Torino: Day 3

Almost froze to death today atop the open air-only bus tour out to Lingotto, site of FIAT headquarters and not far from the 2006 Olympic Village. I and a kind family from Deutschland huddled together in the back, hoping to keep warm. Yesterday it was SO warm that I headed out this morning in the thin quilted jacket that was rejected last Christmas as a not-so-good-gift and I thus acquired. It was today clearly so not enough, even with the cheery cherry red Ikea blankets that were handed to each of us as we boarded the bus.


 Proceeded bravely, crossed the Po River several times before rounding the bend near the Olympic Village and turning back toward the city center and warm, welcoming cafés. The Olympic buildings and the whole site looked so much more dramatic on TV;  I remember the ICE House where skating events were staged looking so cool and blue at nighttime, but it is really just, in the daytime, a grey metal box. Some buildings are a stone's throw from the railroad tracks, and down there with them. Still, I am a passionate fan of the Olympics, the idea of the Olympics, and that there even is still an Olympics, and I am passionately appreciative that cities like Torino (Beijing, Vancouver, London) are willing still to put tons of effort and millions of dollars into facilities used for maybe a month that will, in some cases, go idle after or fall apart.


 Torino is not overrun with American tourists! Amazing for a city this size within the confines of Italy.  There really is a lot to see here, just not colosseums, canals or famous duomos. Much of its architecture is from the heyday of the elegant, cross-cultural House of Savoy, and it's not all falling apart. Torino has somehow managed to keep its head and style while so many other cities are becoming tattered and homogenized. BIG points of pride here: FIAT and the Juventus soccer club.