I had a very busy day today. I woke up at about 8:30 and took my time getting ready and caught the bus right outside my hostel at about 9:30 to go to the downtown area. Because it is Sunday, many places were closed so at the first cafe I came upon I decided to have a cappuccino and a chocolate croissant. Yum!
After my breakfast I had planned to go to the Egyptian Museum which is supposed to be the largest collection of Egyptian items outside of Cairo. On my way there, this building that I discovered the day before (and fell in love with) had its doors open so of course I went inside. It was Palazzo Carignano which was once a private residence for the Princes of Carignano. The outside of the building though looks like something out of a Harry Potter movie. The inside though was so elegant and regal I could have seen myself moving in. The tour was free and only an hour so that postponed my trip to see the Egyptian museum. And a free short tour of a building that I fell in love with...not going to pass it up. The staircases (one on each side of course) were so elaborately decorated with the different Caesars and carvings leading up to this like parliamentary room of just beauty and class. There were living spaces for the Princes too but I didn't feel the beauty as much as I did with the parliamentary space of that first room we saw. Everything else was beautiful yes, but over the top with ornate gold and trimmings. Too much if you ask me. And it didn't help that the tour was only either in Italian or French so I struggled along listening and kept getting confused by the years and the princes they kept mentioning. But I still enjoyed it and thought it was very beautiful.
After the Palazzo Carignano I went to the Egyptian Museum which was literally maybe less than 100 feet away. Can I just say wow! I would highly recommend this museum if you like history in any way. The sarcophagi that they had in this museum is enough to make me want to go back. I have pictures but the pictures do not do it justice. I couldn't decide what was more impressive to me, the sarcophagi or the parchments of linen/paper from like 1800 B.C. Yeah, you read that right, B.C. First of all, to have written language from that time period, to have a way to decipher it (the Rosetta Stone) and to be able to pretty much understand that lifestyle and traditions just amazes me. And how well some of the things are preserved like some of those mummies and the artifacts. Damn! That museum is pretty cool. That is also where I got the quote for my blog from.
After the Egyptian Museum I sat near a statue listening to a trumpeter play music in the piazza as I ate and texted my friend Janet since everyone else I knew was sleeping. After lunch, I went to the Cinema Museum. Yes, I know I'm from LA and I kind of know people in the business and been around enough to know the point. But that museum also was pretty cool. It opens up with the history and the development of movies such as Edison, the moving picture, the optical illusions, how the eyes work while watching movies etc. Not the most exciting thing but interesting. Oh and some of those first movies....uh don't take your kids because they are a little x-rated. Pre-Playboy status folks. Anyway, after the history part of it, you go upstairs to this giant room of couches to watch clips of unique dance scenes and something else (I fell asleep, ooops). But off to the side of this giant room are themed doorways of Westerns, Fantasy, Animation, Horror, etc. and inside its like you are walking into a set of one of those themed type of movies. The whole layout is well done and pretty cool to walk through. On the third floor you kind of get shown step by step on how movies are made like story boarding, editing, sound, CGI, etc. and they show you using famous movies like Psycho, Citizen Kane, etc. The 4th floor has movie posters from back in the day but in Italian so it was kind of cool to see an Italian movie poster for "Singing in the Rain" or "Casablanca". After all of that, and if you paid in advance, you can go up the building into a tower where there is an observation deck. Oh apparently the Cinema museum is the tallest museum in the world. Don't quote, I'm just telling you what I read. Anyway, I got some cool shots from the deck of the heart of Torino.
I had dinner on the street and then came back to my empty hostel room. I am paying for a 4 person room but luckily, no one is here and I get to enjoy it all to myself! With that said, I have a busy day tomorrow too as I catch a train to Florence so I am off to bed!
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