OK, I want a castle...

Today we went to the Palazzo Madama, as it was the first time it's been open since renovations started 10 years ago so it was free. This was a late 1600's castle that has been updated several times over the past 300 years (!!!) They have repaired much of the original fresco and trim, and cleaned everything well. They exposed some of the original Roman structure that was under the floor in the main hall.


Looking out of the North East Tower, the spire of the building that houses the Museo del Cinema.


Looking to the South East Tower.

We then walked out away from the piazza down a couple of side streets, and found a great little restaurant to eat a late lunch in called Conte Verde.


After a leisurely lunch of pasta and salad, we started walking down the via Garibaldi all the way to it's end, then back to the Palazza Madama as they turned on the lights.


From there, we headed down Via Roma to the Stazione Porta Nuova (central train station).


This is the main Torino Olympics logo in Piazza Carlo Felize.

It was fun, there were hundreds of others out for an evening walk after the Christmas lunch, and we just walked along the closed shops, looking in the windows, and enjoying the evening.

We did stop for some hot chocolate along the way on via Garibaldi, Wendy had the Special Dark, and I had the Extra Milk chocolate... not what most would think of hot chocolate, this had to be stirred somewhat constantly to keep from solidifying along the top. Molten chocolate... Yum! (Think of the movie "Chocolat!" - it was like that...)