Travel - the only valid reason I see for waking up at 3 in the morning.
This is where I'd disappeared to for a few days! Pavia, Northern Italy.
The weather was quite wintry, and it seemed like a permanent haze hung over the area, so my pictures are all a bit dreamlike.
My sister won an Erasmus grant to study at the university here, and I accompanied her to help her move. Pavia is gorgeous, and the university is so atmospheric. The second oldest in Italy, it was founded in 1361. How amazing! Above is one of the inner gardens of the university, and below is my sister, Anna, walking by the university buildings.
I'm sure she'll love it there! (She already does! :)
We also went into Milan for a day, where I really enjoyed the letterings of signs...
And was quite creeped out by the famous Duomo, which looked really mysterious in the haze...
It also has a row of mummified priests inside, nicely dressed up, and some weird carvings on its walls. How bizarre is this web-toed creature with a huge, cute bow?
So I went to Milan and didn't look at any of the posh shops, but instead I'm writing about imaginary creatures on church walls. If this blog wasn't already called Quaint, I would rename it right now.
