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Italians Have This Odd Notion
They think they have the right to name their own cities! For example, they think it's OK to name Rome, the home city of the Vatican*, "Roma." Even more egregious, they call the city of Turin "Torino." Attempt to rob me of an apostrophic jape? I won't have it!
Their Other Notion Isn't Quite So Odd
Perhaps they have a "truth in hotel names" regulation. We stayed at three different hotels. One had a rather pedestrian name and it wasn't spectacular. The other two sported monikers which included "Grand" and "Palace." Despite my mini-whine about Turin actually being Torino, the hotel, possibly in a sop to English speakers, acceded to the inevitable.
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In addition to the wonderful breakfast fare, the hotel sports a rooftop lounge from which can be viewed fireworks and, at a different time of day, my friend and associate Claudio Maccone, who is a resident of Torino and has his own moon. He lives in Torino and popped in for a quick visit. I neglected to take additional photos of the interior of the hotel, but it was lovely, and the staff was impeccable.
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Torino was our last stop on the official part of the tour, and we had some unshepherded time to wander through the city. Of course, this meant a chocolate stop, not to mention shopping.
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The Musy Padre E Figli is a famous jewelry shop (and right next to a chocolate shop) but what I found interesting was that either for protection or for historical authenticity, the whole front display rotated inward and replaced itself with the panels in the photo when the shop is closed. |
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Of course no visit to Torino could be complete without a visit to the Museo Egizio, which had an astonishing number of artifacts and several floors of displays. In my remote youth I remember attending a spectacular and highly publicized Egyptian display at the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art**. The Torino museum is all-Egypt all the time, and far more comprehensive and educational. At least I remember more about it than I do about my previous foray into Egypt Past, although that's not surprising at 60+ years of remove. | As educational as it was, you can't exactly rely on me for an accurate narrative. I'm sure there are plenty of Egyptian scholars who spend weeks studying the exhibits and writing learned papers. There's a lot of Egypt going around nowadays, including a television series about recent Egyptian archaeological discoveries and digs. But given the brevity of our time in Italy, and, for that matter, of life itself, I simply chose to be overwhelmed by it all. |
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I have a lot more pictures, and Torino has a lot more attractions. Let's leave Torino with this... |
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*Oddly, the Vatican is in the city of Rome, but NOT in the country of Italy. It is its own country, and has given me an asteriskal opportunity in the very first line of this blogitem.
** By "remote youth" I do believe I was in grade school at the time. I can be forgiven for forgetting the details, and remembering only the grandeur.
| © 2022 |
| Richard Factor |
NP: "A Nice Surprise" The Golden Dawn |
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ToTD Unlike yesterday's possibly-official Yes T-shirt, I'm pretty sure there's nothing "official" about this one. My having this shirt is puzzling because I'm not a big fan and certainly wouldn't have bought it, not even to use as an example of a serious vowel deficiency. And yet...there it is! |
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