3 ~ Hello From Turin [Torino], Italy

Hello Everyone,

Taking a walking tour of a new city is always a great idea, to get a quick idea of what there is to see and get our bearings before heading out by ourselves. We can usually find a free or inexpensive tour through a local hostel or tourist agency. It’s usually a small group of friendly tourists, like ourselves, that meet at the main square and follow a guide. Well, in Turin, when we got to the square, there were approximately 125 people waiting. They had three tour guides and separated the people by language. Fortunately for us, there were only 9 people speaking English that day. A young native of Turin, named Oliver, walked us around for 3 hours, over 4 miles. He impressed us with his knowledge of Turin history.

Turin is a large industrial city, of about a million people, an hours drive from the French border. There are lots of interesting old tram lines running all over the old city, some with old antique tram cars. Fiat has there headquarters here, but has moved a lot of its production to less expensive locations, as our auto companies did. Here’s tidbit for you. Did you know that the “t” in Fiat stands for Torino? No, its not TONY for “Fix It Again, Tony”! Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, FIAT. It all started here. It was little known as a tourist destination until they held the 2006 Winter Olympics here. That event set Turin on a new path as an exciting energetic place to visit.

However, the real special thing Turin is known for is CHOCOLATE. I never knew this, but they claim to be the place where, as far back as the mid-1500’s, chocolate was introduced to Turin and then later blended with other fats, milk, nuts, spices and sugar, to produce artisan chocolate in candy bar form. They are world famous for their chocolate candy made with Hazelnut and, of course, Nutella was born here. Before this, chocolate was mostly served as a drink, that was made from a powder, steamed into a thick hot liquid. Some chocolate shops in Seattle serve this called “sipping” chocolate. It’s “delizioso.” Also, we finally got to taste the famous Bicerin. It is assembled in three layers. At the bottom is thick hot pure chocolate. On top of that is espresso and then it is topped off with a layer of foamed sweet cream. It is intended to be drunk without mixing the three layers. You tip your glass and pour a bit of each layer at the same time into your mouth, tasting them individually. It’s is delicious and very unusual. I have never encountered a drink like this elsewhere.

We usually try to avoid local holidays when we pick our travel dates, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. There were crowds of people here in Turin when we arrived and a couple of days later, after our walking tour we found out why. Turin is hosting the annual Euro-Vision Competition next week and there were lots of volunteer workers descending upon the city to support it. If you don’t know what Euro-Vision is, you are not alone. We bumped into it several years back when we stay with a young couple in Greece, the night of the final Euro-Vision competition. We watched it with them on TV, into the wee hours of the morning, and it was a riot. Countries all over Europe send their best talent to perform for judges from all the participating countries, who then decide who is the best. The performances are sometimes hilarious and sometimes seriously professional. Some of the judges always cheat and vote for their own or favorite county regardless of how good they do, and it often gets political, as well. I think this might be the first year it is being held live since the pandemic and it’s going to be a BIG deal. They told us that Russia has been banned this year and Ukraine will probably win no matter how well they perform. With all these people in town, I’m surprised we were able to book a room.

Our first night here, Carol had arranged for us to have dinner, with an Italian family, through the EatWith organization. We have done this in many countries and it has always been a great experience. This one had an awkward start when, Carol learned that a tour guide she had made contact with (before we arrived here) had tested positive for COVID. We got a little spooked about that and asked the EatWith host if we all could take a COVID test before commencing the meal. The host agreed, we all tested negative and had a very nice time. Carlotta made some interesting recipes of her own design that we had never tasted before. Interestingly, she has a fascination with the cooking of American Thanksgiving celebrations. After spending some time in the United States for Thanksgiving several years ago, she now hosts an annual Thanksgiving Dinner at her home for family and friends. She knew all the recipes for turkey and dressing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie etc. We had never encountered anyone in a foreign country that loved American cooking before. But, I guess it makes sense. Thanksgiving food is a special kind of cooking.

Turin was the capital of Italy for 4 years in the early years of the republic, after they voted to have a Democracy and not have a king any more. The last king, Vitoria Emmanuelle lived here. For political reasons the capital of course, was moved to Florence and then Rome. The Catholic Cathedral here houses the famous Shroud of Turin. I remember studying about that in school when I was a child. It was said to be the shroud that Christ was wrapped in when he was taken down from the cross. It bears an image of Jesus on it. It is kept in the Cathedral, but is not visible to the general public, except on special occasions. There are some photos of it and a video that explains about it. I seem to recall that it was carbon dated some years ago and determined to not be old enough to have existed during the days of Christ. But, it is very, very old and does has a place in Catholic Church history.

Some of you might remember that I’ve written in the past about strange plumbing contraptions I have seen in our travels. Well, I’m happy to say that Italy [at least the Northwest] has gotten its plumbing in order. No more showers leaking out into the room, hot water running out, sewer gas coming up from the drain etc. Everything worked perfectly! But, there is something to say this time, about security. Usually we stay at Guest houses in the historical center of the places we visit. That means that very old buildings have been refitted to house guests. Well, I could hardly believe some of the locks that are on these old heavy doors. The first one we encountered was in Lucca. The wooden door was so heavy we could hardly move it. Then, it was locked with a giant 5 bolt mechanism with two additional pushrods [one each to secure the top and bottom of the door]. All this was turned by a small key, two full turns. Carol couldn’t begin to turn the key and I could barely move it myself. I thought this was pretty wild until we got to Turin. For our entry here, they had the the same 5 bolt and 2 pushrod system on their heavy door PLUS an additional second 5 bolt lock. It took 5 keys to get into the building and to our room. No guests have to worry about anyone breaking into this place to steal their stuff. I put a picture of the locks in the photo gallery if you want to see it.

That’s about it for this trip to NW Italy. The data from my Apple Watch says that I walked 107.1 miles, with 244,426 steps in the last 14 days. That’s a lot of walking for us. We passed our USA re-entry COVID test yesterday, so se won’t have to stay and become Italian citizens. We managed to stay COVID free, so far. Almost everyone wears a mask here when they go inside anywhere. Air France is still requiring everyone on their airline to wear masks which we were glad for on the trip home. Now, if we can avoid any “super-spreader” events at the airport in Seattle, we should make it home safe and sound.

Just a few more unusual observations:

Literally every restaurant in Italy uses the same napkins on their tables, and they are terrible. They feel like smooth tissue paper and do not absorb anything. If you try to wipe something off of your hands they only just spread it around. WHAT IS THE POINT OF THESE NAPKINS? Someone must have an answer.
Something new I observed here is that dinner bread is now served in a paper bag at most restaurants. This could be some kind of COVID sanitary requirement, but it helps keep warm bread warm and I kind a’ like it.
Italy has the second oldest population in the world. Only Japan is older. Their population is literally shrinking due to a very low birth rate. However, there is some hope that the pandemic may have spawned a new “baby boom” and the birth rate may increase yet again. The statistics are not in yet, but there is hope in some places.
Virtually everywhere in Italy accepts Apple Pay and other forms of contactless payment. Almost everything we purchased was done on my Apple Watch with just a flick of the wrist. They love this here because it is exceptionally fast and is contactless [doesn’t spread germs]. You can even use it to pay your 1 Euro to get into the public toilets. I like it!

Sorry about the faulty links to the photos on the web site that I sent out with previous emails. External links to WordPress blog page entries can be tricky. I still need to learn the tricks. If you are still having trouble, the best way to see them is go to the web site home page at http://www.travelogue.puciello.com/ or http://www.ontheroadagain.puciello.com/ and click on the big red button “Recent Posting” in the middle of the page. That will take you to the a list of the recent postings to choose from.

Carol is working on a final blog entry for this trip, to be released a little later.

Check her usual link at http://travel.carolpucci.com for the latest there.

Later………………….your favorite travelers, Tom and Carol