Torino, day 5

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Today we had planned a day of exploration and lightweight tourism in Torino, or Turin as it is known in the states.  Even though this is the third trip for Jenae and I, we've always managed to avoid the bus system, but since Torino is a large city, we needed a way to get around quickly and affordable.  Again, google maps makes that easy, by telling you the upcoming bus routes, schedules, and stops.  First stop was the National Cinema Museum of Torino, but the intent was to ascend the spire for the view, rather than the actual museum collection.  Below, after our selfie, are several photos taken from the viewing platform at the top of the spire.

Here you can see the shadow of the spire, and we were inside that when taking these photos.

To the north of Torino, you can see the Alps, some of which are snow-capped.

On the left side of this photo, you can see a building atop the mountain.  That is the Basilica of Superga, which we will be visiting tomorrow.

Another photo taken from the spire atop the Cinema Museum, but this time I've zoomed into the Basilica.

Here, inside the Cinema Museum, we stopped to have some espresso,but Mindy opted to have a bicerin, which is a traditional hot drink from Torino, made of espresso, drinking chocolate, and whole milk, served layered in the glass.  Look at the espresso machine, and you can see the four of us!

While walking about, we saw this old and tiny car, in near perfect condition. 

A street car in Turin.

Later in the day, Monday and Nate visited museums, but Jenae and I wandered, and soon headed back to the hotel, where Jenae had a massage appointment.  A few things we saw before returning to the hotel:

Afternoon gelato!

That evening we had planned to visit a nice restaurant, but it was fully booked.  A nearby place had pizza and salads, which sounded good, but the only available seating was outside.  The temperature was in the low 60’s, but the waiter explained that the locals considered that too cold for outside dining.  It was about 8:15, a typical time for dining in Italy, we were tired and hungry, so we had no problem sitting outside.  During the course of our dinner, I saw three different couples exit the restaurant along with their dogs.  We ate outside, but the dogs were inside with their people.  We've seen dogs in restaurants, bakeries, wine shops, churches, and on the train.

Tomorrow, more tourism in Torino.

Day 4: from Venice to Torino

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Today we met for breakfast at 8 instead of 9, so we could be checked out by 11.  All of the hotels where we stay include breakfast on premises, so it saves quite a bit of time and money.  The breakfast usually includes things like fruit, yogurt, pastries, sliced ham and cheese, juice, espresso, and espresso drinks.

Here you can see that the tide has risen, coming into the hotel's boat doors.

I had purchased tickets a couple months ago for the 1:30 train, so we had some time to burn after we checked out of the hotel.  We left our luggage at the front desk, and wandered.

Many people in Venice have dogs, although there aren't many grassy areas like we're accustomed to with our dogs in the states.

Here's a pretty piazza.

This cat was watching a nearby pigeon.  I suspect it's a daily ritual for the cat,

On the outside of a church bell tower.

Some bakery photos!

And a cheese shop.

At the meat market, spiedinis sell for about $9.11 per pound.

And we saw some elaborate door knockers.

Our train is the white one.  Our first rainy day, but we're on the train for 5 hours, and the rain had already cleared Torino by the time we arrived.

A view of the passing countryside, through the train window.

The highlights of this day: seated across from us on the train was a woman with a dog that looked very much like our dog at home.  She spoke no English, but when I showed her some photos of Carrie on my iPad, she knew what we meant.

The other highlight: a washing machine at our apartment in Torino.  No dryer, but I have a travel clothes line, and we started washing clothes shortly after checking in.

A tiring day of travel, so we just ate dinner at a neighborhood pizza/pasta place.  It was unremarkable.

Venice day 3

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Another nice day in Venice, so we headed to St. Mark's Square to see the Basilica.  On the way, we walked through the outdoor markets, and that's always a good photo opportunity.  When you look at the prices below, they're in euros, so if the price of something in the photo is 16 euros, that would be about 18 dollars.

The photo below is from Mascari market, an old family specialty market in Venice, offering all kinds of spices, Italian wines, olive oils and other specialty foods.

This is a couple of obituary postings on a wall outside in Venice.  I thought it was interesting way to share the news of someone's passing.

Here, the yellow sign points the way to Rialto bridge, but I was looking at the dragon lantern hanger when I took the photo.

Several statues adorn these churches in Venice:

Now this is a coffee machine!in the photo, it is brewing 4 cups of espresso.  It is much cheaper to stand at the counter to drink your espresso, rather than sit at a table.  1 euro for espresso at the counter (about $1.13), 4 euros to sit at a table for the same thing, and here in the U.S., about $2.80 for espresso at Starbucks.

At St. Mark's square, as we were looking out over the water, I saw this very sleek yacht.  Than I zoomed in and noticed the hatch in the back, where a smaller boat is loading or unloading something.  Swanky!

The highlight of today was lunch.  We were looking for a place that wasn't touristy, so we started to wander on some back streets.  In one restaurant, we saw a table of 5 gondoliers eating lunch, so we went there.  Absolutely fabulous!  Pasta with scallops, pasta with sea bass, grilled vegetables and more.  I'm sorry, but we were so hungry that I forgot to take pictures.  

Tomorrow we depart Venice and take the 5 hour train to Torino for a 3 day stay.

Venice day 2

Monday, September 21

The weather is just about perfect, mostly sunny with temperatures in the low to mid-70’s.  Sister Mindy and sweetheart Jenae, ready for a day of wandering:

We started the day off by heading towards the Frari Church, known for art and sculpture within.

As we were leaving Frari Church, other tourists where shooed from the church as a wedding was about to begin.  Weddings are usually held on Monday in Italy.  

Wherever you walk in Venice, you'll be crossing bridges, and here's Nate perched upon a small private one that demonstrates some nice craftsmanship:

In Venice, there are no cars or trucks, or even bicycles.  Everything comes and goes via boat or cart.  As we walked around, we would encounter various delivery carts, bringIng merchandise and supplies to stores and restaurants.  Here's one of the garbage carts, designed for negotiating steps and bridges:

A few street scenes along the way:

Later we went to the Accademia Museum, and saved some time and steps by taking a vaporetto, which is a water bus.  Even though it was our second time in Venice, it was our first time on the vaporetto, because Venice is compact enough to walk almost anywhere.  Here's a couple of them in the canal:

At one point as we walked among the shops, we passed a pigment store:

And an interesting sculpture alongside the canal:

Many gelato shops are scattered about.  Here's a group of customers deciding which flavors to get:

In the evening we returned to a jazz and blues bar for the second evening for a couple of drinks before dinner.  We met some nice folks from Scotland and New Zealand, while other patrons, both locals and tourists, cheered on soccer and rugby that was on the television.

For dinner, a seafood restaurant, of course, because it is very common and popular in Venice.  Also a big platter of risotto and more grilled vegetables.  Sorry, no pictures of that meal - the photos that I took didn't do the food justice.

Thank you for following along - I'll start working on Tuesday's entries right away!