This was an interesting week, in some respects. We got back from our trip to Venice and were still pretty tired from all the walking. We need to do more. But 25 miles in one weekend isn't just around the block. On Wednesday we took the metro into downtown Milan (total of 4 hours start to finish) for Myrna to see a specialist dentist found for us by David The endodontist teaches at the dental school and the first thing he said was your son called and spoke me and told me take good care of his beloved mother. We had gone to another dentist in Milano (an English guy the mission always uses, probably because he speaks English, but the new Italian dentist speaks good English.) The first one wanted to drill through a crown to get rid of infection, but said it may not work and he would need to open up her jaw. The new one, who if he operated would use an operating microscope, took two x-rays, although without digital equipment (when the assistant brought the tiny x-ray suspended on what looked like a clothes pin in a glass of water it reminded me of the 1950s.) Anyway, he said it is a wait-and-see thing, he would not drill/operate at this time, so we think that is a tender mercy. We pray that it will just get better, and he did not want her to take another round of antibiotics.
Yesterday, Saturday, our P-day, we wanted to go with another senior couple (not the one we usually go with, they are in Siena at a conference for young single adults) to where Lorenzo Snow dedicated Italy in 1850, but it was raining, so we will, hopefully, go next weekend. It is also in the area where Amber's Italian grandparents were born, so we hope to go there too, although we'll probably take a second trip to see it because I want to take pix at the graveyard in the small town (450 people). So, we drove down to Pavia (in the light rain) yesterday knowing we could go to a large mall and Myrna could find some almond extract to make goodies (muffins, cinnamon rolls) for the missionaries. We have an office meeting at 9 am. Interestingly, Italy produces a lot of almonds and almond things, but they do not sell large bottles of almond extract, or almond milk reasonably priced, for that matter. On the way down to Pavia we stopped another (we had not stopped at) little country church, so I could see the organ.
Little pipe organ in the back, no one there to ask if it plays, but I suspect not because behind the main altar (other end of the church) was a small electric organ in the choir area. There are really very few old organs in Italy that work we are finding. and instead of getting them restored, they buy electronic organs.
The few choir seats, little organ and, something I haven't see before, choir robes, although there aren't many of them, but it is a very small town and church.
It wasn't even a very old organ, apparently installed in 1901.
Stained glass of Christ giving the keys of the kingdom to St. Peter.
This town is called Bornasco (I forgot the name but the sign reminded me), and this is a list of the parish priests since 1609, but they don't have their own priest now, although he may not be dead. The parroco from the next town comes, we met him and he let us play the organ in his little church. He is about my age and was very friendly.
We went to the large supermarket in the mall in Pavia and bought lunch, which we took home to eat. I have wanted to try some mortadella (bologna) from Bologna, which I haven't had for 50 years. (IGP means it is the real thing, compared with generic) It was pretty good, although Myrna thinks it tastes like regular boloney, with chunks of fat. My favorite cheese is still Emmental, which is actually what in the US is called Swiss cheese, although this was made in Italy. Italians have hundreds of different types of cheeses, but I like the Emmental taste, with crusty on the outside and soft of the inside Italian bread.
Coming into the office, with internet, I looked up the town where Amber's ancestors came from, probably 2-3 hours drive from here, on Google Maps, and we are doing research for our upcoming trip there. Google maps is wonderful.
This little town in the Piedmont (we live in Lombardy, next region to the east) is called Castelnuovo (new castle) Nigra (I don't really know what it means; black in Italian is nero (like the name of the emperor of Rome who played the violin while Rome burned). You can see that the town is in the mountains, and above the name of the town on the sign it says Gruppo Alpini, which means the Alpine Group, who probably put up the sign for some special event they had about the time that Google was filming in that town.
This is the main drag of Castelnuovo Nigra with, of course, the church, where Amber's ancestors were undoubtedly sprinkled, married and eulogized (with their names written in the parish register), and there is a cemetery (listed on the map), in which I will take pix of the graves and hope we can put some genealogical pieces together. That will be fun! You can see some mountain to the right in the pix and we are looking forward to going there, it looks beautiful.
Today, Sunday, after church and lunch, I took a little nap and played my virtual organ (the real one is the at the duomo at Brescia, which is exactly like the ones I see and take pix of every Saturday) while Myrna checked out maps of Milano for places for Amy's family (who are coming end of June) to visit. Then we went back to Abbizia di Ciaravalle, the abbey where St. Bernard (who wrote the words to "Jesus, the very thought of Thee" in the 1100s) founded. It took about an hour. Last time we went there most of it wasn't open and I didn't have my camera. It is a remarkable place, a little smaller than the one north of Pavia, but still quite remarkable. They didn't have any problem with my taking pix either. At the one in Pavia a monk yelled at me for just taking out my camera.
Choir seats in the very large church (there are some seats on both sides near the high altar--this is the right side) at Ciaravalle, compare this with the few choir seats at the little church on the way to Pavia that we saw yesterday (see above pix).
(Above) This is the monk's music practice room, not in the church, in the adjacent abbey. Notice the large stand for the music. They don't print copies, everyone sings off the same song sheet, literally. It is a form of chant, perhaps not even Gregorian (St. Ambrose, or Ambrosian, is the usual form of mass they use in Lombardy). I would like to go back some time and hear the monks sing. We did hear monks sing in the little old abbey near Opera, but there were only 3 of them Two sat on one side and the other on the other side and sang to each other. I was the only spectator in the church, so they do this every day regardless of who is there. The old pipe organ in the abbey is high above the main floor and probably sounded wonderful as the music floated around the massive church. However, sadly, it probably does not work, because they have a fairly large electronic organ on the floor near the choir. (This form of pipe organ above is found in nearly all of the ancient churches we have seen and is the same type I play on Hauptwerk).
The Viscount brand (Italian, the Visconti was the ruling family in Lombadey) electronic organ, probably 3 manuals (the ancient one only has one manual and a few pedals), I didn't raise the lid on this electronic organ or try to play it, although it was unlocked--I checked for future reference.
Choir seats, beautiful woodwork but they don't look very comfortable. I suspect you sit on the little half moon (catch the irony there) and sing your heart out.
See the half moon butt rest. This causes you to partly stand up, so you can sing better. This sign (below) shows the times that the monks chant. They start at 4:30 in the morning and end at 8 pm. Music is apparently a big deal at this abbey and these guys are quite dedicated.
Below is the staircase where the monks go after singing chant. There is a famous Madonna and child painting at the top of the stairs, which the guide book said is called the Madonna di Buona Notte, or good night Madonna, the last thing the monks see before they go back to their cells to sleep on the cold, hard floor (we didn't get to go into a cell, like we did a the monastery near Pavia, perhaps they have feather beds now, to attract young monks, they need to do something.)
Below is the Madonna della Buona Notte at the end of the staircase, I had to zoom in on it, so it is blurry.
If you're a monk and not chanting or praying or eating or sleeping, you might be out tending the herb garden. But they also had a small soccer field, perhaps to attract young monk wannabees.
This is their collection of ancient wheat grinding wheels from the mill. Apparently they don't grind their own any more, because the water wheel was dry. In their little store they sell (along with rosaries, religious metals, their home made wines, honey, jams, etc.) fresh brown eggs, which look like they come from the same supermarket where we buy ours.
Inner courtyard for the monks around their cells, the doors of which are under the porches. Not unlike those in the larger monastery on the way to Pavia. We saw about 10 monks at Ciaravalle, compared with only 3 at Pavia, and a couple of them looked to be in their 20s, so they are a little more competitive in getting new monks. But Italy is having problems with not enough Catholic priests (or monks).
One of about 10 side chapels in the large church, these are little chapels where mass can be said for a few people a a time. I like to remember the term "a capella" which literally means in the chapel, has come to mean without accompaniment, because the big organ cannot be heard in the little capellas,
Another little capella, each with a different altarpiece.
It was fairly dark in the church itself, so the pix of the large fresco paintings on the walls didn't turn out very well, and they even had the lights on today. They were painted between 1100 and 1500 AD by various painters, some famous and some not so famous. They are all pretty dim, and perhaps will be restored some day.
Fairly violent scene on the wall, perhaps when the Waldesians were being persecuted, which happened off and on for several hundred years until the pope excommunicated them and then did away with them and brought in another order to operate this abbey.
The front of the abbey church from the entryway. It is really a large building, and there were hundreds of Italians out for their Sunday afternoon strolls, some eating gelato, which the monks sell a their store. We didn't see any American or other foreign tourists, this place is apparently off the tourist trap. There aren't any entry fees, but there were several beggars with their hands out and baskets for donations to restore the church.
Back inside the church before we left, see the iron supports around the pillar (to the right). I suspect they have architects/engineers studying these old buildings all the time and the government does things like this to preserve them. These are state churches and government taxes are used to support them.
Myrna sitting by the back door waiting patiently for me.
One of the doors on the buildings out to the parking lot had a interesting sign on it.
A little sign on a door, which is apparently an office or meeting room for the Knights (Cavalieri) Templars (think Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code). If these old walls could talk about what has been happening for the past thousand years, it would make pretty amazing reading.
This is the road we drove on to get home, Myrna took it while I was driving. Traffic can go both ways, and Italians drive fairly fast, but the tunnels under the bridges are only wide enough for one car, so they have a stop light so you don't run into someone coming the other way. The plants in the fields are up about a inch now. I don't know what rice looks like growing, but this is rice growing country, and the Italians love their risotto (rice with saffron, butter and cheese), which I'm learning to make, but without white wine I can't deglaze the cooking pan and the rice is gummier than it would be if the wine helped seal the starch in the rice, according to the recipe. Knorr (A Swiss company which also sells things in Italy) even makes a package of Italian risotto, but it's not as good as what we had at a restaurant and I am learning to make.
Ciao for now.
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