After asking the front desk where to go, we headed off. The first thing we did was wonder around till we found a pizza joint. Now when going to Italy I was probably more concerned about eating the food than actually walking around. We finally found place to eat some pizza, and we got to watch mom chug a beer, lol. For those of you who know my mom, well... enough said haha.
After we all three scarfed an entire 25 cm pizza, we started walking around. As we walked we saw some pretty neat churches and buildings through Torino. The way this city was laid out was interesting. It seemed as if they built it up with space between the buildings, and urbanization hit and caused the city to become one huge structure. Walking around you would find a church here, a museum there, an old palace or barracks in the middle of town, and then out of now where you would run into a giant courtyard. The size of some of these buildings was just amazing, not to mention the train stations. After walking around window shopping and getting some drinks we headed back to the hotel to relax before dinner. As we walked towards dinner, I was stilled amazed at the buildings we would see. As we stopped for dinner, the food was everything I could have imagined. I had a plate of spaghetti that was to die for! not to mention the wine that was cheap and absolutely delicious. After dinner we headed back to the hotel, where we all crashed.
After sleeping in, we all got up and headed to breakfast and planned our next journey. We decided that we would stay in Italy for another day, but instead of Torino, we headed to Milan. Milan, for those who are unaware, is one of the fashion capitals of the world! Upon arriving in Milan, we again had no idea of where we were going to stay, but didn't matter it just made the trip a little more interesting! AFter finding a place to sleep, we encountered a concierge that was great. He told us where to eat, shop, sites, and even told us about the Soccer match that was in town. Milan was playing host to the Inter vs. Chelsea game, and everyone was excited. As we walked through the streets we would constantly hear people start chanting for their team and occasionally we would hear an argument between fans.
The places we saw during our stay were: a really big church built in the 14th century or even sooner than that, the church that housed the "Last Supper" painting, but unfortunately they were sold out for the day when we got there. After seeing a few major sites, we headed to the shopping district. I have never seen so many stores for so many blocks. It was just amazing the number of stores that the streets had. I mean there was absolutely no empty buildings! Now the stores were nice, but the cars parked outside of them was even more amazing. After stopping in a few of the stores, we headed for dinner and then would call it a night!
Our next adventure would take us to Zurich. As we boarded the train, we all were tired enough to just crash almost instantly! On the trip to Zurich we got see some of the most beautiful sites we could have wanted too. The Swiss Alps were just amazing and words can't really describe what we saw, so just look at the pics on facebook.
Once we arrived at our hotel in Zurich, we started to wander around the city again looking at the shops and some of the little restraunts in the old parts of town. We then made our way to Lake Zurich, and again the view was just unbelieveable! After gazing over the lake for awhile, we headed back to the 'magnificant mile', or what is a really expensive part of town. Here we got see the infamous Swiss watches. Just a random fact, there is actually a law that governs the quality and branding of the "Swiss Watches". If you have some free time, Google it and its pretty interesting. Some of these watches that we saw were in the range from $100 Swiss Francs to about $50,000 Francs, no joke! The part that really got me was the $11,000 cell phone, I like expensive phones, but that is as much as a nice used car, or a down payment on some persons home.
Much like most people I am a sucker for fashion, or at least I like to spoil myself every now and then. What I am getting at is that I broke down and bought me an original Swiss watch. The neat part about some of these watches is the years of business the watch company had been in business. There were some that had been around since the 1700's! Mine is only from 1888, but still I felt like a true Swiss for a little bit, or maybe it is an ignorant tourist, but ohh well.
When we awoke the next morning, we headed to the train station to begin our journey home. Mom and dad were going to be leaving at 2pm, and we were still four hours from Frankfurt. As they dropped me off in Mannheim we said our good byes, and they were off.
I just want to say thanks to both my parents. I know that our trip was probably more expensive than any of us could have imagined, but then again I am priceless, lol! I just want to say thanks for coming to see me and the memories that will last forever. It means the world to me when you fly almost half way around the world to see me for a couple of days. Again thanks for everything, because if it wasn't for you I probably wouldn't be doing what I am or be the person I am today. Thanks for the great memories, and I love you both!!
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