Road Trip Torino: Day 2

We woke up to a light, drizzly rain. Ew. Not the best weather for crossing the alps—especially if you want to get some awesome photos! With the rain came fog. Lots of it. But when it lifted (partially) we had some splendid views. This one is in Gruyere, just south of Bern:

 
Here are a couple more from the road:

In Switzerland, you see this a lot too:

Heh, that’s what happens when you hand hold the camera at 1/6 of a second (ISO 3200) going at about 100 km an hour. But it CAN be worse—if you forget to boost the ISO and try it at ISO 320 and a shutter speed of 2 seconds:

I kind of like that one, though. I took lots of photos of raindrops on the window, and not a few of the windshield wipers. But every now and then I caught what I was looking for.

Near the border of Italy, we started climbing. We climbed. We climbed. We were heading for the pass at San Bernardino (St. Bernard). The fog closed in, and we didn’t see much except the incredibly winding road with the mountain on one side (Dan’s) and a sheer dropoff on the other (mine). I couldn’t see how far down it went because of the fog. It was a tense couple of hours, I can tell you. Be glad you were sleeping in the back seat!

From time to time there was a break in the fog—or at least part of one!

I think we’re going to be going home another way…

We finally arrived in Torino, found our apartment and went for a walk. It was still raining, so I didn’t take any photos—you’ll have to wait till tomorrow to see a little of Torino.

We DID find a large crowd, though, and the center of the town was closed off. We passed several demonstrations, and couldn’t figure out what was going on—but it was something big. We made our way to a large piazza where there were screens set up, and people talking. When we asked someone what it was, they told us that the Pope was in Torino to say mass and see the shroud of Turin. It was really a big deal for Torino.

To be continued….

NOTE: We have wifi access at the school, so I’ll be writing blog posts in the evenings and posting them at the school in the mornings.