Epic Journey

Its been hard to say goodbye to people since I'm now on my last leg of my trip. My Dad came in to Milan on Saturday morning and we went to Menaggio on Lake Como. We met up with my dad's friends and stayed at a beautiful hotel lakeside. It was really fun to see my dad catching up with old friends and speaking Italian. We went to a really pretty restaurant on top of the mountain and I tried horse meat for the first time. We ate, drank, relaxed, and walked lakeside enjoying our atmosphere. The weather had pockets of sunshine which was a nice change from the 2 week down pour I've been having in Torino.

On Sunday morning we took a ferry to Bellagio, where I was a few weeks ago. There weren't as many pretty flowers as there were the week before but there were a lot of geriatric tourists. We had lunch at Senor Angelo's villa, which was amazing. The views from there were breathtaking too. The next day we drove to a rainy Como. Since it was Monday mostly everything was closed but it was still nice to see and walk around the lake. We headed to Milan and ate lunch in Piazza del Duomo. When we were walking around Corso Vittorio Emmanuale we saw the goal keeper for Inter Milan, Julio Cesare. Obviously he was going into the Ferrari store. Afterward we went to Paola and Davide's for a nice dinner before heading to Torino in the morning.

Although my dad was born in Italy, he has never been to Torino. I was anxious and excited to show him my city. We took the bus to my apartment and I gave him a quick rundown of what was where. We had lunch at FIAT (Fate Infretta a Tavola translation: Hurry up and eat!). The food was so good and there was SO much of it. I chose that place because they make typical Piemontese food and the menu changes daily. The owner even gave us pasta in the shape of the cinquecento to take home.

Next we went onto a tour of the piazzas. We started in Piazza San Carlo which is my favorite. I really love the atmosphere there. It isn't too big and its perfect to sit on the statue, eat gelato, and people watch. We walked along the fancy shops of Via Roma to reach Piazza Castello. My dad was amazed at the size of the piazza and the amount of history and open space all in one place. From there we strolled along Via Po and headed to the museum of cinema.

Il Mole Antonielliana is my favorite building in Torino. I know way too many useless facts about it and I may as well have taken a course on it. It is on the back of the Italian 2 cent coin and was the symbol of the 2006 Winter Olympics. Anyway, it also house the museum of cinema (also believe to be the world's tallest museum.) Dad and I went inside there and it was incredible. It had interactive movie sets, and seats you can recline in and watch movie clips. I may or may not have taken a short nap. I really enjoyed going inside well worth it!

We then walked to Piazza Vittorio, the Murazzi, and Parco del Valentino. It was a nice abbreviated tour of everywhere I spent a large amount of time this past 4 months. We went home and relaxed before eating dinner in Piazza Carlo Emmanuele. I love eating outside and it was such a perfect night. Next up on our “Epic Trip” as dad would call it was Nice.