Take the #18 Tram to the #72 bus. . .

My friend Terri and I took the tram to downtown Torino in search of a castle that was supposed to be in in the Piazza della Repubblica. We bust out the map and make our way to the Piazza - no castle. That's OK, we'll walk around a bit and see if we can find it. We stumble upon the scene in this picture, the Porta Palatina (gate from the 1st century AD that was one of the entrances to Roman Torino). Pretty cool, but not the castle we were looking for. Then I think "Hey, this looks familiar, I think there's a great chocolate caffe around here!" So, up 5 blocks to the big pointy monument in a traffic roundabout, turn right, up 300 meters and there it is! Caffe Cioccolateria Al Bicerin! Now I've had coffee, chocolate, and milk mixed in just about every imaginable way, but this place is off the charts! The drink is named Bicerin after the cafe and is pretty much the drink of Torino. This coffee shop has been visited by lots of famous (and infamous) people and has been run by women since it opened in 1763. Not only is it in every tour/guide book about Torino, it is also recommended by just about every local I've met.

We consult our map again and realize that the castle is in Piazza de Repubblica, but in a town called Veneria! We ask one of the nice ladies at Al Bicerin who spoke a little English how to get there, figure out it's the number 72 bus, and head off in the direction of the bus stop she pointed out to us. We showed the name of the castle we were looking for to a couple of older gentlemen at the bus stop (neither of which spoke a lick of English), and they pointed out which bus stop we should get off at. So far, so good. A half our later, we happen upon the correct bus stop and get off. Hmm, I don't see a castle, do you?! We stop in at a little shop for directions and get pointed down the street with a cheerful farewell.

Wow, it's getting to be lunch time, maybe we should stop in for some lunch! After a leisurly lunch of lasagna, quiche, and some great vino, we decide to move along. Terri goes in to the bathroom and a few minutes later a loud alarm is going off in the cafe. Everyone chuckles and looks in my direction. "I'll take care of this" I announce to a cafe full of non-English speaking patrons. Terri lets me into the bathroom and I reset the alarm. "What the hell was that?" There are usually two cords hanging from the wall or ceiling in public and hotel restrooms in Italy. One is to flush the toilet and one is the "I've fallen in the bathroom and can't get up" cord! Sometimes it's not so obvious which is which. "But how did you know that, Karen?" Because I've done it before too- but in a museum crowded with hundreds of people!! Life is such an adventure sometimes!

Too late to make a long story short, but we find the castle , Reggia di Venaria Reale. It's a group of buildings on the grounds of Carlo Emanuele II's hunting grounds. Our hunting camps in Louisiana sure don't look like this place! It belonged to the Savoy family in the 1600 and 1700s. I tried to explain to the tour guide that I may be a decendent of the Savoy family (yep, I'm gonna get all the mileage out of that fact that I can!). I thought the word "illigitimate child" got lost in the translation until her eyes got wide, she smirked and said "mama mia!" Just another day in Italy!!!