Gelato and pasta and pizzas...oh my!

Back from Italy, and what a great trip!! Even though we were only there for one night, we packed a ton of stuff into a really small time window. Being back in Torino for the first time in almost 6 years was so interesting. It’s changed quite a bit in some ways, but in others it seemed exactly the same. 

I went with 2 other kids from the Maryland group (Kathleen and Paymon) and Daniela, another girl in the program who is a real certified Italian. Having someone there that could actually speak the language certainly came in handy, and I’m really glad we got to know her. She was definitely the nice one in the group. Poor Paymon was the only guy stuck with three girls for a weekend. For those of you who know the dynamics of my immediate family (i.e. my poor henpecked father stuck with my mom, sister, aunt, and me), you can probably imagine how the weekend went. Kathleen and I picked on him relentlessly. He put up a good fight, but by the end of the second day he was carrying my purse and he knew who was boss.  

The weekend pretty much ended up being a food tour and lots of Lord of the Rings quoting “Second breakfast? Elevensies?” But we were in Italy and how else were we gonna justify gelato at 10:30am?

Highlights:

-A real shower with unlimited hot water

-The sweet slippers that the hotel gave us…and Paymon trying to be taken seriously while wearing them.

-The Egyptian museum-second largest in the world! Real mummies…some of them even had hair still!

-Gelato…oh my god. Gelato is now ruined for me. Nothing I get here or at home will ever compare.

-The Shroud of Turin

-Dinner…so good it deserves its own post.

-Bicerin-typical drink from the area consisting of warm milk, espresso, and melted dark chocolate. They bring out a big empty mug and then 3 small little cups with all the ingredients and you mix them yourself. Delish!

-My favorite wine, Barbera, which comes from the area, was so cheap. We ordered a carafe for the table at dinner. When the bill came we realized it was only 5 euros. Had I known, I would have ordered my own carafe.

-The focaccia place that was so delicious that we went there twice in 24 hours

Shroud of Turin