Not A Care in the World

I’ve been going through my pictures on my computer trying to organize them. It is so much fun looking through all my previous adventures!

One of my favorite memories of being in Milan last year was spending a few hours by this fountain. It was such a hot day so we decided to get some gelato and put our feet in and relax while people watching.There were two little boys having the time of their lives playing in the fountain not caring at all that they were surrounded by people. One of my favorite pictures of the trip is of one of the boys playing.

Beautiful Torino

Venice was Mo’s choice for a day trip and Torino was mine. I had wanted to go to Torino since the 2006 Olympics.

A park right outside the train station

In my opinion, Torino is one of the most beautiful cities in Italy. It has a ton of old buildings, really nice piazzas and a beautiful river.

Cathedral

We were only there for a few hours and by the end were both thinking of finding a hotel so we could spend more time there!

On the way down to the river

At the entry way to the church on the other side of the river

Unfortunately, most things were closed so we just enjoyed spending our time relaxing and walking around. I also had a vegetarian fail (Yes, I am a foodie and a vegetarian), when I completely forgot that agnolotti, a typical pasta of Northern Italy, is always filled with meat. Luckily, I didn’t eat too much!

The cathedral in Torino houses the Shroud of Turin which is supposedly the cloth Christ was wrapped in when he was crucified. Only the Pope and one of the high-ups in the Torino Cathedral can decide when to bring the real cloth out. Visible in the church is a replica.

Torino also has the National Cinema Museum which includes a tower with beautiful views of the city. We weren’t able to go up, because the line was REALLY long. The only way up is by elevator. Has anyone ever been there who wants to share some photos??

Cinema Museum

Torino also houses some factories of really famous products. Tic-tacs, Nutella and Fiat are all made in Torino! It’s not clear whether these factories are open to the public, though.

He is always stopping to feed the birds

I love this birds face!

The Olympics must have taken place outside of Torino, because we could not find anything about how to visit the Olympic village.

So, if you end up going to Torino learn from my mistakes and do a little more research first! And most importantly, enjoy this beautiful city!! Torino in my mind is up there with Bologna in terms of beauty. I really enjoyed my day there.

Stress-Free Day in Stresa

Thanks to a blog post I found on hostelbooker’s Facebook page about traveling Northern Italy by train we decided to take another day trip to a town on the Lago Maggiore.

Sunset on the lake

This lake is huge and has a lot of towns around it, but after some research we decided on the town of Stresa which has about 5,000 habitants . This town really reminded me of my trip to Nerja, Spain. It was a really beautiful town with amazing views of the lake. It was VERY touristy though.

Unfortunately, when we arrived it had just finished raining and was still really cloudy. The main reason we wanted to go to Stresa was to ride the cable car up the nearby mountain. But, after a trip to the tourist office we were advised that it wasn't worth it since we wouldn't be able to see anything through the clouds.

We spent the day wandering around and sitting by the lake. Towards the end of the day we decided that since we weren’t able to go up the mountain we would go on a boat ride to one of the nearby islands.
We ended up going to Isola Superiore passing the beautiful island called Isola Bella (literally meaning beautiful island) which holds a palace and gardens.

Isola Bella

Isola Superiore was cute but small. Luckily, we only had about an hour to wander around before we went back to the train station. It took all of about 10 minutes to walk all the way around the island. It was full of hotels and restaurants that looked really nice and relaxing. If you are looking for a vacation full of peace and quiet this is your place!

Tiny streets