Two Days in Turin (2)
Sunday morning greeted us with a bit of a heavy rain. We checked out at 10am, got into the car and drove around looking for breakfast. We came upon a Lavazza Café that was opened on Sunday morning. The family ordered one to two each of almost all varieties of pastries on display.
We had six people, so an Italian man had to give up his seat to let us all fit in the tables. I felt bad and invited him to sit with us. Soon enough, he started talking about having oriental wives. He seemed to think that Italian women don’t have traditional values. He was a lawyer himself, but now ran his family’s wine business. Having learned that my cousin’s husband worked for Philip Morris, he went on to say he did not smoke for the sake of having a good French kiss. We thought that all was too much information shared.
We then visited the beautiful Palazzo Reale in the palace for the King of Italy. Home to the House of Savoy, the Palazzo Reale was first constructed in the 16th century. The House of Savoy was the true “Kings of Italy,” the most notable of whom was Emmanuel Phillbert. The House of Savoy claimed to have an origin from the Princes of the Saxon, descendants from Vitichindo.
There were many chambers of significance. Chambers showing extravagant ornaments gave us just a glimpse of royal luxuries. Of all the royal chambers, perhaps the Ballroom left the most dazzling impression. The whole chamber was golden, with mural paintings on the ceiling depicting scenes of dancing around the allegory of Time. Elaborate chandeliers brighten up the whole space. Gold covered the chamber — what a glorious pastime!
Finally, the weaponry museum showcased every piece of medieval weaponry imaginable. The pieces stand as testaments to Europe’s cavalry, perhaps a bit dusted in men’s history as they were in this museum.
Del Cambio was a Michelin one-star restaurant in town. We decided to try our luck because we did not make a reservation. The manager received us warmly and took us to a side-room all to ourselves.
The food looked great. The presentation has stretched our imagination to no bounds. However, I found the taste to be a little disappointing. Perhaps I simply did not know enough to fully appreciate it. As with usual, I ordered a pasta. It was creamy and good. I thought the Michelin touch was the cheese. It was so fine that I almost could not see it on the plate. Until I put the starchy morsels in the mouth, and tasted it. It was as fine as icing on the cake.
Before we left town to visit our last destination in Turin, we stopped by a supermarket to shop for souvenirs. My cousin and I had in our mind truffle products. We wanted to buy reasonably-priced truffle oil. I thought truffles in Italian was “tarfutto,” so I said “tarfutto,” tarfutto,” to the staff lady. She kept saying tofu back to us and pointed at the fridge. It was funny, but not funny. We finally found very small bottles of truffles in oil in the never-ending rack of condiments. There were only two bottles left so we each had one. When we finally had a chance to open it, the aroma was so pleasing we could taste it.
Came time and we visited the very last site – the Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile, the Car Museum. I must say, even to the gentlemen in the group the museum was disappointing. And there were three ladies who had much less fascination with cars. It did not seem to present a coherent story of cars, though we were drawn to some pretty interesting classic varieties on display.
I knew that Turin had much better museums to offer, as there were some other palaces of the Italian royalties in the vicinity. What I held close to my heart, rather, was the great memories with my cousin’s wonderful family.
Last, but not least, I learned a couple years later that the famous Nutella was born in the Piedmont region in Italy. And Turin it is.
About three and a half hours later, we were back in Lausanne, Switzerland.