Slowly we may be finding a travel groove. Julia and I spent the morning at the Egyptian Museum which seems an unexpected delight. I had read about it in guide books but was not prepared for the depthof the collection or the wonderful presentation. We were equipped with personal audio tours and we listened to about 15 percent of the commentary. And we listened for a long time. Julia studied Egypt in social studies this year and she was fascinated. It was delightful. She focused on artifacts that I would not have pointed out and read lengthy explanations out loud. Some things were more than unbelievable–a 4,000 year old pleated dress, statues with faces and postures so very recognizable, huge stone carvings of deities. A couple of hundred years of collection. We stood in front of a very large glass box watching a woman “clean” the top of a sarcophagus with small bits of cotton on the end of a stick. Julia commented that the people who worked in the museum were obsess with Egypt. Possibly very true.

We spent more time just walking the streets of the central city. How lucky we are to be staying in the midst of it all. Julia stops at more and more shops to window shop. She brought a little purse with three dollars and change in it. She intends to buy something. I explained a number of times that she could not use dollars to buy anything in Italy. After looking at prices in shop windows, she got it and asked to change her money which I did at a very generous exchange rate. Using cash for many transactions , albeit Euros, may finally be bringing home the lesson of money that has eluded her for so long.

Silvia introduced me to a long time friend, Anna, who has a 20 year old daughter with some of Julia’s challenges. This young woman is graduating from an arts high school and is now taking her exams. Her daughter is doing what I dream of for Julia and I am inspired by the journey and comforted by the telling.

I napped in late midday very quickly falling into an old rhythm. These summer days are long and delicious. The day extends on both end with the grace of an after lunch rest. It it lovely to fall into midday sleep exhausted from the morning’s adventure and arise to begin again.

Silvia and Georgia took us to a restaurant in a monastery on a hill high over the city. We ate zucchini blossoms filled with a milky cheese and fried, paper thin slices of beef with a tuna sauce, tiny spinach ravioli with olive oil and curls of parmigiana and a dessert of something between ice cream and mousse in a light chocolate with a very dark chocolate and hazelnut sauce. Julia and I shared all of our dishes which was fine until the chocolate creation when she ate about three quarters of it. I did not begin to dream of Italian food until about a week before leaving. Now I remember how David and I copied recipes and searched for authentic tastes when we returned from Italy always missing what we had left behind. I could eat like this for my whole life and remain delighted.

After supper, we climbed to the top so the hill and watched the city lights come to life as dark rested on Torino. Georgio pointed out the places we have been and told stories of the city. The evening air was just cool enough to to enjoy dinner outside and without the mosquitoes that are due to arrive soon.

Afterwards I may have slept and dreamed, or I may have slept and simply reviewed the day.