On Saturday afternoon, I went to visit a place in Turin I had never been before.
After stopping in Piazza Statuto to catch a tram and taking pictures of the Frejus monument, I travelled down via Po to the other side of the river.


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This is the monument in Piazza Statuto, in Turin, that commemorates the construction of the Frejus rail tunnel and the people who died digging it. The 13km tunnel connects Italy to France and was opened in 1871.


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I have taken today and Monday off work and am going to spend the week-end in Turin at my parents'.

The "A Civilize Traveller's Guide To Turin" says

Nestled between the Alps and the Po River, Turin was hailed by Le Corbusier as the most beautifully situated city he'd ever seen, and by Giorgio de Chirico as the “most profound, most enigmatic, most ( Read more... )

I'm visiting my parents in Italy this week-end. It was an early start (got up at 5 am to catch my 8 am flight) but a nap after lunch did wonders.

Mother's been busy with the preparations for a big lunch tomorrow (my friend Franco and his parents - who are also my parents' friends - are invited).
I didn't even try to offer my help in the kitchen: I ( Read more... )

Here I am at my parents' in Turin...

And this is what I had for dessert today (because it was my name day a few weeks ago).


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It's rather warm and muggy, and have already a few mosquitoes bites, but I guess it's the price to pay to make my parents happy.

Oh, if only they stopped dropping hints about me moving back!

I took some photos around parents' house and garden today and after lunch (and a little siesta spent reading), I went for a bicycle ride to a local park by the ( Read more... )

I've spent the week-end at my parents, and in fact I'm still here.

I am supposed to fly back to London tomorrow night but there are two strikes in the way: British Airways (my flight is supposed to operate, but you never know) and an Italian strike of airport ground staff.
Well, we'll see what happens!

The weather has been grey and drizzly at times, ( Read more... )

The Sunday before Christmas was an extremely cold day (-14 C/6 F) but I spent a couple of hours strolling around the city centre.

The remains of the the very fine and powdery snow from two days earlier had turned to ice, and it was almost too cold to take pictures: at times when I didn't manage to shoot, I wondered whether it was the camera or the ( Read more... )

Today is my second day back at work after my 10-day Christmas break, most of which was spent in Turin.

I don't mind being back at the office: I had started going stir crazy at my parents, so it's an improvement! LOL!

It's quiet at work and commuting in the morning feels quite relaxed as most people are still at home.
They emerge later as confirmed by ( Read more... )

My week-end in Torino went very well.
I was surprised that it was still so warm (although a 10 degrees C drop is forecast for later in the week) and annoyed to get bitten 4 times by unseasonable mosquitoes!

The highlight of this visit to my hometown was seeing paulintoronto and bobalone who happened to be in Torino at the same time as I.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to ( Read more... )