Apartment Update

It's so close now I can taste it! I have started decorating in my head. Today we got all of our lighting fixtures, the kitchen was being installed and the antique wood floors were sanded down. Check it out:

Art Show

My fellow Torino Etsyian and watercolor artiest, Loredana, is currently having her work shown at a gallery in the center of the city on Via Po. We stopped by to take a look at the show.












Not only were they open on a Sunday but they also had drinks and treats. It was a perfect thing to do on a this rainy day and I wish Loredana the best of luck on her show. Take a look at her Etsy Shop here:
www.artbyloredana.etsy.com

Apartment Update

I showed up to see what's new at the apartment today and wow! Painting is finished and now they are painting the radiators. Also the terrace is almost completed and it looks so amazing. All fresh and new! You can see the view from our kitchen here:Plus there is a window in the office now. Woohoo!

I Found Food on a Stick in Italy!

This is Pepino. It's a gelatoria but more importantly it is where ice cream on a stick was invented! My family will appreciate that fun fact. Maybe now they will come and visit me.

Spring Windows!

Via Roma, Torino. Spring 2009

Apartment Update

Colors chosen, and we have floors!

Stay tuned for more...

Life in Europe, Page 5: Il Cambio Vandelized and Terriorized

This is a picture of the inside of Il Cambio, the oldest and most famous restaurant in Torino.

Last night a group of people wearing black masks charged into the restaurant during dinner time carrying buckets of manure. They declared to be supporting the immigrant workers unfairly treated in Torino. They then proceeded to throw the manure around the walls and the patrons eating. Some of the murals on the walls were painted 250 years ago by artists that never imagined that this morning they would be covered with dung.The culprits have not been caught, yet but the police are still gathering the "evidence" as you can see in this photo I took just this morning. You can also see that all of Il Cambio's windows and doors are shut tight so no peeking in at the damage.

The restaurant is just around the corner from our new apartment so it appears that we will be in the center of all the action of the city. I would like to say that for myself, being an immigrant to Italy, DON'T want these people to speak for me. I moved here for the art history. Many millions of people visit Italy every year for the art history. Ruining it will not win the respect of the rest of the world to your cause, but it will give more attention to Il Cambio, which will just increase its business, which will give them more money to spend on higher security.

Torino Etsyians March Meeting

Etsy girls of Torino met for our monthly coffee chat yesterday. We took a photo for shop local and then had a gelato and talked all things Etsy.

The Best Vespa Commercial

Some day....

What Do We Think About the Newest Trend?

Two Toned Lips, straight off the Milan runways.
(Photo by Mark Leibowitz.)

Torino is a Haunted City

There is a belief that Torino is part of two magic triangles one white and one black. London, San Francisco, and Torino is the black triangle. Prague, Paris or Lyon, and Torino is the white triangle. A wild claim made in the late 1980s stated that some 30,000 practicing Satanists were in Torino alone. These claims are not helped by the fact that Torino if full of underground secret tunnels where medieval alchemy ceremonies were preformed. The Lucedio Abbey held monks who turned into devil worshipers. Nostradamos spent a year here working magic. Piazza Statuto on the west side is along the 45th parallel and is where an ancient Roman burial ground and the site of public hangings and several massacres by guillotine, and Hundreds of ghost sightings are seen every year in the city's crumbling historic buildings.I could go on and on about all the murders, stories, and ghosts seen in Torino but you get the picture. On the good note Torino holds the Shroud of Turin and supposedly the Holy Grail. So you can see how the battle of good and evil are at work here. So when do you plan on coming to visit me in Torino? It just might be the most haunted city in Europe.

CioccolaTO!

You'll never guess where I was today! A place where dreams come true. A place where everything tastes good. A place where you don't care about jobs, men, or money. The Chocolate Festival!

They have everything made out of chocolate. Chocolate covered fruits, chocolate waffles, chocolate sculptures, chocolates made with every flavor under the sun, even chocolate pasta!

Life In Europe, Page 4

In 16th century Venice there was a Plague breakout. It was so bad that the Venetians quarantined and entire island to bury the dead. It killed the celebrated Italian artist Titian. In true Middle-Ages rationality the great male thinkers of the day believed that all of the female vampires walking around Venice were the cause of the perpetuating the disease. This idea probably came from the dribble of blood that often came out of the mouths of plague victims when they died. When one of these "vampires" died they would hammer a brick threw the mouth to ensure the undead bloodsuckers could not feed on the dead plague victims they were buried with. Now they are doing excavations on the plague island called Lazzaretto Nuovo. The anthropologist discovered one of these female vampires skulls, shown in the pictures here.

Here is an article on the finding:
http://dailycontributor.com/200903073786/vampire-skeleton-found-in-venice/

Weekend Market Finds

This weekend the market was in Chieri. The main piazza was blocked off and vendors, not to mention the old men, were out and about. Here are a few pictures if my finds:

Apartment Update

Our apartment looks like a bomb hit it. I guess it gets worst before it gets better.

Kitchen:

Bathroom:

Living Room:

Bedroom:

Only in Europe

This hilarious Cadbury advert should have been a Superbowl commercial but alas, it's for Europe's eyes only.

Drink While You Shop

Hay, did you know in Italy they give you wine to taste while you are grocery shopping? Well they do! You know how they say never go shopping on an empty stomach, but they should add grocery shopping with a buzz is just great!