When he returned home, we all hopped into the car to go north of Torino into the foothills of the Alpes. (We needed to escape the heat.) We went to visit Sacra San Michele, which is a 10th century abbey built on top of a mountain. It is awesome in the true sense of the word and the views from the abbey are breathtaking. We had to walk part of the way up the mountain to reach the abbey but it was truly worth all of the hard work. I think the hike to the abbey is a great reminder to any visitor that the spiritual ascent to God is challenging but the reward is incredible. One really has to exert oneself to get there but when you get to the abbey... wow you cannot help but to see the glory of God in nature and in the beauty of the church. I am sure this is just a small taste of what heaven is like.
"Little" George also had a ball here. We let him walk around while holding our hand. Oh the simple things... being excited about walking!
One last thing that I loved about this place was that John Paul II visited the abbey. They have the kneeler he knelt at and the prayer he prayed so of course we all prayed there.
We returned to Torino late (poor Georgie) and had our first dinner out in Torino. We all really enjoyed eating some of the regional dishes.
Nana, you would have approved because we ended up ordering three desserts!
On Wednesday, we visited Eataly and Stupinigi. Eataly claims to be the largest food & wine center. It used to be the old Vermouth factory but it was converted into this store that is like Whole Food but 10x better. It is all Italian food, has amazing selections, great prices and each section of the store has a restaurant that features the food in that section. Every section even the beer and wine section has a restaurant! We ate in the meat section and the dessert section although I wish I could have had something in everyone of them!!
As we were going through the store, we realized that many of the food items reminded us of our friends. I took photos of the items that reminded me of each of you but I am not going to post them since it would be a very long post. But I did notice a trend for the guys... we thought of most of you while in the alcohol section.
After lunch, we visited Stupinigi which was one of the royal hunting "lodges" of the Savoy family. It is huge and this is only a fraction of it! Sorry no pictures to show you but the interior is grand! We were unable to bring our camera into the building. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to sleep or eat in one of those rooms. My neck would have hurt from looking up at the frescoed ceiling so much!
On Thursday afternoon, we went to Palazzo Madama. The Savoy family had incredible homes!! This palace is in Torino itself and is also where the antique art museum is.
"Little" George enjoyed walking around and observing the place. What a lucky little boy to be learning how to walk in the palaces of past royalty!
On Friday, we spent the day trying to get into Vittone churches. We were met with a little success. We spent about 2 hours in the first church, which was north of Torino in the foothills of the Alps.
"Little" George and I explored the church and practiced his walking skills while Dad did lots of sketching! After a nice lunch, we tried to get into another church to spend the afternoon sketching. But we tried three different churches and all of them were closed except for Sundays! We, but especially George, are incredibly frustrated by this. But "little" George is such an angel through it all. He loved being in the church in the morning (thank goodness no one else was in it though), loved lunch, and sleep through all of the driving, stops, & grrs.
The high point of the afternoon drive was the stunning views of Alps and countryside. We also saw kiwi vines! Did you know that kiwis grow on vines and that the vines look very similar to grape vines? We did not until we saw them and thought that they were some strange looking grapes.
On a side note, I was noticing that there is a particular hair style that is incredibly popular here with teenage and twenty something women. As I want to try to look as European as possible I was thinking I would have my hair cut this way. :) What do you all think?
If you can't quite tell what the style is, the women shave part of the hair off (does not seem to matter what part of the head) and then keep the rest of the hair long. It is such a weird haircut!!! Watch this be the next fad in the States!
Sorry to hear you guys are having trouble getting into the churches! Who would have thought? It sounds like you are eating a lot of good food and I am jealous. Did you see anything in the Eataly that reminded you of us?
ReplyDeleteI like little Georgio's green outfit...and no, I don't think that hair style is a good look for you. European fads are usually bad news lol. Glad you are enjoying life and send my love to your family!
Maia
Maia- We saw a huge proscuitto leg and took a picture of it for you all. How is Craig's proscuitto coming?
ReplyDeleteThe prosciutto is doing well! It has almost lost enough water content to be where it needs to be, so maybe a few more weeks. We've been thinking we'll cut into it for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. Hopefully it is good!
DeleteAmazing stories! Did Steve have anything to do with the alcohol comment? :) And I second Maia's comment.... what a weird fad.
ReplyDeleteYou all look amazing and I can't believe George is walking! He just needed the beautiful scenery for motivation. :)
Just got back from a trip to see my family... Jessie is loving Ireland and is planning on looking you all up when she is in Rome.
Miss you all and thanks for sharing!
Lots of love, Caitlin
Caitlin,
ReplyDeleteHow was your visit? I am sure it was wonderful to see them and that they loved every moment with Stephen.
We of course thought of Steve in the alcohol section. The picture I took for you all was of a lady who was filling up a huge wine jar with wine at the store. You could choose from about 10 wines and then fill up different size jars. It was so cheap, 2 euro for a liter!
We are really enjoying your blog. You are doing a great job. One of my favorite photos is the one of George and Georgio in front of the massive ancient stone building. Very impressive!
ReplyDeleteLove and kisses especially to Sunshine,
Mom and Dad
I have to ask what food you thought of for us! Little George is looking so grown up now that he's walking =) Like a little man! That's really neat about the kiwis - I had no idea they grew on vines. Did you get to try any fresh? And how hot is it there? It's actually been very mild in DC - 70s and 80s with rain. A nice change, I think! We missed you on our girls' outing yesterday! We had lunch after mass, then window shopping, then italian ice (or should I say "italian" ice), then adoration.
ReplyDeleteAnd I emphatically second Maia and Caitlin - that haircut is...how about "unladylike" for a nice word! =) I think you should try to influence European trends toward something better.
Bethany,
ReplyDeleteI wish I could have been at your girls outing. I miss you all so very much! But we will just have to have another one when I return.
The weather as of yesterday is so much better (it was in the high 90s) and now it is in the low 80s. We did not try the kiwis as they were in someone private field and even thought they probably never would have noticed I would have felt horrible taking one from them.
We thought of you both in the whole store, actually let me correct that in all of Italy. Italy reminds me so much in particular of Dan's grandparents. Also much of their view towards food reminds me of you all (the idea of doing it yourself, their love of gardening, just in general love of food at its purest). But the thing I saw and thought that you would love is this cookbook of all of these Italian drinks. I wanted to buy it but it was in Italian and huge! We flipped through it. We really want to try to figure out what some of the drinks were and how to make them.
Unladylike is the perfect term. I have noticed that it seems very fashionable among the younger women to look more masculine and fashionable for the men of all ages to look more feminine.