Italia: Day Two

After taking a nap yesterday, we meet Loredana who is a master’s student that goes to school in the area. I’m not sure how we came in contact with her, but she had arranged a tour for us. We ended up walking to a cobblestone park area with many fountains to meet some other high school students from Lanzo, a town we will be visiting soon. The fountain park area seemed to be the center of the city with many street salesmen targeting the small tourist population.

The students took us to a cinema museum. Somehow half of the group (me included) ended up buying the wrong ticket to the museum though and while we were exchanging them, the rest of the group went up in a lift to see a panoramic view of Torino. Once we got the correct tickets, we walked around a portion of the museum that was really weird. We were just getting to the cool part when the other part of our group showed up and told us we needed to get in line for the lift if we wanted to go. It was annoying that we barely got to see any of the cool part of the museum. Lesson learned, always make sure you're buying the correct ticket when there's a language barrier.

Views from the top of the lift

We met Dr. Fink and Kimberlie back at the hotel once we were done with the museum and walked to a small pizzeria for dinner. The pizza was alright, but it was thin crust, so definitely not my favorite. Before our meal, they gave us complimentary fried dough. It was actually really good. I’m not sure how to describe what it tasted like but it was both crusty and salty. We got desert at a gelato shop called Grom afterwards. I had the giandju, a specialty of this region, which we’ve decided is like a chocolate with hazelnut. I liked it alright, but I wouldn’t get it again. I think the hazelnut made it taste kind of funky.

I was really tired, but the group wanted to keep going, so annoyingly we returned to the same fountain park area as before because a woman Dr. Fink knows really wanted us to see it. She apparently didn’t know that we had already gone. I led the group who went back to the hotel though and the minute we got back, I passed out. Jet lag sucks.

This morning, I got up early to go for a run with some of the group. The route took us alongside the river that runs through the center of the city, so the views were gorgeous, and being a Sunday morning, there weren't many people out wandering the streets. I felt as if we had a private viewing of the city. I love running in a new place early in the morning, it's like a breath of fresh air. Too bad I'm not a morning person in the slightest.

We had breakfast at the hotel and I realized their milk tastes rather weird. I was surprised to find cereal on the complimentary table because I know it's not very popular here, but I don’t think I’ll be getting it again during our time here. The flavors are very dull and you can tell the Italians haven't really branched out with their cereal selection like Americans have. It's probably a lot less sugary and somewhat better for you though. I did have these really yummy pound cake type sweets called Plum Cakes. They remind me of something I used to eat a lot as a child, but I’m not sure what.

Loredana came back to the hotel and took us on a shopping/walking tour of the city and surrounding park afterwards. We ate lunch at a sandwich shop in the park that sold ham, turkey, and vegetable sandwiches. It was alright, but not really my type of ideal place. It didn’t help that we had to eat outside and it felt really buggy. I hate when I can’t eat without shooing stuff away from my face.

Dumpters near the outdoor clubbing district along the river

Picturesque view of Torino's city park

The afternoon was full of shopping, but sadly I didn’t buy anything because it always seemed like people walked right on by the stores that I wanted to go in. I don’t get why they want to spend a fortune on chocolate and not clothes or shoes. There are more interesting and lasting things that can be purchased in Italy other than food.

The whole day seemed like kind of a waste to me because there was a lot of waiting around. Our group of sixteen plus a guide is too big to travel together with, but they insist on it so we end up constantly waiting on people, whether it’s because someone needs to go to the bathroom or someone ended up stopping in a shop that no one else was interested in. Kind of aggravating.

For dinner, our Italian guide Loridana took us to a funky bar that served appetizers and alcohol. This is apparently quite common in Italy and normally takes place before the traditional meal time of 8-10. We went around six and all ordered a drink, I got a sex on the beach, and then we indulged in the bad tasting appetizers. I had a pizza tasting thing and some bread. There were some chicken bit looking things though that tasted the best. Sadly, after my first small helping there weren’t any left. I got a little bit tipsy off the one drink because of the lack of food. On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a hole in the wall gelato shop and I ordered a milk chocolate flavor. It was pretty good, but still not my favorite.