October 2014 With Gail Castleman hosted by Vicky Franzinetti
October 9, 2014, Thursday NYC via Jamaica then Italy
We departed Camden After a short car tour of both Camden and Dover historic areas about mid morning on the 9th. Driving time to NYC was excellent and we certainly enjoyed our lunch (basil chicken salad) with Brea then we made our way out the midtown tunnel towards the JFK airport. Finding the car-parking garage proved to be quite difficult so we did a tour of Jamaica before we stumbled upon the facility, parked and shuttled to JFK.
Fortunately we had generous time built into our schedule. There was no extra charge for the Jamaica tour and it was not Gypsy’s fault! Alitalia ticket stated NO Food so we ate a sandwich in the airport only to be told by the ticket taker at the gate that of course we would get 2 meals …..It was In fact an Alitalia flight. Immediately upon taking our seats Gail’s seatmate began to cough and sneeze. Spotting a vacant seat in the bulkhead row she asked to move and off she went to a less germ filled environment. I went to sleep.
It was the smoothest transatlantic flight of my life! And those unexpected meals were decent too.
October 10 Arrival in Italy, Friday
Our flight landed in Rome and we had been correctly instructed about baggage being checked thru to Milan and also had correct number of boarding passes for ourselves. Miracles never cease. The airport was beautiful with so many beautiful shops and goods to tempt ones purse. We resisted. Despite the change of departure gates at the last minute we passed thru Rome unscathed and after a short flight found ourselves in Milan Malpensa airport fight on time.
The luggage arrival seemed long perhaps due to our anxiety over getting the tickets for the coach to Turin Vicky had said we would find the ticket office at the exit doors and so it was located between exit doors numbers 4 & 5. So far so good! And we had only about a 10-minute wait for our steed to arrive. We quickly loaded and off we go to our final destination where our lovely and completely delightful hostess in her Italian Zip car will meet us at the coach stop Zip cars are owned by the municipalities and are available throughout cities to registered users. Insurance and fuel is provided. Reservations are required and the cost in about 1Euro per hour on weekends and less during the week with a minimum of 30 minutes use. We quickly loaded our luggage and were seated in the Fiat when Gail noticed she was missing her purse. I jumped out to get back to the bus before it could depart the last stop while the girls checked the car to be sure Gail wasn’t sitting on it. When I stepped onto the coach the driver was checking the seats and had Gail’s bag in his hand and without a fuss gave it to me.
With several sighs of relief we left the center city (inside the French walls) and made our way quickly to Vicky’s flat just outside the French walls but inside the a Roman wall ruins. Her flat is on the third floor and thankfully there is a small lift in the European style. The huge double wooden carved doors, wide marble steps and cast iron stair railings were part of the lobby area. Arriving at Vicky’s front door she provided us both with a set of keys and quickly we stepped into her lovely antique and book filled home consisting of three large bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, living room, dining room and delightful warm and interesting kitchen.
This all was completed with doors opening to a huge courtyard below us, which we could appreciate from the balcony that extended along the entire back elevation of the flat. She has books floor to ceiling in every room including the bathrooms with collectibles from generations of her ancestors of both Welsh and Italian heritage. The flat has plants in every room and the rear elevation has huge doors open always (except winter) to allow access and light to filter into the rooms. Marvelous huge marble topped dressers; tables and china hutch cabinets in beautiful cherry wood with colorful oriental and Persian rugs cover the tile floors. We were relieved to be in her home with our shoes off and everything safely accomplished. We refreshed and quickly left the flat for a meal at a local trattoria serving the most magnificent wide noodle egg pasta with shaved black truffles, fried porcini, dough knots, breadsticks and alcohol free tiramisu. A glass of the red stuff and cup of hot espresso completed my evening feast.
Thank goodness Gail and I had walked 12000 steps already before consuming every last bite! We walked home and after our preparations for bed we all headed to our separate rooms for hopefully a good nights rest. Vicky had also returned to Turin from USA earlier in the day so we were all quite road weary and did not have to be forced into saying Buona notte! Goodnight!
October 11 Cloudy and cool……, Saturday
The day started out rather dull and rain as expected. We had some shopping to do, as the cupboards were bare according to Vicky. But we managed to fend off starvation with grilled toast jams; espresso and fresh squeezed orange juice made by Vicky. Quite a treat!
Then we were off to the shops and market to restock and prepare for the small dinner party Vicky planned for the evening. The market was delightful with the stalls serving the freshest and in season fruits and vegetables. Vicky was anxious to entice us with suggestions and menu options, which were interesting and intriguing. We returned to Vicky’s flat with arms loaded with oranges, grapes, pears, persimmons, Kaki, porcini, celeriac, potatoes, bread, fresh cheeses, olives, pistachios, lamb chops, and duck breast for a future meal. The king must be arriving for dinner!
We took an afternoon walk along the River PO through one of the most beautiful botanical city parks I have ever seen to arrive at the Borgo Medieval. More about the Borgo later. Our goal was the violet ice cream and ice cream topped with hot coffee at the riverside cafe. Only open seasonally this cloth topped table setting was the perfect place for our break as the haze had cleared to reveal beautiful blue skies and big white puffy clouds. We returned home via the jewelry store where I purchased gold hearing aid batteries. Well not actually gold but the cost could be compared. Each battery was 5 euro or about $7.50. I’ll try not to use them up before I get home!
Vicky set about dinner preparations making it all look easy and I sketched while the three of us chatted like we hadn’t been together in months. Vicky’s friends Françoise Pitii and Paulo Cavillini and his Yorkie, Pele’, arrived about 745 just after the table was set and dinner was nearly ready.
Françoise is French from Normandy, Paulo is native Indian having been adopted along with his sister by a loving Italian couple when he was just 6 months old. Both Vicky and Françoise have been Paulo’s college professors. Vicky and Françoise have been friends for nearly 25 years while both raising their sons in Turin.
The meal and company were extremely interesting and delicious! After our guests departed we all shared a cup of coffee and we headed to bed about 11pm.
October 12 Sunday in the city!
Vicky got a car today and we headed out of the city towards the hills surrounding the city of Turin. Now I will probably use the city names Turin and Torino interchangeably as do the residents – I’m still not sure why but it is what it is… We could only barely make out part of Mt Blanc in the Alps from the hills above Turin due to low clouds in the Alps.
We visited several very nice parks and did some walking up there as well as paid respects in the WWI cemetery in the Commune Di Pino Park. The very wealthy Torino residents live in these hills – the lawns were immaculate and the streets well kept and in great repair. Several hairpin curves were part of our ride – I managed to avoid motion sickness (you know me) by wearing one of my three pairs of sea bands (had to have a spare or two just in case of loosing one set).
From the hills we went to Eataly. This was a special treat and we spent quite a bit of time there sampling and looking at all the luscious things to eat. We bought Italian honey, some cheeses, and chocolate for coffee, boar salami, a bag of course and a bottle of the red stuff. It was an excursion enjoyed by all.
We traveled back to Vicky’s apartment, and started to check in on our email etc. when I discovered some strange Italian things appearing on my iPad. After dinner Gail and I hurried down to the Apple store along Via Roma and made an appointment for the next morning. We also did some serious people watching and enjoyed a gelato for our troubles. It turned out to be an early evening for us once we returned to the flat….we were still adjusting to the 6 hour time change.
October 13, Monday at Apple
Gail graciously volunteered to accompany me to my Apple appointment on Monday morning. We met Luigi there and he did some apple magic and reset my iPad. I was quite relieved when he said I had not been hacked. So we celebrated with a gelato and a great walk back to the flat.
We are starting to get a feel for the city and my feet know it! I’m totally shocked that I have developed a couple of blisters. No….my shoes are not new for this trip and already have many miles on both pairs but despite all this – I have blisters. I don’t give into them and keep putting one foot in front of the other and tend them in the evenings.
Gail is having sleeping troubles and we have both had recent back issues but I have to say we did exceptionally well every day and managed to get our walks in while enjoying this beautiful area.
October 14, Tuesday Milan awaits!
Vicky left us to our own devices today and went to work at the University. We caught the train to Milan in hopes of getting tickets for Gail to see The Last Supper at Santa Maria Della Grazie and also visiting the Milan Basilica. The fast train left from Porte Nouva Station. along Corso Vittorio Emmanuel I. It is a beautiful station right in the heart of Turin. The train ride was about one hour for 150kms. I’m glad we weren’t walking!
The weather was decent for touring – thankfully we didn’t have plans for the beach! Temps were in the high 60s and there were some blue skies throughout the day. No rain! We did not get Last Super tickets – I’m disappointed for Gail but we explored the streets of Milan as we headed back to the center to visit the Basilica. We walked several miles and visited with the Milan Archeology museum, viewed the remains of the old Roman walls of Milan, the Church of San Maurizio to see the very beautiful paintings from 1503 and an exhibit of Leonardo Da Vinci’s architectural designs and accomplishments, and we delighted in having Milanese Risotto at the Bar Duomo right across from Piazza Duomo where the Basilica stands.
Then we walked the miles back to the station and caught our train back to Turin.
Vicky had planned and prepared another dinner party for us with her close friends: Margherita d’Amico, American friend Anne and Adwoa Sey (a visitor from Ghana who had been a colleague of Vicky’s in Torino). Dinner included duck ala orange stew, salads, fried porcini, squash blossoms and much much more. We enjoyed the meal and interesting conversation among these interesting women.
October 15, Wednesday a walk in the park!
We planned our day to spend in Valentino Park and continuing to explore the city. We had a shopping list for grocery supplies to get before we returned home. I needed band-aids and first aid for my blisters. So off we went to Valentino. Located about 5 blocks from Vicky’s flat we found Valentino to be the most beautiful of city parks certainly in my travels. There were flowers, many different types of trees, sculptures, the River Po, ducks and geese and interesting walks and paths leading to different views.
At the edge of the River Po is a series of buildings crafted to resemble the medieval village of Turin. It was very interesting and had we not been advised we would never have guessed it was a replica and not the real deal. It was created as a temporary exhibit for the Turin expo and is called the Borgo Medieval. There were shops located there with guild crafters of the medieval period – the exhibits were interesting as well as beautiful. We had planned to take a boat ride along the Po but missed the timing completely so continued on to the city center and a farmicia to get band aids and much needed first aid.
One look at my blisters and the pharmacist took me back to a small treatment room where she tended my wounds and applied gentrimiacin and put on bandages that would stay in place and help protect the blisters that had been popped several times.
We headed back to the flat about 4pm to get ready for our night at the Opera for William Shakespear’s Othello. Vicky arranged a taxi for us, we enjoyed a coffee and chocolate at a bar just outside the Tento and we had excellent 3rd row seats for this fine production that had opened the previous night.
We got a taxi back to the flat and that was then end of that day!
October 16, Thursday We are off to the Alps.
Our destination is Mt Blanc however the weather forecast is not encouraging and it is overcast in the lowlands so likely to be worse in the mountains. Vicky has an Alpha Romeo car for us today – she wants a little more power for climbing towards 12000 feet. We arrive first to Courmayeaur and have lunch in this lovely town at the foot of Mont Blanc then on to Aosta (OSTA is the pronunciation) for some retail therapy.
The houses have a definite Swiss influence in construction and there is a definite French influence on the menus and signage. We are close to both the Swiss and French borders but do not cross due to the changing weather we see. When it is raining at lower elevations it is snowing in the Alps! We head for Turin.
This is the day we visited the cathedral, which houses the Shroud of Turin. The Shroud is not on display presently (only about once ever 20 years) but the Cathedral is lovely itself, and the replica is adequate to represent the real deal.The royal box of the Savoy family sits right above the Shroud exhibit.
We had stumbled across another impressive church in Turin as we searched for the Shroud exhibit. This church is located near the first public hospital in Turin and is full of honorariums to seek healing for ailments of loved ones and also to give thanks for healing already received. I hope my photos turned out from this beautiful place.
October 17, Friday Markets and shops.
Gail and I revisit the Madama Cristina Market and as we head to the Gloveme shop for a purse or two we finally locate the Jewish Synagogue. Only about a thousand Jews still live in Turin and the Synagogue, built is 1848, is called the Jewish Church in the tourist books. Members of the Italian army stand guard outside the Synagogue. They attempted to help us gain access to tour the church but there is no one at the Church so we are asked to come back on Sunday morning in hopes of finding someone there that will give us a tour. We walked to the Egyptian Museum and took a peak but decided instead to head to La Mole and go to the top.
The saying is Paris has the Eiffel Tower, Turin has La Mole. La Mole now host the film museum of Italy. It offers a magnificent panoramic view of the Turin area from the observation deck high above the city streets. On our walk along the River Po we spotted The Church of the Great Mother of God, built in 1827, and a statute holding a chalice representing the presence of the Holy Grail in Turin.
October 18, Saturday We are off to Barolo and the home of the Slow Food Movement, Alba.
Vicky is taking us to Barolo wine country and the White Truffle festival in Alba. Along the way we do a driving hike through the City of Bra. The hillsides are full of grape vines – nearly ready for harvesting. As we drive along the small roads we can smell the grapes on the vines. And we see some harvesters going about the business of brining the grapes to the press for making the world’s best wines.
We do have a delicious lunch as we enter the City of Alba for the festival….several truffle dishes are available and I choose the risotto with black truffles. Vicky orders several appetizers of which one is raw meat topped with black truffles. I try it and oh my goodness is it delicious. Not at all what I expected.
Chopped beef, or Carne Cruda: In other parts of the world finely minced raw beef is called steak tartare, and they crack an egg into it. In Piemonte they don’t, preferring lemon juice and olive oil, and you should try this even if you think you don’t like raw meat, as it can be a rare treat indeed.
My risotto with black truffle main course was very nice and creamy but I now know I prefer the Milanese version, which is made with saffron.
At the festival we see and smell truffles of every size and shape and don’t forget price. Truffles are more expensive than gold and are sold by the weight. I saw some about the size of a golf ball for the price of 240 Euros or about $350 for one golf ball size white truffle. We do some wine tasting and eventually make our way back to our car for the drive home through the flatlands of the piedmont area.
October 19, Sunday more churches and exploring for us!
Vicky had to work so we were on own….this could be dangerous! We made a second visit to the Jewish Church and were unable to get in either time. We decided to spend the day in the Valentino Park and enjoy the scenery and get in some of our walking requirements. I painted and we watched people enjoy the beautiful sunshine in this magnificent park. For dinner we had decided we would revisit the local trattoria and enjoy some more of the black truffle pasta! And enjoy it we did – every bite and what we couldn’t get on our forks we sopped up with crusty Italian bread! Delicious.
October 20, Monday Gail and Becky with students!
Vicky has asked Gail and I to attend her pharmacy student lecture to introduce her students to non-Italian speaking individuals they may encounter in their pharmacy practice. She has asked us to present several different physical conditions that may be something the students will see once they graduate and get a job in a farmicia. My first example was to three students, of whom two spoke some English and one young woman would hardly make eye contact and refused to speak more than yes or si to us. They accurately suggested I get off my feet (give them a rest), soak them and apply antibiotic several times a day.
They were all shocked when I showed them my worst blister and expressed my concern for infection that could possibly affect my knee replacements, which I demonstrated too. Gail’s complaint was her bad back and lack of sleep. Her two sets of student made suggestions about herbal remedies, and suggested she give her back a rest. My last session was for my pain patches for my bad back. I presented a scenario that I needed replacement patches and the students looked up the medications and correctly advised that I would have to seek medical treatment by a doctor.
All in all Vicky thought the students realized just how much they had to learn about speaking English to customers. They have only been her students for 3 weeks so she felt the exercise was helpful in helping them work hard for the next year on learning English.
I wish I could say we would learn Italian in the next year but I think that would be a much harder task for me. After University Gail and I went back to Valentino Park. I sketched and painted while Gail took a huge walk along the river. We had beautiful weather and enjoyed this time. We looked for our violet ice cream stand again but it was not available that day so we had to say goodbye to Turin by having gelato instead…it was delicious! We headed for Milan in the evening by bus exactly as we had arrived 10 days previously.
The bus trip was uneventful and we arrived right on time at Malpensa Airport departures level. We needed to go to the arrivals level but there were no down escalators and the elevators would not stop at the right level. We finally stalked two Irish pilots and found our way to a level that below where we wanted to be but the escalator would go up to the level we wanted….can you imagine that at 930 at night! Also we were told to meet the hotel shuttle at door 10 but there was not marking for door 10 on the inside of the arrivals level. Once on the curb we were able to find door 10 way down at the far end of the terminal around a curve that was not visible at all from the rest of the walkway…we met an adorable couple from Lisbon Portugal who phoned the hotel to let them know we were ready to be picked up and we were soon at our hotel, First Hotel, very near the airport. We checked in and got salads at the hotel bar restaurant.
October 21, Tuesday Time to go home.
We took the shuttle back to the airport (all elevators and escalators working today)…checked in and dropped our bags then went off to duty free shopping and breakfast. When it was time to board our flight we did so (after one last gelato (Vendi brand) out in the gate area. Our seats were good, the flight was amazing and we had the opportunity to watch the flight cameras during take off, flight over the Alps and Atlantic, and into NY where we watched the landing as it happened. Pretty cool stuff! Our shuttle to the car parking area in Jamaica was decent and timely and soon we were on our way out of NY and back to Delaware. When we got here Jim and Zeus were both awaiting us and we opened Gail’s gift of lovely Italian wine to celebrate our homecoming.
October 22 Back in USA!
Even in Camden, Delaware our body clocks are still on Euro time so we were both up early and after breakfast (no fresh squeezed oj) Gail headed home. We had a great trip – glad we did it…loved Vicky and her hospitality. Gail is a terrific traveling companion – up for anything and ready to walk!
Notes: A nice young man, Flat Stanley, was given to me just before we left as a travel companion. A 4th grade student in Carmichael, California is the nephew of Brea’s former California babysitter. Kathy Knibbs sent me Flat Stanley on behalf of Justin and the idea was for Flat Stanley to have travel adventures that could be communicated and photographed to the student and classroom. All of our Flat Stanley photos are G rated…. despite some risqué opportunities, which we resisted, based on the age of Flat Stanley and his California friends.
We saw lots of beautiful people but the one that stole Gail’s and my hearts was a middle aged gentleman who helped us confirm our location between Porta Sousa and the Piazza Castello on one of our extensive walks around Turin. He stopped, asked if he could help with directions, gave perfect instructions and was gracious about our lack of Italian language. He also was drop dead gorgeous. We were both still talking about him 10 minutes after we had resumed our walk.
We enjoyed the food of the Piedmonte area. It is different from Tuscany and very much of the Slow Food Movement. Local food products in season are prepared in delicious ways that reflect the area of Turin. 2014 has been a wonderful year for porcini mushrooms and truffles. Turin is famous for it’s chocolate and hazelnuts. Of course the wines of the Nebollio grape are local favorites. Raw meat (now don’t judge me) is a favorite appetizer. Vicky enjoys this dish and ordered it when we were in Alba. I tasted it and can attest to the delicacy of the meat.
Gail and I snuck in two lamb kebabs from little cafés along our daily walks. We also enjoyed a delicious fresh spinach and mozzarella cheese flatbread called a piadina. Wikipedia provides the following photo and info: Piadina Piadina or Piada is a thin Italian flatbread, typically prepared in the Romagna region (Forlì-Cesena, Ravenna and Rimini). It is usually made with white flour, lard or olive oil, salt and water. The dough was traditionally cooked on a terracotta dish (called teggia in the Romagnol), although nowadays flat pans or electric griddles are commonly used. The Piadina has been added to the list of the traditional regional food products of Italy of the Emilia-Romagna Region.
One day, Vicky had warned us that there would be student protests on Piazza Castello. The protest was aimed at the European Union and some likely new rulings that would affect Italy. Vicky knew where we had intended to walk and thought we would not be in the area and so we totally forgot about the matter until we entered into Piazza Castello and saw all the police in riot gear. We did not see any ruckus or rioters. The next day it was reported in La Stampa that there had been 10,000 protestors and 200 rioters resulting in injury to 3 policemen. Piazza Castello is a major thoroughfare of the city and we were there nearly everyday as we explored….trust us to find ourselves NEARLY in the middle of things.
Other foods and drinks we enjoyed included Cioccolata in tazza, marron glaces (candied chestnuts), and Sicilian gelato from down the street along Via Madama Cristini.
PS: Some of the days may not be correctly identified as what we did on that date. Due to the problems with my iPad I was not able to keep this blog up to date daily so I’m doing it from memory and from my pictures. But you get the drift of the trip even if there are some sequential variances.
faheyrg 