The last day in Turin Ross and I got out of the hotel quite late but since we are both quick packers and since we'd planned our day the night before it was no problem. I wanted to see the Medieval City in the park by the Po river, and Ross was set on taking me ice skating for the first time in my life. It was a relaxing time walking along the river toward the Medieval City. Neither of us really knew what the city would be like, but Ross trusted my judgement enough to consent to a long walk to see it. While we walked next to the river we traded off taking photots of each other and of the river. We traded stories and anecdotes....it seemed almost like we could have been back at Sewanee. It was really nice. There was a part of me that felt like we should have woken up at the crack of dawn and loaded as much touristy stuff into our remaining hours as possible. There was a bigger part of me that just appreciated walking in Italy with Ross.
Finally we arrived at the Medieval City, and I think we were both glad we'd seen it before leaving Turin. Multiple buildings in medieval style gathered close to one another on the bank of the river, complete with a Castle that you could tour, it was a sight to see. In fact I was like a child at a theme park. I wanted to see each facet and go up close to every building. Due to time constraints we decided a tour through the castle wasn't necessary, but it was fine since just being in the center of a little medieval city was enchanting to me.
For lunch Ross and I finally ate at a place from my book that I'd been eyeing since arriving in Toulouse. 'La Badessa', located in the Carlo-Emmanuel I plaza, caught my attention because it was inside a palace. I think I was expecting a grand staircase and marble floors. Instead we found sparse furnishings and chamber music. Okay so the setting wasn't exactly what I'd thought about when I'd imagined a palace, but it was still really a cool atmosphere. Ross and I ordered two different 'taste' options. His plate included lasagna, green beans, and veal. My plate included a pork chop, potato cakes, and simple pasta. Trading back and forth, tasting each other's dishes we halved everything so that we got six different foods. Ross couldn't get enough of the green beans and pork chop and neither could I. Something about the spices used had our mouths captivated. Never before had he or I liked green beans so much. At the end of the meal we decided the perfect plate would have been my pork, Ross' green beans, and my pasta. For dessert we ordered some chocolate cake concoction which was yummy but not mind blowing. Then again, I'm a sucker for anything chocolate. The meal at Badessa turned out to be really yummy. Thankfully, we'd left ourselves enough time to ice skate before heading back to the hotel to grab our bags for the train station.
The rink was set up in our plaza which turned out to be a perfect location. From the rink we could see the Madre and the rest of our plaza and even look down Po street. Lots of adults were watching their kids on the rink, but Ross and I weren't the only people over 15 on the ice. A few more 'adults' skated around just as wobbly as I did. Ross said it would be just like roller blading and he was right. Skating was easy! However, with my camera in my pocket I was terrified of falling on the ice and harming myself or it. The hour spent ice skating was so much fun. Ross half tugged me around the rink until I got the hang of it. At intervals we snapped photos of each other and did awful tricks on our skates. Ross was able to skate on one foot. My trick was hurriedly turning a very shaky circle and managing to stay upright. As ridiculous as we probably looked we had a ball. I had tons of fun shrieking and laughing while wobbling around the circle while hanging onto Ross' coat cuff. The hour went by way too fast before we had to take off our skates and dash to the hotel to make our train to Milan. The taxi driver gave us our last little bit of Turin, muttering in Italian at the slow, unpredictable driver in front of us. In the backseat, loaded with backpacks, good memories, and our train tickets I think we both said a mental goodbye to the quaint, lively, welcoming city of Turin. We made the train, sitting across from each other, and took off for Milan with smiles on our faces.
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