So, the big reason we went to Italy was to see Tina's brother Verne and his family. They had come over to the states a few times and stayed with us and we kept promising for a long time that we would come and visit them. Well, after a lot of saving and planning (and not being in school) we finally planned the trip. We were so grateful to Verne and Monica for letting us stay with them. They have a very nice place in Torino so we were able to spend most of our time there. Torino isn't a touristy town so there aren't a lot of 2000-year-old buildings or massive galleries of art. But, there also aren't a lot of Americans around and not everyone speaks English. So, it was fun to be thrown into pure Italian culture.
When I go on vacation, I enjoy the touristy places, but I also like getting off the beaten path and experiencing what life is really like for the people living there. So, we decided to take the subway into town a time or two to see some of the sights that not every American tourist gets to see.
This is the Mole Antonelliana. It was originally built to be a Jewish Synagogue, but now holds the National Cinema Museum. The museum was pretty cool, but a few of the movies featured were not for the kids (or for me for that matter), but what was really cool about the building is that there is a glass elevator that goes up the center of the building to the top of the dome and you get great views of the city.
When I go on vacation, I enjoy the touristy places, but I also like getting off the beaten path and experiencing what life is really like for the people living there. So, we decided to take the subway into town a time or two to see some of the sights that not every American tourist gets to see.
This is the Mole Antonelliana. It was originally built to be a Jewish Synagogue, but now holds the National Cinema Museum. The museum was pretty cool, but a few of the movies featured were not for the kids (or for me for that matter), but what was really cool about the building is that there is a glass elevator that goes up the center of the building to the top of the dome and you get great views of the city.
This is the cathedral in Torino that is famous for housing the Shroud of Turin.
I think the Vatican only lets the actual Shroud be on display once a generation to preserve it, but a replica and a negative image are on display at the Cathedral. It's interesting that the image shows up better in the negative than in the original.
It was interesting for me to notice a few things in the Shroud. Blood marks on the forehead where the crown of thorns would have been. Blood marks on the back. Wound marks on his side, feet and wrists. I don't know if this is the real deal - it doesn't really matter, but it was interesting. 
And, here are a couple of photos of the kids enjoying the fountains in the town square in front of the palace. (No photos were allowed in the palace, but it was incredible. The kids did very well for a 1-hour tour in Italian where you weren't allowed to run around or touch anything. They got their wiggles out in the water.)
1 comment:
Oh, please keep writing about your Italy trip. I so enjoy your stories and being reminded of how great Italy really is. Look's like the kids really enjoyed themselves. I'm sure the Italiani got a kick out of Deacon's red hair :) !
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