It was a Monday and the town was nearly empty, so I had quick access to the church this time, and no tourists to deal with. I didn't feel compelled to fire shots into the air--nice!

The area around the robe of Christ was way up in front of the cathedral, and I wasn’t sure I could get close. It was roped off about 30 meters out. But I found a passage way toward the back of the church that led right up to it, and there I was, about one meter away from Christ’s shirt. It’s lying flat in the glass coffin so you can't actually see it, just the top of the coffin. To a man who has been a believer all his life, this was a truly moving experience. I was standing a few feet from something Christ himself had worn, touched, bled on, perhaps tried on in the dressing room of an ancient Kohl's. I wonder if Mary picked it out. Do you think he had a closet of these at home or just this one? This is the same robe soldiers rolled dice for at the cross as Jesus hung there, bleeding to death, like a common criminal.

The sign at the altar said you could only "come up here to pray, and nothing else", but when I kindly spoke to a lady selling postcards (SHE wasn't praying!), she said I could photograph anywhere in the cathedral. And so I did. First I visited the ladies room--just kidding.