Torino

On Saturday, August 10 we went to Torino with the Molinaris  This is the other couple in the office with us.  They have been here about 6 weeks longer than us.  She is the Presidents Secretary and He works with the apartments.

We found a parking spot and then as we were walking to the Torino Duomo we saw how they move furniture into an apartment.  This is a portable lift that runs up and down on these rails. They were lifting couches and other large pieces of furniture.

Does your local Elders Quorum need this equipment?

 

Our 1st stop was the Duomo in Turino  It looks rather plain compared to some of the cathedrals here.

However, this is the home of the famed "Shroud of Turin".  This is a horrible picture of a shrine to the shroud. I understand the real shroud is hidden away down in some vault in the basement.

 We then walked around the corner and though a big courtyard and came to this piazza.  Peggy then got really excited, because just across the street from here is where she spent many many days. as a missionary.

 



Here she is, standing on the exact spot where they would street board most days while she was in Torino on her 1st mission.

We next wandered trough the streets on our way to the Egyptian Museum. It was great!

We found mummies!

And even a mummy warehouse

 I was surprised that much of the story from the Egypt movies I have seen  (10 Commandments & The Mummy) were all based on facts.

The last exhibit was amazing. Two very large rooms were filled with enormous statues.   This one is at least 20 feet tall.  There had to be at least 20 of these large statues in each room.  How did this guy pack all of this stuff in his suit case when he came back to Italy?

After Egypt we wandered around trying to find a place for lunch.  Here is a palace!

And a pink car parked right in the middle of the palace.

 

We then saw some mimes.  I first thought this was a statue until they waved at me.

 

 AND THEN WE SAW AN INVISABLE MAN!!!  Yes this guy was sitting there reading a book.  he would turn pages and even wave at us occasionally

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Here is a galleria - indoor shopping area next to the palace.

We finally found a focciareria and each got a piece.  I had one with eggplant, tomatoes and artichokes and it was fabulous.  We sat down at some tables on the walkway and began to eat.  A waiter came by and said that we could only eat there if we were going to buy something from their café and gelateria.  Gelato?  Of course we had to have some gelato for dessert.  I got us two medium coconut ones.  They were very large and absolutely the best frozen dessert I have ever had.  It was fabulous!

We then decided to walk about 6 blocks to the Mole Antonellina - the tallest structure in Torino.  Peggy found a new fan on the way at a street market. We had to wait in line about 30 minutes to ride the elevator up to the observation deck.

Here is a picture looking strait up through the glass elevator at the ceiling that had to be 500 feet up.  There was no elevator shaft.  Just the cables pulling us up through mid air up to the top.  WOW!

I got to the top and had the willies.  The view was wonderful in all directions.

 

Torino looking east.  Take note of the cathedral at the top of this hill.

 

Torino looking west toward the Alps

Torino looking south west.

Torino looking South east.  You can see the Po river that runs through town.

We then had a long slow walk through a park and back towards the car.  We were pooped from the walking .  We saw the Roman wall that dated before Christ.

Here are the cobbles stones under the roman wall arch.  you can see the grooves worn in them from the carts that rolled through here thousands of years ago.  Some of the cobbles had been replaced.

We then found a street market selling vegetables, fruit, meat, bread, and just about everything else.  Prices were much cheaper than in the super mercato.  Peggy had brought one of her bags along and we bought some cheese, fresh pasta, bread, flat peaches, asparagus, water.  It was a wonderful shopping experience.

 

We then met back at the car and punched in the Superga into the TomTom.  This was the tiny cathedral you saw from the tower.  We were navigated through town and up the hill side to this wonderful cathedral on the top of the mountain.

 

Superga

 

 

A view of the inside of the dome

Next to where we parked was this strange wooden sculpture.  I would expect to see something like this in cowboy country.  I think it is meant to be a playground structure.  Check out this cow - it even has an udder!

 

 The view from the top towards Torino was fabulous.  The picture does not do the view justice because there was the smallest amount of haze in the air which the photo seems to magnify.  You can even see the Mole Antonellina.

 

 

This was a wonderful day.  It was about 1.5 hour drive from our apartment.  We left home at 7:30 and did not get back until about 7pm.  We look forward to many more Saturdays like this.

 

I was so happy to once again be in Torino.  It is a beautiful and welcoming city.  To see the places I served in is marvelous.  So too are the Italian people.  Everywhere we go, if we speak or try to speak Italian they are so friendly.  When we were buying the fresh pasta, the storekeeper was packaging our pasta and there was about two cups left in the bin and he smiled at us and poured it all in our bag for "gratis" (free).  It is the same wherever we go.  The couple we replaced never had a kind word to say about Italians and service here but they never tried to learn Italian and were very abrupt and demanding and they got the service they earned - nothing.  We have had lovely experiences with the Italians and they have all been helpful and charming.   Just today in church, a  couple from the filipines asked us to home teach them (he works for the Filipino consulate) and a lovely sister who is married to an Italian but she is Scottish invited us over for dinner.  Everyone at church kisses and hugs a lot.  Italians are very demonstrative and caring.  We are gearing up for a new batch of 28 young missionaries in two weeks.  We are having the dinner here in our apartment on our lovely patio.  It will be fun.  I am cooking a lot - we have lots of training sessions, zone conferences, mission council meetings, etc. I am experimenting with my Italian oven.  Everything is in centigrade and not Fahrenheit degrees.  My oven has few settings and I have to guess on temperature.  But the office elders have no problem eating my less than successful cookies.  I will get it right soon.  We have found nearly everything in local supermarkets, even oatmeal, peanut butter, soy sauce, but no tortillas.  I may have to make my own.  We are experimenting with new recipes all the time, using what we find in the mercato.  It is way fun.  Italy is a dream come true.  We are doing valuable work for our heavenly father and love these young missionaries.  They are remarkable and hardworking kids.  I wish you all could be here to see this wonderful country and meet its great people and their culture.  Ciao!