Ok, Ok, so every weekend I say that it was “the best weekend of my life”… but the truth is, I’m having such a great time, it’s the truth. Every weekend I say, “It cant get any better than this” and it does, every time! This was my last travel weekend on my own without the whole castle group. I went to Milan and Turin in Italy. I took the train alone, 15 hours to Milan on Friday. I walked around the center of town, went shopping, visited some churches, went to the Palace…. ATE GELATO!!!! (I took a picture of me eating it too, to show Katie, Steph and Courtney!!!) It was so nice out, I walked around without a coat.
Milan, Italy
Gelato in the city!
At 7pm, I went to Turin and met Giovanni (we all remember him from Senior year of high school, right?!?!) He was waiting for me on the platform. We drove to his house, and I got to meet his family. His brother is 17 years old, Alberto. I met his parents too, they are both soooo nice. His mother is the only one in the family who does not speak any English, and the boys thought it was so funny to make fun of her by saying, “Pass the bread, jerk” and she doesn’t know what they are saying, it was so sad! At 8:30pm, we had dinner, his mother cooked awesome pasta with bacon and ham in it. It was great… then she came out with veal Parmesan (real stuff, not the Americanized frozen patties junk!) and peas, and salad, and meat, and bread. I was like “How do you all stay so thin here when you eat like this!” It was so good. Then we had apple pie for desert. Definitely real Italian cooking.
After dinner, we went over his friends house, where I met 7 or 8 of his friends. They were all so funny, most of them didn’t speak much English, but Giovy would talk in English and make them reply in English so that I would understand. They really are “more American than the Americans” because they wear clothes with American logos on it, listen to American music, and follow American pop culture. We all had so much fun. I met Martina, Giovanni’s closest girl friend. We ended up hanging out with her the most over the weekend.
On Saturday, Giovanni and Martina gave me a tour of Turin, I saw the Royal Palace and the famous tower of Turino.
Torino Main Square
National Cinema Museum
The highest Building in Torino!
The view from the Tower!
Inside of the tower was a film and video museum, it was awesome—I love this stuff! We met up with Alberto and got lunch in the city. We shopped for a bit and headed up the mountains. It seems everyone in Turino has a house in the Alps. We spent the night up there. It was an awesome two-story cabin place in the mountains. We met up with some of his friends from Milano and went to a Karaoke bar.
Skiing in the Italian Alps (This is the mountain that the 2006 Olympics will be skied on!)
On Sunday, we went skiing in the Alps in Sestriere. I used Giovy’s mothers ski equipment, so I didn’t have to rent anything. I had such a great time, but I spent the majority of the time sliding down the mountain on my butt. I have HUGE black and blue bruises to prove it! It was wayyy to steep and wayyy too icy, and I suck at life, and I can’t ski. But hey, how many people can say the skied the Alps!!!
Then, we packed up, and I traveled back to the castle —it took me 18 hours…. Way too long to be on trains and busses. I’m so tired! Then I get back, only to find out I have two papers due tomorrow, and tons of reading! Cool! Next weekend is Munich!
Ciao!
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