Friday 2nd Jan - We left Padova to head for Torino (also called Turin) which caused some confusion when booking the hotel. Torino is what the Italians call the town, Turin is the english version of the name. It's the fourth largest city in Italy after Rome, Milan & Naples. It was the first capital of the united kingdom of Italy from 1861 - 1865 and home to the Royal family. It's a major city for academics, artists, tourism, Italian car industry and sports, and the city hosted the winter Olympics in 2006.

Saturday 3rd Jan - After a bit of a sleep in we headed out to walk along the Po River that runs through Torino, it's a really nice walk, many fit looking people jogging along the paths and quite a few rowers on the river. Not as cold as it has been, its actually a balmy 10ºC. As we walked we came across a medieval village that has been constructed from the original, it was very fascinating. Liam loved the squirrels running around. A lady with a bag of nuts gave him some and he was chuffed when one took it from his hand. Continuing on our walk we cunningly encourage Liam to run up and down as many steps as possible to wear him out!
Heading into the center of town, Torino has very wide streets and many blocked to traffic so its very pedestrian friendly to walk around. In the center we found the Mole Antonelliana (mole meaning monument). This is a major land mark of Torino built between 1863-89 originally being a synagogue, but now a museum. We joined the queue to go up the tower but after waiting for 40 minutes and probably another 1.5 hours still to wait we decided it wasn't worth it. So we headed off to find a coffee and came across another ice skating rink so Liam got in some more practice for the next winter olympics! After enjoying an hour of skating we headed back to the hotel for a bit of warmth and relaxation which usually involves the boys playing their electronic games while I sort photos and update the blog.

Sunday 4th Jan - Aagh, today I woke up with the head cold the boys have had, so a bit of a slow start to the day. I convinced Rob to catch the metro instead of walking and we headed up to see the Monte dei Cappuccini Church built from 1583 - 1656, it sits high up on a hill overlooking the Po river and Torino. I'm glad we didn't spend €20 going up the Mole tower yesterday, these free views were awesome. We were lucky to have a clear day giving us a great view of the snow capped mountains behind the town, and the best view of the Mole Antonelliana. The church was simple and small when inside and people were leaving from Mass just finished when we got there. We took the short cut down the leafy hill to find a place for lunch, the rolls and salami we had bought from a supermarket for a total of €1.70 for all three of us.
The last stop was to see of course the Shroud of Turin. A centuries old linen cloth that has the image of a crucified man - who millions believe to be Jesus. But is it a medieval forgery or a hoax? It is in fact the single most studied artifact in human history. We wander into this massive piazza to see a massive queue - so we weren't going to see the shroud! We continued to walked around to see the cathedral of St John the Baptist, which was very quite. Walking around inside the church at one side was the chapel for the Shroud! Obviously you don't see the real thing because its encased in an aluminium and glass case and covered by a cloth for protection. But is was pleasant to sit and contemplate this piece of history with out a crowd. So still not sure what the queue was for! some art exhibition possibly.

While we have been touring around Italy Nic has been sailing hard at the 125 National titles, in Tumby Bay SA and he skippered his boat to an impressive 6th position overall. Well done to Nic & his crew. Watch out next year with the new boat and home waters.