Thursday, 2 November (Day Forty-six)
Today, if we want to complete our Millo tour, we need to renew our BIP card so we walk over to the Tabaccheria where the man speaks English and we order a week’s travel. Simple!
On the tram, our cards don’t go BIP. They make a hesitant warbling sound and a notice flashes up that might have read Not Valid. Not again! We carry on regardless but as we travel I read the receipt. It starts Monday! Apparently the settimanale is from Monday to Sunday and we weren’t aware. We make the decision to play dumb and work out the solutions but it does put a bit of a crimp in our plans to have unlimited travel for the remaining two weeks. Hmm.
Onward.
There are five Millos left and I’m pretty sure two of them were ones we have seen on our last visit. I even mentally locate them – on residential streets, with nothing much around them. Let’s see if I’m right.
In fact, I am. A bit of back and forth while we get our bearings on the map and find the Millos sometimes not quite where we imagined, but there they all are in the end. One is in a small children’s school playground. That’s the hardest to photograph. The last one is in a narrow street opposite some construction that makes it a little hard to photograph too.
However, I find a nice cafe selling a slice of plain pizza and there behind the counter is Krish’s favourite Naples pastry -frolla. He’s been looking for one for quite a while and has even talked of making his own…some day. The frolla is made with sweet short pastry dough that surrounds a ricotta and dried fruit filling. (And no, it’s actually not too sweet!)
Video: How to make a frolla
Although the Millos seem a distance apart on the map, some are only a street or two from others we’ve seen. Still, I’m glad we stuck with our plan of breaking the thirteen walls into three trips. It allowed us to also see something of the neighbourhood, the Barriera di Milano.
One thing I managed to see today was a cart seller guiding his cart along. The carts are motorised, with the engine at the front. We have seen the cart men ‘riding’ their carts home in our neighbourhood. They sit on the engine and steer the cart with their feet – reminds me of Fred Flintstone. This man was steering with the handle in front of his motorised cart.
Home for a rest! And, yes, feigning ignorance on the tram. Am I embarrassed to say this? Why, yes again but that’s how it is until we find more tickets to bridge the gap. Don’t tell anyone!
Krish went for a run and I finished another doll (this one a bit like a blue elf, not sure) and I bake some potatoes and warm up the rest of the stew.
Every year between the end of October and mid January, there is a display of lights throughout Torino. Each display is from a different artist. We saw this last year throughout the centre of town. This year there are 25 displays and 11 of them are not in the centre. We’re a bit tired but decide to see whichever ones are within a short walking distance – we’ve already checked off the ones along Via Garibaldi and in the Piazza della Citta on Sunday.
We see two. I’m actually delighted to see the first one displayed at the Orologio market and, quite a propos, it’s a display of different coloured neon signs which read ‘Love the differences’ in many languages. This is, after all, a multiethnic neighbourhood.
Sadly, I don’t own a camera that shows neon light well. Red letters come out as as white with a red haze. But I do take photos anyway.
The nearby Galleria Umberto has lights too but they’re aren’t turned on! We’ve noticed them before they were due to turn on but they’re still dark. I hope they are turned on while we are still here. It’s a very plain but historic arcade and it would be interesting to see it decorated.
We walk over to the newly opened pasta specialty place. We missed its opening day but think we’ll check out the menu to see what they have to offer. As we approach, the lights go out so I’ll check that online.
On a whim, we decide to go into the NH Hotel San Stefano. We’ve walked past it many times but have never gone in. It’s where Tom was going to stay had he visited. Once inside, I’m astonished by how it looks. In the main lobby if you look up, all of the floors face inwards from wooden balconies – it reminds me of Liberty but taller. It looks amazing. On each floor the history of Turin is recorded on posters. We’re going back to take a closer look when our legs are less tired but there’s a video at the bottom of this post.
We walk back through the square on Largo IV Marzo. I love how pretty it is here.
Home!