Contemporary Art?  What a load of crap.  Today was a visit to the castle in Rivoli, a burb north west of the city towards the mountains.  In the old center there is a tremendous hill topped by a gorgeous baroque castle.  It was one of the many homes of the Sabaudi, the royals from this area.  The castle was restored a few years ago and very modern additions were built, all glass and metal, and it is used as a modern art museum and conference center.  Well the building, including the new additions, is fantastic and worth the visit.  The permanent and temporary art exhibitions are ridiculous.  The first room we entered with it's 15 foot ceilings, ornate gold mantel, and marble tiled floor, had a taxidermied horse suspended 10 feet off the ground, saddled and ready to go.  Grace nearly jumped out of her skin when we walked in.  Room after beautiful room were host to piles of old shoes, live trees in bags of leaves, photos of chairs (ugly chairs) and lots of people (ugly people).  Then there was my favorite.  A room painted dark turquoise with words stamped on the walls.  Words like"tortoise"," ice-cream"," macaw".  The best part?  The crow feathers sticking out from the walls horizontally.  Nice touch.  One room was wall papered with dry leaves and chicken wire.  Well as I said the building was fabulous and if it hadn't been such a foggy day the view would have been great.  After that was another trip to Ikea where we managed to spend 2 hours, buy $50.00 worth of merchandise, and not get one thing on our list.  GP is away for work so it's pizza and gelato for dinner.  xxoo me