Don't go to Italy on a Monday

Why? Because nothing is open;or next to nothing, anyway. If we had planned at all, we would have done things a little differently. Oh well. Our biggest regret is that we did not get to go to the museum in the city that houses the world's 3rd best collection of artifacts from ancient Egypt and other early civilizations. It was a bit painful standing outside the door and seeing the "closed" sign.

We did, however, go into the city's most famous cathedral. It is VERY different from the ones we had been seeing in France. It is not as old, and it is much more ornate and colorful. (Think Italian marble.) This one is famous because it houses the Shroud of Turin--a very famous relic. Has anyone reading this ever heard of it? It is supposedly the burial cloth of Jesus and has his image burned into it. There is a chapel-like area in front of the shroud, which is in a vault behind a wall of glass. A photograph of the shroud is hung above the vault. Many people were there, sitting and praying in front of this relic. It is a bit startling to watch this.

We spent a lot of time walking around the city. It most definately had a different flavor from anything we had seen in France.

Don't forget, this was the site of the last winter Olympics.

Of course, we all know that Italy is famous for its chocolate and pastries. We passed a shop window, or rather we tried to pass a shop window, but were arrested by the beautiful cakes and candies. (Sorry, Tara!)

Have you seen enough? We had, and promptly went and bought gelato! That's another thing Italy is famous for. It was superb

We could not find anywhere to eat that was reasonably priced, so we headed back through the mountains, thinking we would find a little place in a mountain town where we could have dinner. We stopped in the town of Susa, Italy (not Babylon).

We found this little pizzeria.

He is anticipating the delicious pizza and pasta we had just ordered.

It was delicious and affordable!

The town was quite cute.

Aren't the mountains simply beautiful?

Interestingly enough, we did not have to go through any border checks, or show our passports, but the drive up over the pass was quite exciting. There are long tunnels, very windy roads on which people drive very fast. Along some of these roads are incredible drop-offs. Some of us delighted in looking down over the edge and the rest of us either closed our eyes or looked the other way!

(Posted by Mom)