Parle Italiano?

"Occasionally she dreams of Italy. She dreams of cheese shops, persnickety Fiats, and very fine leather goods."

So, my first experience with Italy was Torino. Not the top of anyone's top cities to see in Italy, but definitely a beautiful city. Hayley & I went for Easter weekend & we had a blast, not to mention a few adventures.

Namely, CALUSO! In Torino, we were staying with my friend Megan and she had facebooked me her address...Via Valperga, Caluso. Well, according to Google maps, there is a Via Valperga in a town called Caluso, about a 40 minute train ride outside of Torino. So I thought, hey, maybe she lives in the suburbs. I mean, stranger things have happened. So, when we arrived in Torino, we took a local train to Caluso, and got off in what I would call real Italy. And I mean, in the middle of nowhere, not tourist-y at all, small-town Italy. So we walked up to a bar to get directions to Via Valperga, and although they don't really speak English, and we don't really speak Italian, we somehow managed to communicate & they told us they would drive us there. So into the car we go, and onto Via Valperga. Unfortunately, number 28 is the police station!!

This is a definite problem, as Megan is not a police officer. But we ring the doorbell anyway, and after a flurry of French-Italian-English/gestures realize that in fact, there is no one named Megan around...especially not an American girl named Megan. So halfheartedly, we look around the road for apartment buildings and our friend from the bar slowly gets out "why...is...no...here...MEGAN?" Good question. If only we had a phone number... or the internet. So our friend takes us back to the bar to use their computer. And there we discover that there is a Via Valperga Caluso, in Turino. So, we head back there stat on the next little train. Try explaining that to someone who doesn't speak English. I think they mostly understood though...and thought it was hilarious. We will be the talk of the town in Caluso for awhile, I think.

Our (re)arrival in Torino & finding Via Valperga Caluso went smoothly, but after arriving, we realize there are only Italian names on the bell ringers. Nothing is ever so simple, right? So we start ringing random bells, but no one answers. Luckily, a man comes out of the building & lets us in, & against all hopes, speaks English! He tells us there are some students living on the second floor, so we decide to check it out. & wouldn't you know it there is a sign on one of the doors that says "welcome." Who else would have an English sign on their door? So we knock, and guess what? It was the right apartment! Whoo! And so we all laughed it off & I marked it down in my list of "lengendary travel activities" and then we started our actual trip. But Caluso will always have a special place in my heart. And now we have friends there! Hayley & I just wrote a letter to the only bar in Caluso in Italian (with help from our Italian roomate Simone, of course!)

We saw so much over the next few days - lots of Piazzas and Plazas. We went to the Mole and the National Cinema Museum, which took a whole afternoon, and could've taken the whole day if we had time. It was one museum I actually wanted to read and watch everything because it was so hands on & so cool! We also went to the Egyptian Museum, which is apparently the best outside of Egypt and the Parco Valentino, which is complete with Mideval Village.

And the food - Italian food is AMAZING! We had real pizza, real gelato, and hot chocolate, which is literally like melted chocolate in a cup. So delicious. & we learned about apertivo. You buy a drink & then can eat all you want. So I drank probably the best white wine I've ever had, and got to eat real Italian pasta, which duh! is also delicious.

All in all, it was a fabulous trip & I learned so much (which will have to wait for another post after these stories!) & am so ready for my next adventure in Istanbul! 3 more days!