At our table d'hote have made the acquaintance of two young Englishmen — Bright, who started today for Genoa per Vetturino. I accompanied them as far as Pavia, some 20 miles from Milan to see Certosa, a very famous church and monastery founded by Giovanni Galiozzo Viscounte – first duke of Milan. He same who commenced the Duomo. Certosa dates from 1396.

The road, leaving Milan by the Porto Ticino, runs along the canal which connects Milan with Pavia & then joins the river Ticinus. We arrived at Certosa in three hours for the snow had rather retarded our progress. As much as I had heard of the richness of Certosa, was surprised and my expectations exceeded in the beauty and variety of the marbles and mosaics of which its numberless alters are formed. Some of which are resplendent with rubies, emeralds, topazes and other reddish stones.

The monks of St. Bruno had once a revenue of a million lives per annum - which for a century or more they employed in adorning this temple, which is still in excellent preservation though the leaden roof was taken by Napoleon & converted to bullets, and one of tiles substituted. There is a marble monument & statue of Galeuzzo the Duke, and of Beatrice d'Este, a little short woman with a pleasing round face. The clog shoes on her feet is still the fashion of the country people in this part of Lombardy.

Leaving Certosa we entered Pavia an hour before dark, which gave us time to stroll through one or two of the principal streets. Noticed some very lofty brick towers intended in former times for defense, and which once were to be number of one hundred. In the evening went to the masquerade at the theatre, but cut rather an odd figure in our caps 6 traveling dress. The ladies merely looked on from the boxes, not being the custom at Pavia to mingle with the students of the university who number near 2,000. Got a fine dinner before bed at the Hotel della Lombardia -