Second Day Trip

We all loaded up in our private tour bus this morning at 7:30 to set off for our second travel trip!  It was another long day of sightseeing.  We went to a church first near Pavia.  There are currently 8 monks living there.  One of the monks gave us a tour of the entire campus.  This particular church was finished and occupied before America had even been discovered so that was a pretty interesting bit of information.   Its really awesome that we get to walk in and out of these structures on a daily basis.  The inside of the church was another amazing site as they all are.  It was the typical roman cross plan with a large dome.  I made sure to bring my tripod today so that I could take some longer exposures inside.  My back is paying for it now but I was happy with the shots I was able to get.  

After the church, we headed into the town of Pavia to check out some other buildings.  We headed to one of the private university buildings to do a quick walk in tour. The building was built to house honor students for the University of Pavia and it is still serving that purpose today. We were a little late getting there because we left the church late and because we drove out of the way to get there.  Once we arrived we only had a few short minutes to step inside and take some pictures.  I did happen to catch two love birds in the fountain at the end of the private garden.  Who knows, maybe its a sign, ha!  

After we left the university, we toured the city a little longer checking out a few other projects.  Then we loaded back up in the bus and headed for Vigevano.  Specifically The Ducal Square/Piazza Ducale.  Once again though, we were a little too late so we weren't able to go up in the tower.  We did however get to tour some of the public garden as well as a really cool open air gallery.  It was called "The Covered Road" or "Strada Coperta".   The main purpose of this passageway was to allow the Dukes of Milan to enter and exit the castle without being seen.  There was some really great natural light coming in because it was almost dark.  We set up the tripod again and had some fun with long exposures and the use of an extra flash.  

After the self guided tour, we headed back to the bus and drove the 2 hour trip back home.  I would tell you more about the trip but I was out cold for the whole ride.  All in all, another great day of sightseeing.  Now its time to work on finishing up some sketches and getting ready for a presentation on Thursday.  

Ciao!