Wow, Alba is a nice little city! Today we walked around to get acclimated to the area. Its population of 30,000 will balloon to 100,000 with the big white truffle festival this weekend. Already there are signs the stores and restaurants are getting ready, with canopies out on the sidewalk on some streets.

I mentioned in my post yesterday that we mistakenly drove into a piazza area that is restricted from most car traffic. The sign, in Italian of course, says that a camera will photograph the license plates of vehicles that enter, and a fine issued. Our host translated that for us last night.

So we stopped in at the tourism office this morning and asked for their guidance so we could pay the ticket before it got to our car rental company. The tourism agent made some calls, then had us follow her upstairs to the police department. They checked their records and couldn’t see our car’s data on file, so maybe we are in the clear. Occasionally the camera isn’t on or a car is blocking its view. Regardless, we were grateful for their help and it sounds like we probably saved 80 Euro.

We have a decent-sized kitchen here, so made porcini mushroom pasta for dinner.

All is well in Alba, Italy.

photos: a surprisingly realistic sand sculpture

bottom: white truffles under glass with their individual prices, which range from about $10-$30 each. Crazy and weird.

street performer