Day 13, Torino

I have now officially made up my mind to come back to Torino. This place is great! We went with the tour group on a walking tour of some of the nearby churches and monuments this morning. Our group is very small, so it's not at all like the guided tours I recently decided I don't really like. This was quite relaxed and very easy-going, except that the weather was a little colder than any of us expected. At one point we made the tour guide take us into a cafe so we could warm up with some coffee! We saw the special case where the holy shroud is, and then saw some reproductions of it hanging on the wall. We walked through lots of big plazas, and saw some pretty great baroque architecture. Actually, we saw all kinds of architecture, but I'm still trying to organize it all in my head.
At the end of the walking tour, we all sat down for lunch at a very nice restaurant. I had to decline on the veal tartare, and had a salad for starters instead. After lunch, Gramma was completely worn out (this was far more walking than we've done on any day during this trip!) so we came back to the hotel for a quick nap, and then our cousins Laura, Hermano, and Mariella came to pick us up and take us to the "capucini", a church on the top of a hill overlooking the city. We went crazy taking pictures, and simply enjoyed each other's company for just a little while before having to really say goodbye. Tomorrow morning we'll leave for Genoa, so that's it for our time in Torino.

Tonight's opera is Falstaff. I've heard it's three hours long, so I decided to write this blog entry before rather than after, just in case I have no energy left after! It's been a full day for both of us.

Here's a photo of Gramma in front of the very non-traditional opera house in Torino.