First of all im sorry that it took me so long to create a blog, it was pretty much the last thing on my list of things to do over here... Torino is so awesome! I have so many stories already since ive gotten here, most of which have ended with me looking like a fool, so i feel that because of this I need to learn how to speak more Italian.
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| Picture on the Basilica overlooking the Alps in the back |
When we were checking out a gym, one of the guys I was with Nate had a beanie hat on while we were working out, someone came by and ripped it off his head! Turns out it was a huge disrespect to wear any form of a hat inside.... who knew?
Lastly was this Irish Pub we went to, we got a Hamburger and a few beers (Finally something that could fill us up). The owner of the bar came over and found out we were studying abroad, Chris and Felix told him they were from California and the bartender made an impression of Arnold Schwarzenegger.... classic thing to do i guess, but then i told him i was from Alaska... they love that so much over here! This guy kept bringing me ice cubes to keep me cool, he thought i would feel like i was at home haha. Then his family was celebrating a birth in the family, and he passed out what looked like sugar cookies with green frosting on them to his family, then he called us over and gave us some, I was pretty excited to get a cookie! Sounded great. Only thing was that it turned out to not be a cookie, it was a slice of bread, I thought that was kinda odd to give a piece of bread with frosting, but it got better... it wasnt frosting, it was fish eggs soaked in wasabi to give it a green color. I didnt want to be rude so i choked it down, but i swear i was still picking out fish eggs in my teeth the next three days!
It is my 13th day in Torino and we have nearly explored the entire city already! This doesnt mean that there is not much to do here, it just means that aside from passing out involuntarily from the jet lag, we have been pulling really long days exploring, getting lost, and eventually finding a familiar looking Piazza or Monument... The main things that we have gone to so far are:
Gettin Fertile...
The first night we were in Italy we went out to dinner at a Pizza place and then went on a quick tour of the city at night. In one of the Piazza's was this image on the ground in front of a restaurant, it just seemed like a normal looking image of a bull. This is a special bull, a bull who will make a person more fertile, or less fertile, it just depends on how many times you spin on him. The trick is you have to spin on one foot on the bull's testicular region for one complete circle and you will become a very fertile person, if you spin on it more than once, then you are less fertile. simple as that... So our tour guide simply said... "take a spin on the bull's ball's". Earlier this week I actually saw what looked like an Italian couple walking past the bull and on their way the man took a quick spin, wonder what they were planning on doing....
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| Spin on the Bull... |
The Mole Antonelliana
The Mole Antonelliana is a large structure that I believe was created to be the symbol of Italy, at this time the city of Torino was the capitol of Italy. The Mole was also once upon a time dubbed as the largest standing structure in the world, Italia's prized possession. The structure is now primarily used to keep the tourists busy so they dont bother the citizens as much... Inside the Mole is a Cinema Museum, this consisted of three floors of movie scenes, pictures and such, starting from so really old date (it was last week and i forgot the date... but basically since the art of cinema began) They had some really interesting things in the Cinema Museum but the main attraction of the Mole was the ride up... after we finished wandering around the Cinema Museum we went back to the first floor, waited in a like for 20 minutes and were packed into a glass elevator. You dont realize it when you first step into the elevator, but once you start going up, you realize there is nothing supporting you except for a few cables! I took a video which I will find out how to attach, it was pretty cool. Only bad thing is that the saying about college students that go up to the top of the Mole is "If you go up only one time, you will not graduate".... so because of this I will need 9 euro put in my account mom ;)
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| Mole from the outside entrance.... hurt my neck trying to look to the top |
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| Reflection of Mole... Thought the reflection looked cool so I took a picture |
The Museo Egizio Di Torino
The second largest Egyptian Museum in the entire world, it is second of course to the one in Cairo, Egypt. The only museum I have found interesting until now is the one we visited in Chicago on our hockey trip a few years ago... this was until I came to Italy! I have been to three or four museums so far and i sure that i have a lot more to go! I was able to see King Tut, The Sphinx, King Ramesse II, along with numerous other dead guys in coffins, containers used for holding organs and other statues.
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| King Tut II - Sorry its sideways... my computer wont let me upload the real one |
As we were riding the train up the ridge of the mountain, we were able to gaze upon the city of Torino, the further we traveled, the quicker the fog covered the city. Once we finally reached the Basilica, the only thing of the city we could see was the Mole Antonelliana peaking through the fog. The most breathtaking view I have ever been able to take in! This view of the Alps makes the mountains surrounding Anchorage look like sledding hills that Amber would go on... so you can have a good idea how large they are since the pictures dont do it justice, when I first gazed upon them my words were "thats too bad the clouds are covering the mountains". Turns out that the clouds were the mountains!
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| In front of the Reale Basilica Di Superga |
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| On the roof of the Basilica by one of the Bell Towers |
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| So many beautiful sights from on top of the Basilica... Ill show you more when I get home |
The Lingotto Factory is where Fiat cars were once made, the company Fiat is one of the most popular vehicles over here, basically it is the Ford or Chevy of America. This Factory is now a huge mall, smaller than the mall of america but similar to size i think, it has both stores for shopping and lots of offices on the upper floors like the Dimond Center. The unique thing about the tour of the factory was when we were taken up onto the roof of the building... it resembled a racetrack course for testing vehicles, oh wait! it was a racetrack on top of a 100 foot tall building!!! They had everything from curves like we saw in the Speedway we saw in Florida, probably at about a 45 degree angle, so we walked around this for a while and then headed to the China Powerstation inside, which was a really weird museum, I didnt get the point of it, we couldnt take pictures in there but I snuck two pictures of two Picasso's painting, as I took these, I stepped too close to the paintings and a huge alarm went off, so i put my camera away after that...
Note: pictures of Lingotto and Picasso will come later, they are on my iPhone along with some more pictures
The 2006 Olympic Arch
The best structure I personally have liked so far is the 2006 Olympic Arch, it looks like the size of a two story house from on top of the Mole, but when I walked under it, i finally realized how large it was! The thing that i thought was coolest about it was how they combined the bridge and arch. The bridge is obviously a stable structure, but the only way that the arc is standing up is because of the 2-3 inch diameter cables connecting from various points along the bridge to the arch. I have yet to explore the remaining building of the Olympics but on the other side of the bridge (the ghetto of Torino) was where the colorful buildings where the Olympians were housed, the further I ventured into the ghetto i realized how much I stood out as an American to everyone who was staring me down wondering how much money I had on me, at this time I decided to turn back and cross back over the bridge.
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| Picture of Olympic Arch/Bridge taken from the "ghetto" of Torino |
From the Lingotto rooftop off in the distance over the Po River sitting on the side of the ridge was the Castello di Moncalieri, it looked like the size of a fortress placed upon the side of the hill for protection but turns out it is just the home to a very very rich Italian. This area of town is when the money lays, the people with money in Italy live in large houses on the hill, similar to in Anchorage. From the Castle we could see another section of Torino, the more industrialized area, but along with this view we had a chance to see a sunset like I saw in Fairbanks every evening, the only thing was that this sunset was over the Alps and at 5:30pm, not at noon! We also walked down a few alleyways in the area, this is what made me regret my line of work back home. They dont believe is laying down 10 miles of asphalt is a matter of hours, they take great detail in both the larger streets and side alleys with the stones and rocks that the place in intricate designs, it made my jaw drop just thinking about how much time went into making something like this.
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| Sunset View from Castello di Moncalieri |
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| On our way to the Castello di Moncalieri |
Anyways this place is awesome! I feel weird saying this but as much as I like Torino, I want to leave it and explore the rest of Europe, I think we are going to Dublin for St. Patty's Day and Rome for our Easter Weekend, any other cool ideas like that let me know...
And please let Tim and Ray know that I stumbled upon a Harley Davidson Shop over here.... even in Italy
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| Even in Italy... |
I am sorry that this post is so long, I just didnt know where to start, I know im leaving so much out that I have done but I have to go to my one class for today, I love the school system over here!
Ciao!
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| The sun sets quickly, just one of the cool looking bridges |
