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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.

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