2geonomads

Thursday 5th June 2014.

We arrange for breakfast at a slightly earlier time than previously so that we can make full use of the day during our visit to Turin, the largest city in Piemonte. I had been to the city about 45 years ago when working in export for Ladybird Childrenswear but have few memories of that trip. However, it appears that Turin was given a huge lift at the time of the 2006 Winter Olympics and its mainly industrial image has been superseded by a greater focus on its history and culture.

Our first port of call is MAUTO, the National Automobile Museum, providing a truly staggering array of vehicles through the ages and tracing the development from early cars to the current mass-produced vehicles. One very poignant moment during our 2 hour tour is when we see a photograph of a triumphant Michael Schumacher holding aloft a Grand Prix trophy, particularly having heard the very negative news that morning on his very slim chances of recovery.

Back in the centre of Turin we follow the suggestion of the guidebooks and focus on the Via Roma area between Piazza Castello and Piazza Carlo Felice.

We had not really visited any large Italian cities during our trip I was wondering how we would cope with the expected crowds. As it turns out Turin is an absolute delight, with so many superb large squares, museums and elegant streets. Many of the arcades are reminiscent of those in Bologna but seemingly the 2006 facelift has put this city on a different level to its Emilia-Romagna counterpart.

Whilst we don’t get to try the chocolates for which Turin is famous we do get the next best thing with some scrumptious ice cream.

The only negative note is that Gail fails to find a fashionable quilted jacket which she had had on her wish list for some time.

We finish our day in this very appealing city with a walk down to the River Po and again we are pleasantly surprised to find that the river itself and the embankments are free of the pollution so evident in other large cities.

Our train journey back to Asti is a bit more adventurous than anticipated when the ticket collector on the train advises us that we should be fined as we are travelling on a fast inter-city train instead of a regional fast train and we had failed to validate the tickets at the station. I probably made matters worse by pretending at first to speak only English and then explaining to him in fairly fluent Italian that the ticket collector had not pulled us up on the way to Turin that morning. That made me look even more devious and Gail told me later that I should have played dumb a bit longer, something that comes quite easily to me! In the event we only incurred one fine and he couldn’t really throw us off as the first stop was Asti.

Back at our home away from home Maurizio serves us with some wine and chips on the terrace and during our chat Gail comes up with a classic comment. We had been discussing how hungry we were ahead of the usual great dinner and she told me that whilst she had been ” ravishing” the previous evening she wasn’t too hungry today.

Dinner as always is spectacular although all this food is doing nothing for our waist lines.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret.