Skip to main content

Torino

On an unseasonably warm weekend in late January, Jenna and I ventured off to Torino, Italy. It might sound familiar as the host city of the 2006 olympics, although you would've heard of it as Turin because we're Americans and we don't pronounce things the way they're supposed to be pronounced.

For some details on the trip and the impressions of Torino, I'll direct you here. It's a 7-things-you-should-know article I wrote over on Robot Butt, which is also a ridiculous site you should check out.

So here I'll put a few things and a few photos.

Torino has a few big attractions, including a museum of cinema, an Egyptian museum, and a mind-blowing landscape, but they have a ton of smaller attractions too. The Egyptian museum, from our experience, was a complete dud. Most of it was under construction and the stuff that was available was nothing to write home about. Apparently we're in the minority in that opinion because it's wildly popular on sites like Tripadvisor.

We opted for views and chocolate.


That tall building is the cinema museum and it's actually really cool. There's something like a Wonka-vator in the building - you go up in a glass elevator in the middle of a conical dome where the only thing around you is nothing. It's awesome.

While we were up at this lookout point we happened across a pair of guys from Cincinnati. Small world. There's a rebuilt medieval village in Torino and it's pretty OK. It was very uncrowded when we went, but it looks nice from the outside. Evidence below.


The city was just really pleasant. Cheap gelato, incredible chocolate, stores, piazzas for sitting, nice buildings, a river, and great views galore. As I mentioned over on RB though, there isn't really a "one thing" that the city is known for, which is kind of a shame.

 Royal Palace

 Another view of mountains

 View of a main street from a church

Sunset and birds. Two things that only exist in Italy

And the most important thing I can possibly mention is that Torino taught us that hot chocolate in Italy is hot chocolate. Not hot chocolate-flavored drink, but chocolate, melted and half-drinkable. It's served with a spoon and it's the finest thing I've ever had. We spent as much on chocolate as we did on actual meals.

Italy has its merits.

Next trip was a really big one...Rome.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Naples Archaeological Musuem and Its Penis Room

When the situation calls for it, I am a mature person. I can talk comfortably about reproductive health, I can watch a movie with a sex scene and not make a joke, and I can look at nude statues and think nothing of it beyond art. Hell, my senior yearbook quote was about how maturity is just knowing when and where to be immature. I won't laugh when you fall down because you might be hurt and I absolutely do not laugh when an animal humps something because it's instinct and the animal can't help it. I believe you shouldn't laugh at something if the thing you're laughing at is helpless in the situation. But sometimes you find your limit. The National Archaeological Museum of Naples (abbreviated MANN in Italian) pushed me near my limit. See, Naples is home to brilliant and interesting historical artwork. With the nearby town of Pompeii buried under the ash of Mt. Vesuvius, tons of pristine artifacts which were rescued from Pompeii ended up in MANN. Some of these p...

Movie

Someone asked me today: if my life were made into a movie, would I watch it? HELL YES, I WOULD. Upon answering so emphatically, she called me out for being cocky. Here is my extended answer, including teasers, cliff-hangers, and the possible title. I justify my arrogance by saying that if I don't believe in my product, who in the world is going to see it? The movie about me would be executive produced by me, obviously. I have the final say in what goes and what doesn't. If my life were made into a movie, only the most important parts would make it...it would be like a 23 year highlight reel crammed into 2 hours and 12 minutes (any longer and I'm risking a major walk-out-to-pee-and-miss-the-important-stuff crowd reaction). For the meaty part, think about all the great things this movie would have! It would feature sports, love, friendships, hardships, heartbreaks, family bonds, and most importantly...frontal male nudity. Name one thing from that list that doesn't appear ...

1000 Words a Day, Day 10: On Old Friends

At some point in college, it dawned on me that my group of friends from home was unusual. Yes, we were all weirdly close an did some objectively strange things to each other (and with each other, but mainly to each other), but apparently it was weird to stay so close to people from your hometown. We all thought nothing of it, because that's just the way we were. Others, however, were surprised and often confused. Some of them were "adopted" into the group of us from the Chesterland area, and it's hard to say how much they still stayed in touch with people who didn't go to high school with us, because they sure assimilated into our friends-since-early-childhood clique. But still, that was only college. Later, I moved to Chicago and found that there were people who I hadn't seen in years who would gladly, willingly, almost eagerly bail me out of I was in a pinch or needed a place to stay. These were people I wasn't even necessarily close  with when we were...