My Second Weekend Abroad

Hey Everyone,

So I spent my second weekend abroad in Torino to do some more exploring and it turned out to be a pretty eventful weekend. I had my first experience with the nightlife on Friday night when my roommate, Mike, and I went downtown. We went to a few bars and a couple pubs which was cool, but unfortunately we had some trouble finding the disco. It was nice to get out and see some of the nightlife though, and we had a couple conversations with some Italians which was cool. It turns out that most of them do speak a decent amount of English and it seems like they all know Arnold Schwarzenegger haha. They always mention him whenever I tell them I'm from California.

The front of my apartment

After Friday night, I did some exploring on my own on Saturday, and I visited the Palazzo Reale, where the first King of Italy used to live. I was able to walk around the first floor of the Palazzo, which was a pretty incredible place. Unfortunately I was not allowed to take pictures inside, but I took a couple pictures of the outside and the main entrance to the first floor. This place was really incredible and it was really cool to see how luxurious the interior of the palace was.

The Palazzo Reale

Shortly after seeing the Palazzo I took a walk around the area and saw a cool park with some really cool Roman ruins and a couple of statues on each side.
 This was a really cool part of the town and right next to that area I stumbled into the church that contained the Holy Shroud. This was a really cool place as well. I was able to see a replica of the Shroud displaying the face of Jesus on it, as it was hanging above the casket that contained the real Shroud. This was a very holy place and it was really neat to be there. After seeing the Shroud, I then went to a Medieval Armory Museum, which was located in another wing of the Palazzo. This was one of my favorite museums so far because it contains a lot of old, medieval weapons and armor.

The ruins right near the church that contains the Holy Shroud

Unfortunately, I don't think I was allowed to take pictures in here either but it was a really neat place to see. I was pretty tired by the end of the day and kept the nightlife to a minimum. On Sunday, I went to a nearby town called Venaria, which also has a Palazzo. Unfortunately, almost everthing closes on Sundays here so the interior of this Palazzo was also closed. It was really cool to see it from the outside though and I got several photos of that as well. It was also nice to get out of the city for a bit and out into the more quiet and peaceful outskirts of the town. Other than that I'm basically preparing for my other classes that start this week so we'll see how that goes. I've posted pictures of my apartment on facebook so check them out! I've got plans to go to Locarno, Switzerland this weekend so I'll be updating that trip as well!

Ciao!