Turin

Observations:
On the highways, each lane has a different speed limit, but it doesn't matter because the speed limits are ignored; when you check in at a hotel or go to a bank to exchange money, you must show your passport; when you greet someone with a kiss you go to the right side of the face first, then the left.

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist where the actual holy shroud is housed was, like everything else in Turin, within walking distance of our hotel, and our first destination of the day.  The inside of the church is beautiful, although slightly less overwhelming than the prior churches we’d visited.  Along either wall on both sides are individual shrines/altars; the last one to the left of the altar is where, protected in a 5 meter long case and behind glass, is the shroud.  Silence is mandatory in that area, and cameras are not allowed, even with the flash off.  You can kneel before it, and prayers in half a dozen languages are posted at the kneeler.  Above the case is an enlarged replica of the face of Jesus from the shroud.  It is powerful.  From across the church you are allowed to take a picture, and here’s ours:

The altar of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

After our visit to the church we decided to take a long walk around part of the city’s border which looked like a tree-lined walk along the River Po.  Well, the walk was shady in parts, but not the tree-lined kind of shady!  It was also hot and sunny.  But considering the intake of gelato, tortes, breads with oil, and then of course our meals, we need many miles of walks!  The River Po:

And the reason we needs walks:

Oops!  I think I missed a spot!

We checked out of Torino and headed out for our next stop, Genova (Genoa).  We decided to stop along the way in a town called Asti, the home of the infamous Asti Spumonti.  There we walked around a bit and stopped to have a drink.  Sure enough, on the menu:

This is really an observation, but I’ll mention it here and illustrate.  Whenever you order anything, even if it’s just a beer and a bottle of water, you are given food.  Ah, Italy.  Here’s what we got with our beer and water:

We headed towards the coast and passed through over 30 tunnels, some very short, some about a mile long, through the mountains and, after a series of near heart attacks on the roads, we arrived in the very large city of Genoa.  This city is like New York size, much bigger than the prior cities we’ve visited.  Not so many sidewalk cafes and balconies overflowing with flowers.  Our hotel is lovely.  No body lotion, and the shower gets the entire bathroom floor wet, but it’s still very nice and comfortable.  The lobby stairwell is most impressive:

From above

From the lobby below

We had dinner in an area near the hotel that we found after wandering around a bit.  It was a little, I don’t know, maybe dirty  -- somehow less attractive than what we’ve gotten used to thus far.  But dinner was good:

Funny picture of the day: