A few minutes later some other young people came down to eat. They seemed to have the same idea and stuff everything they could into their backpacks. Fruit, cakes, bread and bacon they made into sammiches. We were all discretely and not so discretely shoving things in our bags. We set off.
Down our street there was Piazza Statuto. It was full of benches and grass and a huge statue that looked like rock. Around it climbed life sized male figures. Some of them looked to be in pain. At the summit was an angel with cloth blowing in a frozen wind. We walked on towards Piazza Castello and the information center.
Torino is awesome!! I fell more and more in love with every hour I spent walking its enchanted streets.
On one hand it is full of cool shops. Comic book shops and nu-rave clothes stores and this cinema-bar-cafe-gallery called King Kong. It had bananas in packets with labels of ¨king kong survival kit¨. Young people and cafes and shopping streets. Lots of nightlife too apparently.
On the other hand there is so much culture. So many things to see and do. I could have easily spent a few more days here. Every corner has a new monument or museum. There are so many museums here! Including but not limited to a huge modern art museum, the third biggest Egypt museum in the world and one of the best film museums in Europe. There is so much culture here.
We figured it might be due to being North and more continental then Mediterranean. Torino is like have Prague in Italy. Giant piazzas with columns and museums and flowers and benches, surrounded by museums, palaces and churches. Old looking churches, many of them baroque style, which I love. And all the buildings are gorgeously old. Even out from the city the architecture around each street screams of a place that has presence.
We started our walking tour at the Piazza Castello. It was full of flowers and fountains. Around it was the Palazzo Madama, the old house of the senate. Next to it stood the Palazzo Reale, old home to the Savoy royal family.
We left the piazza down Via Roma, the largest street heading south. On the way I admired the old buildings and the high vaulted ceilings above us. Amazing shops lined the paths and streets. Funky clothes for sale and cinemas and jewelery stores.
We arrived at Piazza San Carlo, which we recognized as the place we caught the taxi a day earlier. The open space was paved in pale stone. The only things filling it were coffee tables around the edges and the statue in the middle of a horse and rider. Behind the horseman were the twin churches, San Carlo and Santa Christina. You stood in front in the statue and saw the twin buildings framing him, but the horseman appears taller than the buildings.
The churches were ornately decorated inside with frescoes, gold and rose granite. There were people praying quietly in the pews, so we didn't stay very long. We took a brief look around each then started back up the square and via Roma.
Back at Piazza Castello we took another main road East. Via Po was also a modern shopping street at heart, housed in an old, dignified exterior. It really was a lot like Prague in the way everything was retained.
In front of the rive Po lay Piazza Vittorio Veneto. Huge, filled with cars and buildings. We came up to the river Po. The bridge was covered in purple flowers. Along our side of the river was brick, but along the other bank stretched forest. It must be national park, with the giant trees and never ending greenery climbing up the slopes that make up one edge of the Alpine chain. So serene. So green. On above the tree line peaked an old looking building. We wondered what it could be. I figured that maybe it was a monastery.
Across the river there was a church with huge steps and a tall round dome. It was called the Gran Madre di Dio. We stayed for a little while but our attention was elsewhere.
We had looked up the thing on the hill in our guide book. It was a church and mountain museum, apparently with the best views in Torino. We figured since this was our only day here we should make the most of it. We decided to make the climb.
It wasn´t so much a climb as a long, winding and very uphill walk. It got my heart racing by the time we reached the summit. It was worth it though. The small square in front of the church was a platform to see the entire city. We were level with the tallest building in Torino, also the tallest brick building in the world.
There was a tall statue of Mary and and water tap. Like many things in Torino it was decorated with a bull´s head. I figured it had to do with the city´s name. We rested on the steps for a while before a peek into the church. We ate some of the cakes from breakfast.
Down the mountain was far easier and before we knew it we were back at the river. We retraced our steps down Via Po, and on the way found a cake shop. It was one of those cake shops that look like they´ve been around for a long time and are well established. We saw an array of tiny treats in the window and just had to have some of them. We sat down with our small selection of miniature baked goods. They were delicious.
We kept walking for a while before turning off towards the tower. Mole Antonelliana was originally started as a giant synagogue, but was bought by the city before it was done. Inside was a much lorded museum of cinema.
It was one of the strangest museum I had ever been to. It started with the history of film. There were shadow puppets in the first room and visual illusions in the second. They were fun because the illusions were interactive. We got to play with a pin-hole camera and mirrored cylinders. The next room showed the first 3-d pictures, the type that they set up in the streets. People paid to see pictures on other countries. There was even old 3-d porn. You could sit for ages going through each set of pictures. Then there were the first moving pictures and tricks of light and projectors. We even got to see Edison´s machines and some of the first films ever made.
Then it jumped quite quickly into modern film. There were corridors looking at parts of film, including special effects, plot and the protagonist. We were kind of interesting but we didn't go through all of the hallways. We did stop for a short time at the FX wing. we played around with green screens for star wars and E.T. They had what I think was an original gremlin from Gremlins.
We moved out to the great hall. It was supposed to be the main room of the synagogue. The roof was elaborated decorated and shaped like a tall pyramid with a hole at the top. Through the hole hung the cords of the lift to the viewing deck. They were a large gold winged genie with red glowing eyes on one side, then red recliners all around it and 2 two big screen in front. They played clips from old movies. We lay in the chairs and looked up. The dome of the building was also home to a sky show. Music played while projections danced on the ceiling. Some were astrological,some where movie related. At one point all the arched windows at the top of the tower suddenly opened their curtains at the same time. It was quite a show.
We got up and explored further. On the other side from the genie there was a room sized fridge door, acting as a portal to another strange part of the museum. It was complete with giant foods and a chicken. Inside the fridge room we sat on glowing chairs and watched clips from surrealist films.
Through the door to the left was the horror room, set up spookily and playing clips from Dracula and the like. In the room after there was a complete western saloon. A screen played western. And so it went on from room to room, circling around the entire great hall. Then musicals and sci-fi and romance and apocalyptic films and period pieces.
After that we took the lift up to the viewing level. It was cool. The view was great. We looked out over the city. Then we walked back and got lunch.
In the end we only had time for a self guided walking tour and one museum. I would love to come back.
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