Weekend of Wonder-ful memories ...

Hope everyone is doing well. Thanks to Nancy, James and Kathy for their comments on my most recent post. Consider this my way of giving a shoutout to those who leave a comment. For those who read this blog and have not sent me a comment, no worries. You can do it without signing up. If you want to continue to just email me separately, that's fine too. Hope all is well in your world. Meanwhile, in my Italian world of wonder, it's going something like this ...

Friday night I wasn't able to attend the Opening Ceremony in Torino, but I sure felt like I belonged while watching the festivities LIVE on TV knowing that the ceremony was only a few miles away from the apartment I'm staying at in the city.

The ceremony certainly was a spectacular display of what Torino's phrase "Passion lives here" is all about. It's wild, it's exciting, it's about cars, it can be about people coming together in peace and not just saying it, it is about the heart, it is about the love of life. It is all of these things and more. I certainly believe the crowd in the stadium felt the electricity there as much as I did watching it on TV.

I woke up Saturday watching a little of the Olympics, but I quickly gathered my things to walk to the nearby train station to take me to Volpiano. I got there and I went with Giusi, my English-speaking guide, who had organized a bus trip for 34 friends/spouses of those retired from their work. Many of the people were older, but they were certainly young at heart. Being the only American, I was the center of attention and welcomed warmly by all. Italians are definitely friendly people who genuinely want to know everyone is having a good time.
The trip we took was from Volpiano to the AostaValley to see the Forte di Bard. It is a large fort formerly occupied by soldiers but it was much more a museum now geared toward not only honoring the soldiers who used the facility for battle but also to recognize the many Alps areas in Europe. It was restored only recently and what our tour group saw was only a small part of what will be a much larger exhibit when it is completed in stages now through 2007. Trust me, though, our tour was long enough for now. It was great to see these people take such pride in their way of life. It's a reminder to all of us in the now that we should preserve things better than I think we do. Life happens so fast some times that it's sometimes hard to keep track of what really matters (Ok, I'll step off the soapbox now!)
Following the tour of the fort -- for which we had to take four lifts just to reach the top -- we got back on the bus and we went to a restaurant called The Alps. There a group of 36 people all sat down and ate a meal -- I counted some 13 different things to eat, Nancy and Brady -- including a few dishes with mushroom complements and the unlikely pairing of tuna and beef and Turkey and fried potatoes. It was washed down by me with the following things -- a house red wine, a strong Barbera red, a small cup of cafe and guappa.
The bus group was so nice to me. They even took up a collection so the bus driver could afford to drive me all the way back to Torino instead of having Giusi be the one to drive me back to my apartment.

On Sunday, I did the following things:

Went with Giusi and two of her friends to get on the train that takes us to the La Superga, a grand church that overlooks Torino (Barbra, yes, I took photos!). La Superga has many great aspects to it. Not only is it a fabulous church with magnificent art inside, but there's also a memorial to Grande Torino, a soccer team whose plane crashed in bad weather in1949. It killed the entire team and six others and it brought to an end one of Italy's most fabled sports teams. Flowers are always present to remember them.

From there, we went to have lunch -- a Sunday feast -- at another of Giusi's friends' house in the city of Torino. Luigi and Gianna, their daughters and a niece sat with us for a lunch filled with appetizers, bread, 3 kinds of cheese, pasta noodles in only olive oil and sage (I had two helpings!) , small fillets of meat, salad and spinach. I had white wine (4 glasses full), natural water (no gas), a coffee and for dessert, chocolate cake with cream on top, whipped cream on the side and fruit (orange and berries) on top.

After lunch, everyone but the daughters and the niece hopped a bus to Casa Italia to see the area where Italians can gather and tourists can use to learn more about places to visit in the country. It's mainly advertising along with an Italian team souvenir stand, but it was OK to see. From there we went to walk through the Valentino area near the Po River. It was a nice walk and is right by the Torino Exposition Center which hosts some of the preliminary men's and women's hockey games. There's even a life-size medieval fort that is mostly touristy but had some nice features.

We then hopped another bus back to the heart of Torino to walk and see a lot of shops, stop for a drink and to finish our day at the Medals Plaza where from afar, we saw Americans Chad Hedrick, a speedskater, and snowboarder Shaun (the Flying Tomato) White awarded their gold medals. Star-Spangled Banner was playing for both athletes. The loudest cheer, however, was for an Italian bronze medal winner who earned his country's first speedskating medal on Saturday.
Talk about an exciting time for Italians. Made me even feel better knowing that I was there to soak it all up. Just like the wine and the culture of this trip so far.

P.S. For those who checked out the Parra story thanks. It was the feature written before I left for Italy, hence no Torino byline. I am however, going to be doing a short diary item for the PE every few days while I am here.

Ciao!