Little Bull

Today we woke up at 6:15am so we could catch a ride with Matteo into Torino. He was going there to set up Cascina Frutase's weekly stall at the organic farmer's market. Both Josh and I were still quite tired from our long hike yesterday up in the mountain behind the farm, so we probably did a lot less than we could have.

* We started off the morning by navigating the Torino bus system from the west side of town to the city center. Then we trekked through the streets in search of the Museo Egizio, the Egyption Museum.

* We spent over two hours wandering the halls of the museum, looking at the massive collection of ancient artifacts. The collection includes pre-dynast pottery, Greek-influenced funnerary decorations and EVERYTHING in between. The coolest parts, in my opinion, were the many versions of the Book of the Dead on display and the complete contents of the tomb of a certain Kha and his family. There were bunches of statues, sarcophagi, and even a few mummies. The museum in Torino is apparently one of the largest of its kind, so it was a treat to see it.

* We wandered the streets for a bit in search of a cheap cappucino. The caffès near the museum wanted to charge €2.50 for a plain shot of espresso, which is ridiculous. We eventually found a caffè on a side street where we got cappucini and two croissants for €4 total.

* We found the famous church in the center of town, with its iconic high spire. They charge something like €6 to go to the top, so we took a pass, though I'm sure the view of the Alps from up there is phenomenal.

* We walked west along the Po to the Valentine Park, where there is a castle and a medieval village. It was not as cool as my guidebook led me to believe. At least it was free!

* We took a bus back to the western part of town and spent the next few hours exploring Eataly, a giant food store sponsored by the Slow Foods movement. Actually, we spent most of our time down in the basement where the beer section is located. They probably had the most extensive collection of Italian beers on the planet (given that we're in a wine country, this is probably an unrecognized accomplishment) and a good selection of Belgians to boot. I grabbed a saison and dubbel and Josh stocked up on some dark beer, a beverage which has been greatly lacking in our diet recently.

* We spent the rest of our time in the caffè, sipping gourmet espresso and experiencing Torino's famous beverage: Bicerin. What is this, you ask? Ooh, you're imagination won't do it justice, but I'll tell you anyway.

Bicerin:
1. Start with half of a coffee cup filled with sipping chocolate. Not the super sugary kind. The dark, lucious, I-want-to-kill-myself-this-is-too-good kind of sipping chocolate.
2. Add two shots of espresso.
3. Top with a shot of heavy cream.
4. Stir together.
5. While you are drinking, try not to embarass yourself by moaning in ecstasy too loudly.

And that, dear readers, was our day in Torino. Tonight for dinner we had the leftovers from our host's restaurant. They are only open once or twice a week, so it's always a treat. The highlight was the baked pears with a melted gorgonzola cheese sauce for dessert.