Where's the Starbucks?

Yesterday I left from Turin after spending five fabulous days with my husband. My husband was kind enough to let me use some of his frequent flyer miles to get a ticket close to gratis to meet up with him in Italy. I was so happy to see him greet me at the gate. However, I did initially miss him standing right in front of me. Then he stepped into my view and in my grill. What a sight for sore eyes!!! I miss the bugger when he is away! It was an odd vacation though. For two of those days, my husband had to work and I was on my own. For the most part, I usually have someone with me when I vacation and it felt a little odd touring through Turin, while my husband toiled at work for 10 hours each day. And, with the language barrier there was a little anxiety trying to convey what I needed to those I encountered. But, I did OK. As long as you could use “Euro, Taxi, or Café”, it was easy to communicate.

My caffeine addiction was easily satisfied while in Italy. Just like in Seattle, coffee was accessible every 10 feet – although no Starbuck’s to be found, but Italians can easily survive without having that chain invade their country. Bad enough McDonald’s has a presence.

While in Turin, with my husband, on my first real day (I passed out from exhaustion on Day 1) we toured the Cinema Museum and enjoyed seeing the collection that was housed there, including the original Superman cape from the 1978 movie with Christopher Reeve and a few of the original masks from Star Wars. After the museum, we walked along the river Po and had enjoyed a few beers. We continued through the city center of Turin to see what shopping the city had to offer. We happened upon an English-style pub that served Mexican fare. Oh, how Jason was happy. Fajitas were the order for his day. We also watched England trounce Jamaica with several other British folks at the very same pub. The following day, the time change caught up with me and I didn’t get up until 12:30. I felt terrible since Jason was up at 8:30. I quickly cleaned up and we went to the same pub for lunch and took in the Regional National Museum of Natural Science, as well as a walked through a different section of the city.

Monday was my first day all by my lonesome. However, I did have breakfast with my main man, and we did have dinner at a nice restaurant; of course, I got half my dinner on my shirt – that’s to be expected. But, since many things were closed that day, I decided to get some work done (yes, I’m pathetic), get caught up on my e-mails, and did a little research to plan my itinerary for the following day.

Tuesday was a packed day. After breakfast with my honey, I took a taxi to the Museum of the Holy Shroud. There was no way I could have found it on my own. It is located in a non-descript building, in an equally non-descript alleyway. And, I was the only one there. Felt weird. Prior to my visit, I only knew 3 things about Turin: the types of food native to the area, the Winter Olympics were here, and the Shroud of Turin. Thought I would get stuck in the middle of a geriatric bus tour of the Piedmont region. And, you would figure a few Bible thumpers would have moseyed on in. The Italian docents were eager to help me out, but only one spoke English, but it was very broken English. Hey, she tried and I can’t fault her for that. They must have been bored since I had 4 docents helping me out. So I got to watch a movie about the analysis of the Shroud by myself and then did the self-paced tour holding a crude walk-talkie type device to my ear listening to a woman with a thick British accent. It was quite evident that no one previewed the recording prior to giving the recordings to the museum. At one point, the narrator asked if she could “do it again.”

After the museum, I went a little out of my way to the Café Bicerin, home of the bicerin (unique coffee drink with chocolate with a latte foam). I was still full from breakfast so I just had an espresso and a piece of dark chocolate. This place was touted as having some of the best chocolate in the city, but I was not a fan. From the café, I walked a bit to the Palazzo Reale to see the Royal Library and Royal Armory. However, both were closed despite the sign on the door stating otherwise. I meandered a little bit around the Palazzo Reale and then headed off to my next destination. The Egyptian Museum was the biggest pain in the ass to find!!! I got lost 4 different times trying to locate it. It is in a non-descript alleyway. The Egyptian Museum has the largest collection of Egyptian antiquities outside of Cairo. After walking through the museum for over 2 hours, you get a little mummied, sarcophagused, statued, canopic jared, steled –out. I was out and about for 5 hours and my feet were killing me. Headed back to the Italian “ranch” and put my feet up for a bit.

Once I was rested, I went to the grocery store near the hotel and picked up some gifts. Truly surprised as to how cheap olive oil and premium coffee are in Italy. Even with the exchange rate! For my sister’s troubles (i.e. my two little monsters), I picked her up the largest bottle of Limoncello I could find. Last evening, Jason and I, along with one his co-workers, went to a little pizza joint not terribly far from the hotel. It was decent, but I have had better.

Yesterday morning Jason woke me up at 3:35 (as in AM) to get ready to leave at 4:25. Turin airport is a small regional airport, something you would see outside major cities. It is small and easy to navigate and has a few shops in case you need to get a little shopping done.

However, Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris is a whole other can of worms. Easily the worst airport ever!!! My connecting flights to and from the States were through this airport and had the exact same experience. When you land at CDG, you have to hop on a shuttle, where it takes you is anyone’s guess. And, Parisians are terrible drivers. On my connecting flight in, the shuttle bus I was on tried to beat an airplane taking off. I don’t think I need to further explain this aspect of the story. The signage is terrible and with all of the construction surrounding the airport, signs pointing you in the “right” direction are in French. I put “right” in quotes since I encountered a few signs that pointed to a wall or a baggage chute. Both times I had to exit the airport and re-enter and go through security again to get to the correct terminal. And, you walk a giant circle to get to the correct terminal – roughly 2 miles hoofing it. The gates are cramped and there is not enough seating to support the number of passengers waiting for flights. I was only able to sit a mere 5 minutes before my flight was called after waiting over an hour on my feet. I did get a chuckle while waiting for my connecting flight into Turin. It was delayed and the airline apologized for their “incompetence.”

To reach the gate for my connecting flight to Detroit, oy, took forever getting from Terminal 2D to Terminal 2E, then try and figure out which gate it was flying out of, and trying to find the security checkpoint to get to said gate was a pain in the keister. Once I got past security, I thought I could merrily walk to the correct gate. Oh nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, boy was I mistaken. I had to take another shuttle. Fourteen gates are situated away from the main airport, one of which I needed. The shuttle went around the airport twice and finally dropped us off which seemed like the middle of nowhere. This section of the airport was relatively small. Has a regional airport feel. Simply has the 14 gates, 2 duty free shops, a souvenir / magazine stand, and a café/bar. I can see why, while looking through the duty free shop, the reason people would need to buy an Absolut Variety Pack (4 different flavors) and a 3-pack of Johnny Walker (with its own carrying case, I might add) after experiencing this airport. The amenities in the section were enough to keep me preoccupied and satisfy my caffeine addiction.


And, today, I turn 30. Quite indifferent to that fact.