Some of the highlights were our dinners with the SEPA Executives Andy's been working with and my visit to the Pietro Micca Museum. On our first full day in Torino, one of Andy's executives took us out to see some of the sights in Torino. He took us to a Cathedral, Superga, up on a hill that was absolutely beautiful. It took them two years to just level the hill where the Cathedral was to be built.
He then took us out to dinner where we learned that traditional Italian meals consist of about 7 courses. Each dish was extremely fancy, interesting and delicious. My favorite was an asparagus fondue.
The second night, the other executive Andy was working with took us out to a Borolo winery. They took us on a tour of the winery. While we didn't drink anything, it was interesting to learn about the process.
I always thought it was the age of the wine that made it good, but it turns out that "a good year" refers to how much rain and sunshine that winery got during the year.
Our first course that night was a little strange. It was raw hamburger meat (beef tar tar) with garnish and stuff. I wasn't too keen on it, but Andy loved it. I guess I have the green light to just give Andy a handful of raw meat whenever he gets hungry from now on.
The other thing I really enjoyed in Torino was a trip to the Pietro Micca museum. In the early 1700's, the Savoy occupied a much smaller version of what is now Torino. The French were invading and the city was being defended by a small fort. As the French were entering the fort, a soldier named Pietro Micca sacrificed his life in order to save the city by setting off a large bomb. So the museum was there as a tribute to his heroism. The cool thing was that the fort had an underground system of tunnels. So it was really cool to walk through these tunnels and imagine what it must have been like about three hundred years ago.
All-in-all, Torino was very beautiful. There were more Trees and grass there than in Florence and Rome. This is a picture of me by the river Po. Who doesn't love a river named Po!?!?
