Final set of pictures HERE:
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Woke up, had breakfast, and set out for the boat embark point on the Po river. The 9€ ride also included in my card. It came with an audio thing that told you what you were looking at. Pretty ride down. You get to see the big castle in parco Valentino and the medieval village that is fake and from the 1800s. On the way back I got off there and wandered through the pretty park. The palace is huge and I bet amazing inside but not open to the public.
Wandered back all the way to the train station. On the way I happened upon a big church behind bullocks with three armed guards outside and a hummer. Then I looked up and realized that was the synagogue. Sad. I bet it is beautiful inside. Looks it.
From the station I took tram 4 to the old center and had lunch at a tiny little waffle place making Piedmontese items. Had a waffle with prosciutto and cheese. The waffle was not sweet and was more like a light crispy bread on a sandwich. delicious. Best part is that it's two doors down from piu di un gelato. Had a gianduja and coffee with chocolate chips combo again and I maintain it's the best creamiest gelato I've ever had. Anyway. Set out walking back towards the main areas.
Went into the Risorgimento museum, or the museum of Italian unification that started in Torino. The museum was nicelyaid out in 30 chronological color coded rooms with miltilingual explanations of everything, videos, etc. It'd take days to read it all.
From there, walked the arcaded sidewalks of via Po to find the national cinema museum. It's inside the Mole, torinos landmark building that was supposed to be the synagogue but was never finished. Wacky place. First floor is history of film. Second is little exhibits for various genres. In the middle is a cinema where they were playing clips from silent movies. Going up all around by ramps was a special exhibit chronologically going through all the best actress oscar winners. Really cool exhibit. There are costumes and other memorabilia throughout.
Coming up almost 90m in the center is the panoramic elevator. It's just suspended with cables and goes up to the view tower. After much pondering I decided to go up. Waited about 15-20mij and did it. Closed my eyes on the way up but the 360degree views are worth it. Came back down and exited. I have not mentioned it yet but a big thing through the whole trip has been the huge elections that are tomorrow. There have been people on the streets hanging out papers everywhere. Outside the cinemas swim there was a guy dressed up as a saint doing something related to banks being terrible. The locals found it rather amusing!
Walked all the way back to the b&b and on the pedestrian street via garibaldi it was quite busy with afternoon shoppers, political stuff, etc. fun scene.
Took a quick half hour rest and here I am having my early apericena. About to move on to the next stop!
7:20pm - sitting in a nice little square with an obelisk in it at Lobelix cafe. Like nothing I've ever seen!! You go in and order a drink and tell them you want aperitivo and for 10€ you get unlimited access to a buffet of what must be almost 100 things. I wish I knew what it all was! In fact, I'm not even sure they have a regular food menu. And it's starting to get busy!
9:00pm - back at the B&B after stuffing my face with "apericena" and trekknig 30 min again to Piu di un gelato. I wasn't going to, but every other shop i walked by on the way just did not look as good. So, a gianduja/Bonet (not sure what it was but it's a local dessert and it's some kind of chocolate) to finish off the Torinese culinary experience. Now it's back to the B&B for an early night of packing and uploading photos so I can be sure i have it all done tonight.
Can't believe it's already time to head home :( Have to get up at 4am to get a taxi at 4:30 (hopefully the B&B reserved it!) to the airport for my stupid 6:45am flight- thanks Alitalia and Air France. To top it off, they wouldn't let me check in onlien!
Torino and I are definitely not done - what a fantastic city!! It's so tourist-friendly and has so much to offer in so many ways, yet it's not touristy because Rick Steves doesn't write about it. Let's hope he never does!
Final day of walking: 28,698 steps, 24 flights of stairs, and 11.41 miles. I wonder if there's a way to total up everything I did on the whole trip. that would be staggering even if remotely accurate!
I may be back with some closing thoughts, we'll see how I feel when I get home.
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