that day (Daniele and Cinzia), and I went on a bike ride to a monastery, La Certosa di Pavia, south of Milan. Round trip was ~60 km, or 37 miles. I've never biked that far, and used a bike free to use by IFOM. Although it was GREAT that I got to use that bike for free, I regretted not having my own or borrowing a friends: there were only two gears, it was too small for me, and the chain kept skipping past the gears. The only other thing I'll bitch about before I get into it is how sore my butt was afterwards.. I didn't think that would be the thing that was sore, but damn those tiny seats are uncomfortable!!!
We left around 11 AM and started biking south. In about 15 minutes we had left the city and heavy traffic areas. The entire ride was along a man made canal called "navilgi pavese." I guess within the past 100 years most of the canals in Milan were filled in to make room for constructions, but
the city used to look more like Venice with all the canal! Leaving the city on bike was a bit stressful because of the traffic laws, or rather the lack of traffic laws. Once we got out of the city the country side was beautiful and peaceful! Most of the way was paved, just a km or two in dirt, and most of the way was dedicated to pedestrians.
We got to the monastery at 12:20, right before they closed at 12:30 so the monks could pray for two hours. We found a nearby restaurant to get something to eat. Weber ordered a beer and "un panino completo," which translates easily (complete sandwich). It wasn't on the menu, but the waiter just nodded. Julio and I said "iguale," or what we say whenever we dont know what to order and just want to get what the last person had. We got our drinks, as well as wine, before the meal. Got a picture of that, but don't worry, there was also food afterwards. It disappeared too quickly for pictures. The restaurant had some resident animals: a few cats, and a chicken. They just wandered around beneath peoples feet. The
Navigli Pavese
Weber and Cinzia cats were cute and super affectionate. Well, they really only wanted food, but knew how to please people and get some. Let's go with affectionate. We asked if we could eat the chicken, the waiter laughed and walked away. Worth a shot. The sandwiches had a few types of meets and cheeses, grilled peppers, radicchio, and some other stuff, and of course we doused the bread in olive oil, and also put grilled onions on that Daniele and Cinzia got with their steaks. Delicious meal, and great wine! The beer here I've been somewhat unimpressed with in general.. I'll find good beer eventually.
We finished lunch just in time to go in. Pictures inside were not allowed, but I made sure to take pictures of all the out doors areas. The entire monastery is made of marble, and every sculpture/deocration we saw seemed unique in that all the neighboring pieces were different. Sort of like the sculptures of the philosophers on Suzzallo library in red square. Except there had to have been thousands of these things throughout the inside and outside. We had a monk give us a guided tour all around, it was great! Would have been greater
if I understand a word he said, but that's alright. Weber translated some things for me. Something something a rich family built the monastery to prove Pavia was a great city, something something the family that built it had tombs put in when they died, something something... Mostly about the people who built it. The sculptures and architecture and other artworks inside were AMAZING, obviously. Towards the end of the tour we got to see the best soccer field ever (not really, just a big grassy field, but i imagined playing soccer, or calcio, or futbol) and all the monk quarters around it. Each smoke stalk was one monk's quarters. Maybe this is common knowledge, but ive never known it: many monks live alone their entire life, with little to no interaction with anyone else, solely praying and contemplating god. Their food is given to them in their room, again, without interaction. Some monks today at this monastery are similar, but not to the same extent: once a week they have a meal together. We finished the tour, and began the ride home. My butt was so sore that most of the ride I stood on the pedals instead of
sitting down.
I plan on buying a bike soon, it seems like an incredibly feasible, fun, and cheap way of visiting the surrounding areas of Milan. Julio mentioned that we could get a train up to Lake Como and bike around the Alps from there. that would be amazing.. And I want to do it.
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