My Feet Dream of Wandering: Couch Surfing in Torino included a student demonstration against Burlusconi

To break up a week I had here in my home town of Vedano Olona I decided to check out the nearby city of Torino (Turin). At first my plan was to make a day trip out of it but I quickly realized that there was enough to see to warrant a longer stay. I decided to give Couch Surfing a go. Couch Surfing is an online network designed for travelers who are interested in not only seeing the sights of a new place but also in meeting local people and learning more about the local culture. I had had great experiences with the organization in SE Asia so I made sure my profile was updated and sent out requests to be hosted by a friendly local for a night in Torino. I was fortunate to get a positive response from the host I had desired so off I went early on a Thursday morning.

My host had informed me that she worked during the day so I had sent out a request for someone to meet me to hang out and show me around. I got two responses, one from a German tourist who was just visiting too and wanted company and another from a Torino local who wished to be our tour guide for the day.

We spent the afternoon touring Torino.

We began our tour with the Egyptian Museum for which Torino is very famous. Thanks to excavations by Italian Bernardino Drovetti the Torino Egyptian Museum hosts the second largest collection of Egyptian artifacts of any museum in the world. Cairo has the largest.

After the museum, we explored city.

This piercing is a bit like something from our 1% for art program.

There's an active rowing club in Torino. My Couch Surfing host later informed me that she used to be a member and found it quite enjoyable before school.

The famous Mole Antonelliana, which hosts the Museum of Cinema, is possibly the tallest museum in the world.

Me with the local Torino guide and the German fellow CSer.

At this point we all went our separate ways and I headed to my CSing host's house. She and her apartment proved to be lovely and after some coffee and chatting we went out to meet her friends for an aperitivo, an Italian tradition Torino is particularly known for.

Northern Italians go out for an aperitivo generally as a post-work and pre-dinner activity. It offers people a chance to unwind after a stressful day in the office, spending time with friends over a good drink or two. Basically it goes like this, you buy a drink and you eat whatever you can for free. Usually it's just "finger food" but in Torino it's something exceptional. There was pizza, various types of pasta including one with mussels, salads, meats, and bread. They kept bringing out new dishes as soon as others were empty. So we ordered a bottle of wine to share and ate dinner for free! Not a bad deal, if you ask me.

Then we headed out for drinks at a bar near the city center where my CS host's friend worked.

The outdoor seating afforded me the opportunity to show off the spiffy jacket I purchased on my excursion to Barrow this past summer. It has a polar bear embroidered on it.

Since my host and her friends are all post-grad students, we then headed to a student owned, decorated, and organized bar to meet up with more of their friends. It was great to be in the student atmosphere again with interesting posters and creative people eager to discuss their studies.

You know you're among good people when they start singing, "I'm not crying. I've just been cutting onions. Making lasagna...for one. Oh, I'm not crying." Anyone who can quote Flight of the Conchords is good people.

I was impressed with the active university student population in Torino, especially the next day when, after exiting the apartment for a morning tour with my CS host, we were greeted by a student organized protest against Burlusconi.

We arrived at the tail end of the demonstration. Apparently earlier there had been an altercation with the police. My host explained that the students wanted to make sure that their demonstration made the news so unfortunately they had to do something to draw attention to their cause.