On Saturday we got up bright and early and went into Milan. We knew we were going to go to the Milan center and then we wanted to go to the Certosa of Pavia as well as we had dinner planned with a friend and colleague of dad’s. So you can imagine that we had a very full day planned. 

The Duomo of Milan. It is just as spectacular as everyone says it is.

Stunningly beautiful.

Downright scary it is so awesome.

A lovely stained glass window that though it seems small was enormous. Giant.

The crypt down below in the Duomo

In the piazza del Duomo there were these HUGE lions. And we all know just how De Piantes act around lions or other such statues. So naturally we got a picture.

As we turned the corner from the Duomo, we happened upon the filming of the next Samsung Galaxy 4 commercial.

Filming it!!

All of the people on “set” were models, but the main people were the extremely tall, skinny, pretty girl, the dude in the cranberry pants. (Yes, they were cranberry.) and the little boy (he needed a haircut, just sayin’). It was very intriguing how they kept on shooting over and over again all the while trying to capture the finicky sun perfectly.

We next went to the “big disk” – a very imaginative name, no? We started out…

Like this

And this

But gradually progressed to…

This

Annnnd this. Yes, we climb on stuff.

After leaving the big climbing wall, I mean monumental piece of art, we went to the Magnum store. Magnums are a type of ice cream bar that is actually based out of Milan. And at the store there you can actually have a Magnum custom made. We ordered two for the family to split around. They start with the ice cream on the stick. You pick whether you want Vanilla or Chocolate, then they ask you what type of chocolate you want covering the ice cream. After that you get to choose 3 toppings.

The topping bar

Decisions decisions!

Next they move onto what type of chocolate drizzle you want.

This one that we got we had them put rose petals, dried raspberries and pine nuts.

Omnomnom!! Andrew chowing down! This one had little chocolate/brownie pieces, nuggets of salted caramel and pistachio bits. It was yummy. very yummy. I am drooling on my keyboard now. 😉

After that we went to the Certosa of Pavia. The Certosa was commisioned to be built by the Visconti family (he was the first Duke of Milan) and was built in 1396. The Certosa originally belonged to the Carthusian monks, then it went to the Cistercians, the Carmelites and ended up back in the hands of the Carthusians. It then went to some Benedictines for a short time and then went to the Cistercians who currently reside there. We all loved the Certosa because of its beauty but also because of the serenity that seemed to exude from the buildings and gardens.

A close up of the facade.

A shot that has been backed out a little.

Inside the actual church there was this really cool holy water font that had its own obelisk. I don’t even have an obelisk. It was insane.

Some of you might notice the resemblance of this ceiling and the ceiling in Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome.

The Courtyard. Each of those little buildings was actually a small apartment for each monk. They now live in community because the apartments are in dis-repair and to save money on heat.

After site seeing, we went over to Lattanzio and Carlas’ house. We ate a superb dinner courtesy of Carla and her lovely family before getting a guided tour of center-city Pavia.

Sitting down to dinner.

Three of the boys. Andrew, Francesco and Alex.

The moon peeking out.

The Duomo of Pavia. It houses the remains of St. Augustine. Unfortunately it was closed when we were around.

Also while we were out walking we noticed this comical sign selling insurance. The company’s name was… WINTERASS. Andrew mentioned that he was using his Summer one. 😀