Turino

I went to Turino this weekend, and what a lovely city it is.  Turino is the original capital of Italy (before it was moved to Rome to be more central), and the home of the 2006 Winter Olympic.  It's a really beautiful place!  The first thing we did upon arriving by train was meet up with some of the other teachers  and seek out food.  We ended up in a pizzeria where €5 bought you a fresh margherita pizza.  After that we walked around the city checking out the sights.  There are beautiful old buildings and sculptures just hanging out randomly here and there.  We walked through a beautiful park that ran alongside the river and saw a castle.

Despite my love of the rustic setting of Roletto, it was nice to be in an urban area again.  I bought some beautiful leather sandals and enjoyed the crowds of people.  This weekend in Turino was the festival for Saint Giovani, the patron saint of the city.  Lots of stuff going on.  We found a moscato wine festival going on in the streets and decided to do that.  For €10 you got a badge and a wine glass, and could walk around to all off the different tents that were set up and fill your wine glass up with as much as you liked.  You could also wander away from the festival,  down the street, and just keep on sipping on your wine.  No one cared at all.  After the festival we went with some new friends we had made to an Irish pub.  We were hungry so we stopped in a this fast food place that basically makes tacos but with Italian ingredients.  It's the first time I've seen a tortilla since I left the states.  I had a tortilla filled with mozzarella,  zucchini, tomatoes, basil, and a balsamic vineagarette and it was AMAZING.  At the pub, we watched some of the France-Spain soccer game, before declaring ourselves exhausted ad walking in the rain back to our hostel, the Tomato Backpackers.

Our hostel was pretty gorgeous.  We had sprung for a twin room with a private bathroom.  We had a long balcony that wrapped around the entire courtyard area, and doors that opened to it from the bathroom and bedroom.  The only bad thing about the place was that there was no a/c, and it got pretty hot.

This morning we woke up and strolled into the city center, where we found the ultimate in heaven......an outdoor market dealing in antiques and crafts.  I had a pretty proud moment where I was able to haggle down the price of a lovely vintage book from €8 to €5, all in Italian from greeting to bargaining to goodbye).   We wasted a bunch of time there and then went and found a cute cafe called the Gatsby, where we had excellent cappuccinos and canolos (soft pastries with creme inside, like the Italian equivalent of a Boston creme donut). After a visit to the grocery store, Carrefore, a small disaster when we got lost looking for our hostel again (which caused us to miss the train we wanted), we are finally back on the train to Pinerolo.

I need advice!  My job ends on the 29th, and I'll leave the next morning.  I don't have anything scheduled until July 4th, when I have a flight out of Rome to Paris.  Where should I go?  I don't have a huge interest in Rome, so I don't want to spend more than a couple of days there,  I have zero interest in the Vatican, except for maybe the Sistine chapel.  I'd really like to go Florence, but it's a 7 hour train ride and somewhat expensive for the ticket.  I might go to Cinque Terre with some friends. People tell me nice things about Pisa as well.  Help!  SUZ!  TELL ME WHERE TO GO!!!!!!