Certosa di Pavia

September 30, 2013

Another very busy week.  Did not get a chance to go anywhere on Saturday.  Spent the day catching up in the office.  Sunday was a nice day and we needed to drop off some things at a sisters apartment down in Pavia, about 30 minutes south of here.  So we left early and stopped by the Certosa di Pavia.  This is a big cathedral that is connected to a monastery. 

This is the ceiling of the opening gateway to the complex.

 

In the main court yard leading to the cathedral were some fantastic buildings.  The whole place was very well maintained.  Here is an example of painting architectural designs to look like the real thing.  I do not know if this was in the original design or if has been done as restoration to show what it was like originally.

Here is the opposite side of the courtyard.  You can see that here the details are real stone work with the painting technique to the right.

This is the far end of a wine press.  The beam that runs horizontally is 10 meters long.  The whole thing is a giant lever where the monk would turn this screwed post, railing the beam that pressed down on the large tub of grapes on the opposite end.

Strange stone up 10 feet from ground level on the corner of the building.

 

Here is the front façade of the cathedral.

Very detailed stone work

One panel is of Adam & Even with the tree of knowledge and the serpent.

Another carved stone panel - Wise men visiting the Christ child?

Joseph and Mary on their way home from Bethlehem

The Ascension

This is actually a picture a got off the web of the Certosa with monastery in front of the cathedral.

 

They did not allow any picture taking inside of the cathedral.  But it was in fantastic shape.  Very fresh and well cared for.  Many paintings, lots of great detail.

There was a very nice depiction of the Last Supper. (off the web)  We actually get to go see the See the Leonardo Da Vinci painting of the Las Supper in December.

Here is the large court yard of the monastery with each little house around the perimeter.  The monks have a vow of silence.  From the Google  satellite view of this you can see that each house has its own garden.

Walking back to the car from the Certosa.  Very nice road about 2 miles long lined with trees.

Rice is growing on both side of the road.  They have turned the water out of the rice field and it is now a beautiful golden color.

Rise field with the Certosa in the Background.

 

 

As we were walking out of the Certosa there was a small group of vendors selling souvenirs and also a guy selling candied nuts that they were cooking in a large copper wok like device.  Of course we bought some.  Quite tasty.

 

Catch Up

September 22, 2013

This was the most strenuous week we have had so far.  We only spent 2 full week days in the office.  The other three days we were gone to three separate training session with the new missionaries that came out 2 weeks ago.  Also with the new missionaries were their trainers.  We not only had to provide two full hours of training to each group, but we also had to cook, set up and serve the lunch.  Lots of long hours preparing.

Serving on a mission outside of the US is really different than if we were in the states.  When we were in Minnesota, Peggy routinely was asked to provide the luncheon for a missionary zone conference. The mission president and his wife along with the assistants just showed up, provided the training and went home.  We have to do it all.  I am not complaining, just making a comparison.

Monday was a normal day in the office, except that we also went grocery shopping for the lunches and Peggy spent many hours cooking two huge pots of soup.  She made clam chowder and home made chicken noodle soup. Tuesday we were in Lampangnano (a ward building in the north west portion of Milano).  Wednesday was a day to catch up and prepare for the next two days of training.  Thursday we drove to Verona.  This is normally a 2 hour drive each way, but we also spent an extra hour in traffic just getting though Milano on the way there. 

Friday we drove to Modena. while there we were waiting to do our training, Peg had the soup cooking in the kitchen when some Italian businessmen came into the building to try and meet someone from the church to discuss our energy needs.  We explained that we were just using the building to do some training.  One of the men asked what were we cooking as it smelled so good.  So Peg took him into the kitchen and spent the new few minutes explaining what clam chowder was and he took notes about cooking both soups.  Sister Dibb had made chocolate cookies for dessert so we gave them some and they raved about them.  Nice experience.  Our training  is fun - we  talk about finances, their permits to stay in the country (permesso) and how to clean and maintain their apartments.  We have a game called the Missionary Bowl and we have a big bowl full of candy and if they answer right, we throw candy at them.  It is pretty funny.  The winner for the game is who has the most candy wrappers in front of them.  We reward the winner with swiss chocolate bars.  These are such bright, sharp, great young people.  Since the Church lowered the age to eighteen for the elders and nineteen for the sisters, they seem very young to us.  But they are the best kids anywhere.  They are ready to spend from 18 months to two years dedicated to helping others come unto Christ.  They sacrifice their time, efforts, and hearts and are happy to do so.  They are awesome.  We are so happy to be here and supporting them in any way we can. 

Lost in Lodi

Sunday - September 15, 2013

Another very busy week.  Peggy (Sorella Harmer) now has more duties as she must review and approve all of the new housing contracts before we send them off to the church FM group to be signed.  This week she spent 70% of her time on Housing and contracts and 30% on Permessos.  I just work on paying bills.  We also had a wonderful meeting with the largest utility supplier in Italy.  Because we have over 50 contracts with them so far, they have asked us if we want to receive enhanced services with our own web page that we can view the status of all of our contracts on a single page.  It will also be much simpler to sign up new apartments for Gas and electric.  I am really excited about this because the time it will save.

For our Saturday trip we decided to drive to Lodi, a medieval town about 20 km away.  The battle of Lodi was one of Napoleon's 1st victories.  Because it was so close, I failed to do much research and did not take a map.  Yes, we got Lost in Lodi.  But more about that later.

We followed the signs to Lodi Centro, went by an old arch and were suddenly in the old town.  The streets were very crowded so I grabbed the 1st parking place I could find.  People seemed to be everywhere.  Walking, on bikes and in cars. After we parked we saw that were next to the opening ceremonies of a school.  Many people were dressed in suits (mayor and other dignitaries?), and the band was playing in this crowded court yard. 

We began wandering through the streets only knowing perhaps a general direction to the town square.  It was very interesting.  Lots of people walking and on bikes.  After about 10 minutes we found a map posted on the side of a building and figured things out.

We walked up this small street and then it opened up and we were in the Piazza di Vittoria.  That is the Duomo at the far end of the square.  As you view these pictures please notice all of the bikes.  There were bikes everywhere!  I also forgot to bring the camera on this trip so these are all pictures from my cell phone.

Yes, that is a McDonalds bounce house at the other end of the square. The square was surrounded by porticos (covered walk ways with building build above them).

Beautiful flowers in the window boxes on the 1st floor.

 

 Each house or building is painted differently.

 

The duomo was at the far end of the square

Inside the cathedral there were may old frescos that were peeling off of the brick walls.  Some of them had been saved and mounted in a frame.

These are life size wooden carvings in one of the side chapels

This is the back side of the alter that is located in the large chapel one floor under the main alter.  It looks to me like the arc of the covenant, but it is likely someone's tomb.  Very intricate with the whole thing resting on carved deer.

One of the many old doors

A view of the main nave from the main alter area.

Here is a very interesting fresco that depicts devils pulling people down to hell while some angles are trying to pull them up.  All of the people are naked!

Another old door.  They are built of 2 - 3 one inch layers of wood riveted together with iron rivets with heads the size of a railroad spike.  I cant imagine how old this is.

In front of the Duomo, was a gathering of old men on bikes.  Everybody rides bikes!  While driving out of town we even saw an old man riding a bike and carrying a cane!

 

 

In one corner of the square was this beautiful portico building.  You can see how it was built in front of the original buildings and provides a luxury apartment on two floors.

 

 

 

Walking around the side of the Duomo is the beginning of a market place. 

 

We walked into the market place and they were selling everything.  Shoes, clothes, sewing supplies, rugs, belts, vegetables, fruit, meat, cheese, etc.  All from stands and old vans.  Here we came out of the market and saw the library.

 

 

After wandering around we made it back to the square.  One of the side street off the square had a gorgeous church. But they were holding services there and we were about 20 minutes late for visitors.  We will come back again to see this church

 

 

Here are the two McDonalds bounce houses.  I thought the grand kids would like to see these.

 As we were walking back to the car we saw another market.  Here is a cheese vendor selling Parmigianino Reggiano.  We see these huge wheels of cheese in the stores and markets, but this is the 1st time we have seen them selling some.  The vendor has this flat flexible blade that he pulls across the cheese and scrapes very thin shavings of cheese into a pile.  The pile is then placed in a plastic container, weighed and sold. You can see the cheese shavings on the ground under their feet.

 

Then we attempted to make our way back to the car.  We thought we knew where we were going, but things looked different coming from the other direction.  We ran into this piazza Ospedale (that is Hospital to you and I).  After about 10 more minutes we found the car coming from the opposite direction.  It made for an interesting trip.

 

We then drove to IKEA, Had Swedish meatballs for lunch and bought a few items.

 

Take care,  Love, Marv & Peg

 

It

Lecco

This week was extremely busy. It was Labor day in the states, but not here.  We just labored.  We had 28 new missionaries show up on Wednesday.  We had to pick up Pizzas for the lunch and Bread for the dinner then drive to Cimiano (about 30 minutes into central Milano) to meet the new missionaries.  We got there and realized we had forgot the fruit that Peggy had purchased for lunch all washed and cleaned and ready to go.  We raced back to Opera, picked up the Fruit and raced back to Cimiano and got there just before the Missionaries arrived, 9 of them had lost luggage. We ate lunch and then I provided 4 - 45 minute sessions of financial training while other groups got training from the assistants and traveled to the Duomo to place Books of Mormon and were interviewed by the President.  Meantime Peggy went back to Opera to finish preparing dinner for 39 in our apartment.  The dinner turned out great.  We had 6 tables set up on our large patio, decorated with plants.  We served bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil, a great salad, the remaining Pizza, Lasagna, Aqua Minerale, and for dessert, 3 scoops of Gelato with several fancy cookies.  Everything was wonderful except for the mosquitos were a little bothersome.

Thursday, I drove Peggy to Cimano for the meet your trainer session.  The traffic on the Autostrada was like a parking lot, so after 15 minutes of that I punched into TomTom to calculate a different route.  We followed the directions into central and through Milano and got to the meeting house in plenty of time.  Peggy had to provide training to the new missionaries on how to receive their Permessi.  Friday was a day to catch up.

Saturday we decided to go to Lecco for our weekly excursion.  Lecco is the town at the end of the eastern arm of Lake Como. It is located right where the Alps end and the plains begin.  It was jaw dropping gorgeous!

We found a parking lot near the Duomo and stopped by there.  Here are the door handles to the church.

It was a very nice church, very ornate.

 

As we stepped out the church door here was the view of the mountains.

We then began to wander through the town  to see the sights.  Here is a shop that specialized in mushrooms.  Those are all mushrooms!

Inside was their meat market.  Yes, those are little piglets and goats? hanging.

We wandered down the streets and looked at the shops.  Lots of families out just walking and talking to their friends they meet while shopping.

Then we came around the corner from the main piazza to a square where they were holding a beach volleyball tournament.  These guys were very good!  They had set up a regulation size court with about a foot of sand.

After wandering through the town we crossed the street and came to the Lake.  All I could say was WOW!

Every direction were stunning views.

It is amazing to see the homes built up the side of the mountain.

It was molto Bellissimo

Very clean and nice

Here is a look between some buildings up at the mountains behind the town.  They were very high and in the clouds.

A very interesting playground down by the lake.

We then walked back along the lake towards the church.

We saw a post card that looked just like this.

I am in my P day clothes

There were two swans eating the bread kids would throw to them.  They are much larger than geese.

A famous guy, the bell tower and the mountains.

 

We walked back by some of the shops and bought some fabulous focaccia.  Mine was gorgonzola and Peggy's was salami and cheese.  This was by far the best focaccia I have ever tasted!  We also got some Lemon soda. The plan was to walk back to the car and find a place up the lake a ways to sit, admire the lake and eat.

 

On the way back to the car, there was a wedding at the church that was just getting out.  There were Zingari (gypsies) begging  in the crowd.

Here is the car all fixed up for the bride and groom to go off to their honeymoon.

 



We began to drive along the lake shore and suddenly got swept onto the main highway that went trough the tunnels.  We could not find an exit out of the tunnels for over 20 Kilometers.  We were over half way to the other end of lake Como and over a 1000 ft above the lake when we got off the Autostrada.  This road remained as a tunnel for over 90% of its length.  When we were able to get off, we began driving down this narrow switchback after switchback road through a town until finally we were down on the tiny lake shore road.

We found an emergency pull out, stopped and ate our lunch.  It was still delicious.

Here is Peggy in the car at the pull out.  The lake and scenery was awesome.  All I could say was WOW!

 

This town across the lake is Bellagio.  Yes, the town the Las Vegas Casino was named after.

We wandered back to Lecco on the lake road. and then decided to drive a little on the other side of the lake.  This road was even more narrow and scary when we came upon opposing cars.  Here a guy decided to turn around on this 12 ft wide road.

It was TIGHT!

We drove all the way to Bellagio because I did not want to turn around.  When we got there, there was not a single parking place anywhere in town. So we drove back along the other arm of the lake towards Como.  Here is a tower along the road way.

And another tower between the road and the lake. Every little town had a church with a bell tower.

Lake side homes had parking on their roof.  You can see the houses across the lake.  WOW!

Lots of up and down if you lived along this lake.

You can see the stairs at the end of this road.  These little stairs were everywhere.  No driveway, just walk up to home or down to the market.

Did I say the road was narrow!  WOW! what an experience.  When we come to Como on an discovery trip, the plan is to take the ferry boat to Bellagio.

 

 

We hope everyone is doing well.   Love Marv & Peg.