April 9, 2025

Torino, Italia

Day two! This morning started much like yesterday, however Gloria doesn’t arrive until 10:00. So, instead of cooking breakfast here we decided to go to Torteria 40. It is a bakery/coffee shop about a kilometer from Serra’s on Via Giuseppe Manzini. We loaded the girls into the stroller and headed out.

Along the way we decided to take a route which took us through Piazza Cavour. The apartment we rented for when Serra and Pietro return is on the Piazza somewhere; actually number 20. There was work going on in the piazza, looked like they were setting down new stone pavement? We didn’t find number 20 on the way to the Torteria 40 and decided we would try a gain on the way back.

Torteria 40 has really good brioche with jam, and cappuccino. Luisa got schiumetta (literally the foamy milk that goes into the cappuccino), we each got a cappuccino, and we shared a brioche with apricot jam. They seemed very happy to see us. They even made room inside, although I was just as happy outside and Amadea was asleep in the stroller. As we left we bought a half loaf of bread and a brioche with lampone (raspberry) for home.

On the way we walked by the playground in Giardino Aiuola Balbo (Balbo flowerbed garden). Luisa insisted that we stop so she could go on the swing, slide, and rope climb. We thought it would be a good idea for her to use a little of that exhaustive child energy. I walked around the giardino with Amadea in the stroller. I think she was getting a little hungry and tired. Her last bottle was at 05:00 and it was a small one.

We let Luisa play for about a half-hour and then decided to walk by Piazza Cavour again. We found other addresses but not number 20. It would be on the one remaining side of the piazza we didn’t get to. It is a nice location not more than a half kilometer from Serra’s.

Gloria arrived shortly after we returned to the house. Gloria them packed up the girls and went off to Luisa’s dance lesson(?). We decided to go have lunch at Signorvino a new wine store and restaurant which opened in Piazza Vittorio Veneto just a few meters from Serra’s. We have watched the construction of the restaurant for probably nearly a year. The wine shop is really quite nice and they carry a good number of different wines. The prices seemed a little high, but then the older I get the higher things seem to get. :>)

There was a choice of the outside seating or inside. It was still a bit cool outside so we decided to have lunch inside. No one else was having lunch outside, and there was one table of five or six people inside having lunch. Normally that would be a bad sign, but since the restaurant just opened lack of patrons probably wouldn’t be indicative of good or bad.

Mary chose to have the Tagliatelle al Ragù Bolognse with a class of Nebbiolo Vento du Terra. They were both very good. I chose the Cotoletta Rustica with a Cremant de Bourgogne Paul, a very nice sparkling wine. The cotoletta was good, but the breading was a bit dry. They seemed to be aware of this as they served it with a lemony mayonnaise. It was very good.

Dessert were three mini cannoli. Chocolate bits on one end and pistachios on the other. We shared they. Interestingly the coperto or cover change was €3 each. Gone are the old days when the coperto was half as much. Again, I am getting old. However, on a bill which came to €48.90. The is little more than a 12% tip. The coperto generally means for the table setting, but it really is the tip.

Afterwards we had enough time to do a little shopping and checking out where out apartment is going to be next week. We stopped at Grandi Giochi on Via Po and got a couple toys for Amadea, a card game which Nonna wants to play with Luisa (which Nonna will lose) and some lip gloss for Luisa. The we marched off to Piazza Cavour.

The Piazza was open now and full of children for the near by elementary school. We walked around the whole piazza and didn’t find a number 20. So, we opened the booking app and asked it to direct us to the apartment. Well, it turns out that it is on Via Cavour not in Piazza Cavour. Not a real big deal, but we did think it was on the piazza. It was just a couple blocks from the piazza. Looked nice. Over a tattoo parlor.

The I walked Mary down to her conditioning appointment at Visionhair on Corso Cairoli. On the north side of Corso Cairoli is a green space and the River Po. I walked back along the river until I got to Via G. Giolitti when I turned down Via A. Bonafous and walked back to Piazza Vittorio Veneto. From there it is a short trip to Serra’s.

I managed to get back by 15:30. I was going to take a load of laundry to the laundromat but it usually takes me two hours to complete one or more loads. Mary is due back about 17:00 and Gloria leaves at 17:00 so I decided there wasn’t time for laundry. I stayed in our room out of Monica’s way until she left at 17:00.

Gloria and Mary returned at the same time. Luisa was sound asleep in the stroller. Gloria showed us how to put on and wear the baby carrier. She and Luisa are going to Milano tomorrow with the stroller, so we are on our own.

We played with Amadea until Tiziana arrived and she took over Amadea. Mary pulled somethings for dinner out of the fridge for Luisa’s dinner. I ran to the store to get more low-fat milk to Luisa. I picked up some salad fixings for dinner and a bottle of whole milk for my coffee in the morning.

Mary didn’t want dinner, so I just made a simple salad with fresh peas, lettuce and some of the left-over chicken cut up. I also had a slice of bread that we purchased this morning. Tiziana put Luisa to bed. Then we went down too.

Buonanotte e ciao, Enrico e Maria