Friday Adventure, Market, and Pavia

My first Italian class went very well. My teacher's name is Linda and she will run off in Italian and then tell us just to try and understand what we can. I think this might be a pretty effective way for me to learn actually because it helps me to hear it a lot if I'm trying to speak it. The class lasts two and a half hours but we get a fifteen minute break, ours ended up being half an hour (Linda gave us the return time). Despite being a beginning Italian class we are expected to speak in Italian as much as possible. Luckily she taught us a bunch of classroom phrases we may need, such as asking her to repeat something or ask what something means.

After class a group of us got some sandwiches for lunch and then we embarked on a journey. We headed for to the Castello Sforzesco (known as the Sforza Castle in English) which is where the ruling family of Milan (the Sforzescos) once lived. It is gorgeous and I took tons of pictures (they are up on facebook and Google - links on sidebar). We then walked through the park that is by the castle (apparently the second city park in Milan) to the Arco de Pace which is similar to the Arc de Triomph in Paris.

We then took the metro over to the Duomo and I finally climbed to the top! Okay, well, not the total top because there is renovation going on and I believe normally you can go higher, but I was on top of the main roof. It was beautiful up there and there were amazing views of the city. Again, many many pictures. We spent a long time up on the top, just relaxing and looking over the city (our feet also hurt and needed a break).

Yet, we continued on our awesome tour and took another metro out by my apartment to go to Cimitero Monumentale (or Monument Cemetery). Basically, it's the huge cemetery and everybody buried there has some elaborate tomb or grave with this beautiful statues and engravings. There are some famous people of Italy buried there although I did not knowingly find any of their graves. The place was huge and I wanted to stay longer but we needed to head out (plus it was closing soon) so I must make a trip back and see even more. I saw a picture of one that reminds me of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and I want to go see that one. I took a ton of pictures of everywhere we went and it was a fantastic time.

On Saturday morning I got up and went to the market on our street. We saw them setting up on Tuesday (the other day of the week for market) but could not go. I wandered around the whole thing (it goes a few blocks past my street as well) and saw everything there was. I bought a bag to carry my books in for school (so my horn can go on my back). I also bought fruit and for four euro I got a kilo of these yellow fruits I've tried and liked but cannot name for the life of me, two peaches, and then he threw in a bunch of green grapes. I had held off buying fruit at the store so I could go to the market and it was so worth it.

Then I met some people at the train station and we went to Pavia which is a half an hour south of Milan and has the third largest duomo in Italy (I guess it's bigger than the Milan Duomo). Pavia is also a very ancient city. Besides seeing the Duomo we saw a restored bridge that had been bombed out in WWII, more churches, and some of these torre medaevile (medieval towers) that are all over the city. And of course we got some gelato...yum!

We also wandered a bit (aka, got slightly lost, but Pavia is a small town) and ran across a European market. It seemed to be a special event and I got to eat some yummy Sicilian pasteries (according to my RA, Sicily has the best food - she's originally from Florence but her boyfriend is in Sicily and she has been to visit him). Then, we started heading back towards the train station and ran across the equivalent of Civil War reenactments in Italy...I think (after research) that it was a reenactment of the Battle of Pavia in like 1525 or something like that.

Sunday is going to be my day of relaxation after all this craziness. But don't worry, more is already planned!