So after a flight delay, Julie finally arrived! Julie and I have been best friends since we were 15. Yeah. That's a looooong time. And this is her first time to Europe - yea! My main job for the day was to keep her moving and awake to try to beat the jet lag. So we just wandered around showing her the "Italian-ness" of Torino.
"Ooooh, statues! Ahhhhh, a palace!"
When Todd got home from work, we walked across town to have dinner at the home of one of his friends. They were wonderful hosts and made us a fabulous dinner (including gelato for dessert - we can never have enough!!) The big kids had fun hanging out with their teenage daughters and Griffin loved playing with the cousins. We had great conversations about travel, education, families, cultural differences and of course, food! I love hearing how people in other countries & cultures live. And their home was a fabulous mix of old & new. I looooove that.
With G on Todd's shoulders, we made it home way too late to post to the blog.
Here's the amazing thing - Julie stayed awake the whole time! Couldn't believe it...certainly couldn't have done it myself.
Today was Julie's first full day and we decided (after a bit of a sleep-in) to go check out the Royal Palace since it had been recommended to us the night before. What a wonderful surprise it was! Full-on golden, drippy, naked-putti splendor. I was most blown away by the Armory Museum. I'll leave the description of that to Hailey - but wow. I've seen a bunch of castles and more than my share of museums but this one will stick with me! We were unfortunately not allowed to take pictures but yeah, I snuck one. Blurry, but I'm posting it anyway.
The third part of the museum complex was the Sabauda Gallery. I was impressed to find works by Rubens, Rembrandt, van Eyck and other masters. I think everyone enjoyed it more than they had expected.
On the way home, we stopped for, surprise, gelato! Julie & I left the kids at home and did an hour of shopping. Then we finished up the day at our local pizzeria. Whew! Here's some (shame on me for snapping them!) pix.
Ciao!
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