In the following blog I am going to attempt to do justice to our weekend trip to Torino. It is going to be very challenging to recreate how truly amazing it was, but alas I shall try.
We woke up early Saturday morning to catch our 8:08 AM train from Genova Principe to Torino Porta Nuova. Everything was on time- which was surprising, so we had a fairly relaxing trip there, and we all decided that we love travelling by train. Once we got there, we hiked twenty minutes across the river to our hostel, Ostello Torino where we set our bags down in our three rooms, one for all the 6 girls, and the other two for the 7 guys. Then we headed back out into the city for a full day of exploration. I am attaching a map that shows exactly what we did in Torino, but I shall continue to explain it.
The first thing that I really enjoyed about this day was that I was travelling around with a bunch of architecture geeks with the same interests as me. We had a blast just randomly walking up to interesting buildings and studying them. First we walked down by the water and took in some of the beauty of the city, even though it wasn't the most beautiful day. We ran into an old medieval mansion where we of course had to use our studies of Art and Architecture History to attempt to imitate Greco-Roman statues,,, we used contrapposto in a sentence! Then we headed to some pretty fountains and found the underground parking lot that Jonathan and Graham were studying. We started by taking pictures of it through the window with a very large hungry looking black dog attempting to attack us through the window... then some guy drove up in a car so Derrick walked right up to him and said Ciao, studio Architettura! (Hello, I study architecture!) We have found that this phrase is the golden ticket which allows us into any restricted building we wish to enter, so he opened the doors and let Jon and Graham run inside and take pictures.Our next destination was lunch, so a few of us split off, but dieci of us went to a delicious pizzaria. I got a ham calzone with an egg in it, kind of reminding me of some German dishes, but it was fantabulous. Also the hot chocolate was so thick that it didn't even drip off the spoon when you held it up!
After warming up our stomach's and ourselves (and having some rather interestin
g experiences with the hole in the floor toilets...) we continued our walk towards the location of the 2006 Olympics in Torino. On the way Katy spotted this really neat modern concrete and glass building that we headed towards-- it was the new University of Torino Molecular Biotechnology Center. After Brandon walked in like he knew what he was doing, the guard came up to us, so we used the magic "Studio Architettura" to which the guard instantly let us into the building to explore.
g experiences with the hole in the floor toilets...) we continued our walk towards the location of the 2006 Olympics in Torino. On the way Katy spotted this really neat modern concrete and glass building that we headed towards-- it was the new University of Torino Molecular Biotechnology Center. After Brandon walked in like he knew what he was doing, the guard came up to us, so we used the magic "Studio Architettura" to which the guard instantly let us into the building to explore. After some picture snapping, we continued on our trek towards the Olympics, and it started to schnee outside, which would have depressed most people but I we thoroughly enjoyed it. We came to the green park space that housed the olympics, which is now rather depressing because it has turned into a very large parking lot, but due to the condition of the roads (iced over) we decided to host our own version of the Olympics in Torino 2009. These Olympics consisted of a rather new sport, ice dancing, which is highly contemporary and very amusing to watch. We also participated in the precision sport of Snowball Throwing. After much fun, we continued on our way, and made a quick stop at the playground, where we decided that we indeed were not too old or big to play on it,,, regardless of the verity of that last statement. Needless to say I was laughing so hard during these ridiculities that I was crying. Continuing our adventure, we wound 
up at the Stadium of the Olympics. We saw the Olympic torch where the flame was lit a few years ago, and then we walked towards the indoor stadium which appeared to be hosting some sort of extravaganza. So Heather, Lura and I followed the lead of the all-knowing Brandon, and headed indoors, pretending to know what we were doing. Turns out it was a bridal show, and when we tried to get in the lady started talking to us and said that it was a "meeting of the marriage" so unless we were getting married we couldn't get in. So then we cleverly said "studio architettura" and were instantly let in to wander around. The dresses were interesting-- but we found a few that we thought were absolutely gorgeous. However, we soon headed up the elevator away from the crowds and wandered into the indoor stadium part and took pictures.
up at the Stadium of the Olympics. We saw the Olympic torch where the flame was lit a few years ago, and then we walked towards the indoor stadium which appeared to be hosting some sort of extravaganza. So Heather, Lura and I followed the lead of the all-knowing Brandon, and headed indoors, pretending to know what we were doing. Turns out it was a bridal show, and when we tried to get in the lady started talking to us and said that it was a "meeting of the marriage" so unless we were getting married we couldn't get in. So then we cleverly said "studio architettura" and were instantly let in to wander around. The dresses were interesting-- but we found a few that we thought were absolutely gorgeous. However, we soon headed up the elevator away from the crowds and wandered into the indoor stadium part and took pictures. After this Olympic excursion, we headed down to a Cafe down the street called Cafe Roma III, where we warmed up with some hot drinks, and then we continued on our way home. We stopped at a ski shop for some last minute purchases and a grocery store for breakfast food the next morning, and then we continued on our way back to the hostel and stopped for dinner at a Chinese restaurant on the way.
When we finally got back to the hostel we all set up our beds (we had 4 bunk beds) and got ready for bed and then had time for a little girl talk before we all fell asleep! The next morning came all too quickly as we headed down to the train station around 6:30 AM only to find that our train was 25 minutes late. However, it did show up, and we headed to Bardoneccia... On the drive there, the snow kept on getting deeper and deeper, and soon enough there was 5 or 6 feet of snow in drifts covering houses, cars, and anything in its path. What I don't understand is how the people that live there can leave some of that gorgeous snow untouched! I guess you get jaded after a while, but all I could think of was jumping head first into it... We arrived in Bardoneccia and got our ski lift tickets and then headed up the mountain to rent our skis and drop off our bags for the day. We probably hit the slopes around 11, and split up into multiple groups for th
at. There were about 40 slopes, not all of them were open, but it was huge. I was skiing with Lura, Drew, and Derrick for the most part, and we started out on the blue (supposedly easy) slopes, which definitly challenged the black diamonds that I have been on in NC. It was such a different experience though! For one, they had just recieved about 16 inches of fresh powder which covered the whole mountain,,, so the slopes weren't icy and didn't end into dirt. There were millions of little kids skiing all over the place which made us feel bad because they would shoot past us in a row, but it was interesting because at points they would jump off the slopes and start skiing in the woods in the fresh uncompacted snow! Eventually we took some harder level courses, a black at one point and a few reds, which were the most challenging things I have ever had to do, but it was a blast! Drew was my comic relief during all this--- at one point he fell at the beginning 
of a hill and every time he tried to get up he would slip and slide even further down the hill-- he did this about 3 times before he finally got up and going again, and I at this point was laughing hysterically. Everyone who went skiing at least tried the blues even if they were first time skiers, which was impressive because the blues were very difficult. We made a full day of it and skied until closing at 5, and then we turned in our skiis and headed back down the mountain for a quick dinner before we headed back to Genova. However, our train was once again 25 minutes late, so we missed our switch at Torino. Instead we hopped on a train heading for Naples which stopped in Genova, and it was cabin style so we split up and found cabins of 6 people to sit in. 5 of us wound up sitting with this older man, who eventually started talking to us in English. So we introduced ourselves and told him that we were Clemson students studying architecture in Genova, and he asked if we lived in Via Piaggio! Apparently at the founding of this CAF school he was friends with Cesare Fera and became the original Luca, Friend of the Villa. He lived a couple of houses down in the pink building number 18 on Via Marco Polo (right beside the stairs of death) but now he lives on the other side of Genova by Brignole. He was extraordinarly nice, and made me a map of Genova with all the places that we should go--- the best pizza place in his mind, the best place for that Genovese chickpea bread, the best ice cream place, and the old fisherman's village with a pebble beach that we should visit. His name was Roberto Chiarici, and he made our train ride highly entertaining. With about 30 minutes to go, this couple came in who had reserved two of our seats in the cabin, so Lindsay and Jonathan had to move, but they were absolutely hilarious. They were travelling somewhere far for a long period of time, and the girl had packed 14 million bags,,, so the guy kept on piling them in and asking her if she was done, and she would pull out another one bigger than the previous one. At one point he locked her out because she had so much stuff, and we had no idea what they were saying, but it was abolutely hilarious. When he thought he was done then she walks in and pulls a dog out of nowhere which she then sets on her lap for the remainder of the voyage,,, to which the guy talked... They were funny. Well, we finally arrived at Principe, and said goodbye to our friend who had luckily informed us that we should take bus 606 back because it ran past midnight. When we finally arrived back we all basically crashed for the night, and that was the end of our wonderful Torino excursion.
at. There were about 40 slopes, not all of them were open, but it was huge. I was skiing with Lura, Drew, and Derrick for the most part, and we started out on the blue (supposedly easy) slopes, which definitly challenged the black diamonds that I have been on in NC. It was such a different experience though! For one, they had just recieved about 16 inches of fresh powder which covered the whole mountain,,, so the slopes weren't icy and didn't end into dirt. There were millions of little kids skiing all over the place which made us feel bad because they would shoot past us in a row, but it was interesting because at points they would jump off the slopes and start skiing in the woods in the fresh uncompacted snow! Eventually we took some harder level courses, a black at one point and a few reds, which were the most challenging things I have ever had to do, but it was a blast! Drew was my comic relief during all this--- at one point he fell at the beginning 
of a hill and every time he tried to get up he would slip and slide even further down the hill-- he did this about 3 times before he finally got up and going again, and I at this point was laughing hysterically. Everyone who went skiing at least tried the blues even if they were first time skiers, which was impressive because the blues were very difficult. We made a full day of it and skied until closing at 5, and then we turned in our skiis and headed back down the mountain for a quick dinner before we headed back to Genova. However, our train was once again 25 minutes late, so we missed our switch at Torino. Instead we hopped on a train heading for Naples which stopped in Genova, and it was cabin style so we split up and found cabins of 6 people to sit in. 5 of us wound up sitting with this older man, who eventually started talking to us in English. So we introduced ourselves and told him that we were Clemson students studying architecture in Genova, and he asked if we lived in Via Piaggio! Apparently at the founding of this CAF school he was friends with Cesare Fera and became the original Luca, Friend of the Villa. He lived a couple of houses down in the pink building number 18 on Via Marco Polo (right beside the stairs of death) but now he lives on the other side of Genova by Brignole. He was extraordinarly nice, and made me a map of Genova with all the places that we should go--- the best pizza place in his mind, the best place for that Genovese chickpea bread, the best ice cream place, and the old fisherman's village with a pebble beach that we should visit. His name was Roberto Chiarici, and he made our train ride highly entertaining. With about 30 minutes to go, this couple came in who had reserved two of our seats in the cabin, so Lindsay and Jonathan had to move, but they were absolutely hilarious. They were travelling somewhere far for a long period of time, and the girl had packed 14 million bags,,, so the guy kept on piling them in and asking her if she was done, and she would pull out another one bigger than the previous one. At one point he locked her out because she had so much stuff, and we had no idea what they were saying, but it was abolutely hilarious. When he thought he was done then she walks in and pulls a dog out of nowhere which she then sets on her lap for the remainder of the voyage,,, to which the guy talked... They were funny. Well, we finally arrived at Principe, and said goodbye to our friend who had luckily informed us that we should take bus 606 back because it ran past midnight. When we finally arrived back we all basically crashed for the night, and that was the end of our wonderful Torino excursion. Studiamo l'architettura, e siamo fantastico!
~Heather
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