Cars, Caffeine, and Hidden Gems of Torino

Its been a few days since I've posted. I'm pleased to see that everyone else began to pick up for my slack yesterday telling of the museums, palaces, and nice dinner with friends. After just a week here, I feel like we are really just scratching the surface of the jewel that is Torino -- and not just for what we see in the attractions, museums, arcades, gardens and parks, but for the people who choose to live here or nearby here!

A world leader in the "cyberpunk" genre Bruce Sterling--his writings and talks have inspired a lot of thought on the development of technology in a (somewhat dystopian) near future. While I don't fully subscribe to the dystopian part, it's fun to follow along on someone else's view of the direction of technology. He's been here since 2007 (according to his Wikipedia page)--and as it turns out, a friend of mine knows him! The automotive design house Pininfarina is not far from here. For those of you who are car buffs like me, this is pretty exciting and for those of you who aren't...here's just a small smattering of the iconic designs that have come out of there:

Ferrari 250 GT

The original 1965 MGB GT

The 1984 Ferrari Testrarossa

The first Alpha Romeo Spider ("Duetto"), 1966

And these are just the tip of the iceberg! As it turns out a colleague knows the former head of design from Pininfarina who lives nearby and I look forward to meeting him!

At any rate...everywhere we turn we find other hidden gems around here...and I hope that never stops! One of the interesting caveats to the "gems" is that I'm normally the first person to comment on the people anywhere I go...I mean, I AM an anthropologist by trade! That said, I'm meeting and interacting with just as many people NOT from Torino as I am with those from here. It could be just because I work in an international environment...I'm sure I'll have more thoughts on that as I go.

Yesterday was also my introduction to not just one, but three coffee machines (two at work, one at home). Coffee is a passion here and each day after lunch we all gather round for a the daily (milk-less) coffee shot. But, as it turns out each area at work has their own fancy little coffee maker and I was taught how to use two of them at work! Then, last night, our landlords stopped by to pick up some things. I was very pleased to learn how simple their little Nespresso machine was to work (has a different look than the ones at home and different shaped coffee pods), that we were allowed to use it AND that there was a local coffee maker who makes the coffee in the appropriate pods/format from local sources! Looking forward to some experimentation there.

My body seems to have finally fully adjusted to the time zone -- the rule of 1 hour per day of recovery applies. We're on day 8 and today without an alarm I woke up at my normal 6:30. The big difference is...I took all the time I needed to get cleaned up, eat, read the news and write at a relaxed pace :). This to me is what sabbatical is about --seeing, learning, and living at a comfortable relaxed pace! 

We are coming upon Easter Weekend and we are trying to figure out what we are going to do--stay in and around Torino or attempt to travel amidst all of the other folks moving around for the holiday! We're still debating that one.

For now... Ciao, arrivaderci!