Torino is beautiful, massive, and has just about everything one might expect to find when living in a large city. The city center has most of the more beautiful locations in Torino, so we have to travel by bus to see them (anywhere from 20-30-maybe even 40 minutes depending on traffic, time of day, day of week, and final destination). We live closer to school on Via Nizza, which is south of the city center. This has its pros and cons. We must go to school almost every day, so being able to walk there is nice, but we must then use the bus to go up town and back home any time we want to go out. This is not so bad, other than the fact that we were a bit unfamiliar with Torino's buses on Saturday night and tried to find one at 2 in the morning after a full day and night of exploring (and EXPERIENCING) the city. We ended up walking home for 1 and a half hours. Not fun at all. That hopefully will not happen again.
Today we tried to figure out how to use the washing machine. It is running right now for the first time, and I don't really think we'll know whether or not we did it right until it's done. Kinda nervous. We must then hang dry all that we wash, which shouldn't be so bad now ... at least until the freezing cold temperatures we can expect in Torino's winter months. Right now it is fairly warm.
On Saturday, Ash and I did a lot of walking. We saw a great deal of the city in one day. We spent most of our night in Torino's Piazza Vittorio Veneto, which is on Via Po. It is a massive square right next to the river. The two of us, along with our new Swedish friend Alex, experienced apertivo for the first time. Apertivo is a tradition in Torino, and it is basically the best form of happy hour imaginable. Around 6-9 at night (sometimes later), which is supposed to be before the "real" dinner when considering the fact that many Italians eat dinner rather late, the bars or cafes in Torino put out tons of food. Many bars have multiple platters covered in various kinds of breads, meats (salami/prosciutto), cheeses, pastas, tiny pizzas, fruits, vegetables, etc. etc. Depending on the place, the list goes on. Anyways, all of this food is free with the cost of any one drink. I will repeat that. FREE FOOD ... A LOT OF FREE FOOD WHEN YOU BUY ONE DRINK.... We bought mojitos, which were twice the size of those in America, for 7 Euro and went back twice for more free food. Need I remind you, it's Italian food! And not the kind at Olive Garden either. We went out last night again for apertivo (which occurs every night in Torino) to a different place and got completely different food. So, far, I know of no better tradition than this! It is pretty fantastic. (The Plate of food below is Ashley's first round from Saturday Night).
I have much more to say, but I feel like I'm going on forever here. So, I will spit out a few more things as rapidly as possible. They include tax in the prices displayed BEFORE you purchase something rather than after ... if something says 5 Euro, it means you pay 5 Euro! Not 5 Euro + TAX! Bed sheets didn't fit bed and the pillow were a little shady .... going to try to go to IKEA, but it is kinda far. My favorite morning pastry is a triangolo ciaccolato. SO GOOD. Nutella is good on everything. Ashley had this Ravioli dish that might have been the best I'd ever tasted. Ash and I are still learning how to perfect pasta, or a pasta topping rather. More graffiti than I expected. Went into the church with the Holy Shroud. A lot of clubs / bars / "discos" in Italian right on the Po River. Europeans apparently dance differently than Americans. Americans dance nasty ... or so I'm told. This place called Eataly is right down Via Nizza and is a food lover's paradise. Look it up. Champions League starts next week, going to try to buy tickets tomorrow for the Juventus game next Tuesday. Aaaaaaand .... very few people speak English in Torino. Truly authentic Italian city. Hope I didn't bore. Sorry it took me so long to post!
Ciao!
Dallan
PS. Check out the links to all of our photos to the right of our posts. We'll be posting more whenever we can.
It all sounds amazing Dal! I would have to say that I am extremely jealous after reading this...glad you both are getting to experience such an incredible adventure. You didn't bore...I was intrigued!
ReplyDeleteTell Ash I say hi.
What is up my Brotha' from anotha' Motha'?!!! Whew, I got that off my chest! I love the storytelling style of both you and Ashley - you have me laughing, because I can just hear your voices and expressions telling us about your adventures! I love your pictures - you guys (Ashley) frame them nicely. I want to request more pictures of FLOWERS! Flowers hanging off of balconies, flowers in a bucket at the market, etc. - thank you. You don't bore us with your stories. Everybody likes to know what's going on and what the cultural differences are. I like that tax upfront practice. Talk to you later!
ReplyDeleteLove, Mama G