Friday, May 22 – Torino (free day!)

This was our second fully free day! Time to sleep in! I awoke to the sounds of a vacuum in the hall (I used my ‘do not disturb’ sign). Again, I cannot speak for what the rest of the team did. Try Kelli’s blog for info!

I set off to a French bookstore (I had it marked on a map and was looking for a couple of specific books), winding around wherever looked interesting (and to check out a few buildings and museums recommended in a Torino walking tour book, although I didn’t tour any of those museums). I then ate lunch by the River Po, in the middle of closed night-life spots (too early for them!).

Posing by the Po.

Then walked across the Via Po bridge and up the Monte dei Cappuccini, to a building on the hill with views over Torino. It also contains an Alpine climbing museum. It really highlights the connections between the Alps and the Himalayas in terms of mountain and climbing culture. The museum’s special exhibit was a stunning photography exhibit, both of mountains, the Piemonte region, and the citizens of both.

View of the Mole and Torino from the Monte dei Cappuccini.



Tiled Torino rooves and the River Po.


A Torino street near the Monte.



I hiked back down the hill and strolled up the Via Po (a main shopping street) to the Teatro Regio for a tour. The theatre tour highlighted the design and history of the venue as well as snaking through the backstage areas – costumes, rehearsal halls, a small museum of props, costumes, and advertisements for shows. The theatre is especially interesting because it is very modern inside. It burned down years ago and was completely re-designed. The facades facing the Via Po and the Piazza out front of the theatre mask the modernity inside to keep the historic area looking consistent and true to the past, but the inside is plush, red, circular and with all sorts of modern touches. It would have been wonderful to see a show there!

The gate to the Teatro Regio (with some school kids clinging to it).

I next went to the chapel and church containing the Shroud of Turin. An actual-size high-quality photocopy is displayed and explained in detail. The shroud is present, but inside a specially made container. It is very, very rarely actually put on display anymore. Across the way from the church are Roman ruins, including a theatre, that I wound my way through on the way back towards the hotel.

Jim in front of the copy of the Shroud of Turin (taken during his visit there sometime earlier in the week).

The Roman theatre near the Shroud of Turin.

View from the grounds of the Roman theatre of palaces and churches.

I got distracted by a market spread out along the length of a street and ended up far enough away from the hotel that I took a taxi back. I ate alone at Da Giovanni’s that night then borrowed Jim’s computer back at the hotel to attempt to sort photos so I could update the blog (and you saw, or I guess didn’t see since nothing came from it, the failed – at the time – results!)