Varallo and a Busy Week

It's been an exhaustingly busy week for the Bedells. John's had to work late every day this week, and Ann attended a book club meeting and an outing with her club. Meanwhile, Thomas has been really enjoying school. He says that his favorite parts of the school day are singing (which they do at the end of the day), gym class, and riding the bus.

With such a busy week, we were ready for a day off. We also decided to stay relatively close to home for our weekend day-trip. So, this week we travelled about an hour to the pretty little town of Varallo. It's a beautiful and well-kept city that's in a historic valley. Unfortunately, while it wasn't raining at home, it was downpouring in Varallo when we arrived. We decided to tough-out the weather, though, and walked around the city before lunch. We're glad for our choice, because after we finished lunch, there were breaks in the clouds and periodic streaks of sunlight for the rest of the day.

We had lunch at a great little hotel restaurant. The food was fantastic. Mushrooms are hugely popular in Italy at this time of year, and Asparagus is big in Varallo, so nearly every meal featured mushrooms and/or asparagus. The food was delicious.

Varallo is another town that's famous for its Sacro Monte. This one has a series of over 40 chapels, and many are located in a beautiful wooded area. The rest overlook the town and valley. It was another great short trip.

Ciao!