Pavia

On Sunday I went to Pavia whilst the Casanova's went to church. They dropped me off at 10 o'clock and I had 'til 1 before they would pick me up again.

3 hours, early on a Sunday morning, in a city that appeared to be a ghost town.

First off, I headed towards the Duomo which loomed over the buildings. I tried my best to look like a tourist with my camera out and looking deeply interested in the architecture and the statues (and not a hobo, aimlessly wandering around). This wasn't too hard to do as some of the statues were quite interesting...

Golden Balls?

I discovered the university (Fun Fact: Pavia university is the second oldest in the world, Bologna being the first).

The streets were still pretty empty, so I found a nearby park which surrounded a 'castle', whipped out my book and had a little read. (This is where the encounter with the Gattara occurred - see my previous post). Yes, it was a chilly Sunday morning and I attracted some funny looks but I had 3 hours to kill and the most shops weren't even open yet.... I was absentmindedly listening to the people walking past when I realised I could understand what someone was saying. I looked up and saw two French boys walk past me. Man, I miss you frenchies!

I then saw two men walking along, one clearly a tourist. (You know someone's a serious tourist when they're wearing their backpack on their front, in a park, in a quiet town on a Sunday morning). As they got nearer I could hear what they were saying. And yes, of course, Backpack man was English.

Typical.

After a while I left to wander the streets again, to find that life in Pavia had actually picked up and there were people around. I headed to what looked like an Italian market (passing a man fully clad in a true gangster outfit). - I kid you not, pinstripe suit, tie and jaunty hat included. If he had not've been in Pavia [not exactly the crime capital of Italy], he could've well been the Mafia.

I bought a €4 scarf - absolute bargain compared to the thousand euro price tags waving in the shop windows. And when I got it home it made me laugh and reminded me of Soph because I got it out the bag and held it up and it's so big it's practically a wall hanging.