Police and students in Torino

There always seems to be something happening with the police and students in Italy, this time it was in Torino. There was a national student protest on November 15 over cuts to education in the coming national budget. Student groups are concerned that access to education is being drastically reduced.
In Torino there was a massive police presence and streets in the centre of the city were closed to traffic from fairly early in the morning.  Police were in their riot gear with batons etc and there were massive police vans everywhere - does this antagonize protesters to take physical action? I think so.

In Piazza Castello many people didn't know what was happening and many people registering for the Turin Marathon became part of the student group by default.

Apparently there was some friction between the police and students, but it was all very orderly in Piazza Castello while we were there and what we thought was a flare was smoke from the castagne seller's fire.

Rome to Torino

Arrived in Torino this afternoon after a fabulous stay in Rome at Crossing Condotti - a boutique hotel in via Mario dei Fiori.
Torino is very cold after the mild weather we had in Rome and it is going to be very wet for the next few days. I hope that it is not going to be too cold and wet for Rob for the Torino marathon on Sunday.
Had dinner at Eataly and bought some chocolate - a good start to any stay in Torino :)

Milano

We arrived in Milano yesterday and are adjusting to the change in weather -extremely cold (for us anyway :) ) and a tiny, very basic hotel room.
It has been great wandering around Milano again.  It is incredibly busy -I guess that it is because it is the weekend. The piazza in front of the Duomo, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and stores such as Rinascente are absolutely packed with people -we had to shuffle along in parts of the Galleria.

 There is quite a different atmosphere than Torino, it is buzzy and people look as though they are having fun -even if it is really cold.  We've enjoyed walking around in the cold though Rob had to get a new scarf and beanie.  We're so glad that we bought puffy coats, they are brilliant even though we will never wear them at home.

We did a bit of shopping -well it is Milano :) and have found some good places to eat. We're only here until Thursday so will be wandering around as much as we can besides, it's warmer when you keep moving. Ciao ciao

Zuppa di cima de rapa e guancia di maiale

Shoes made from chocolate in Rinasciente

Shoes made from chocolate in Rinasciente

A snack at the mozzarella bar

How to ruin a perfect risotto: we went to a restaurant near to our hotel which now occupies the place where the Georgio Fedon shop was last time we were in Milano (the home of beautiful bags etc)

The risotto was well cooked and tasty but was served on a base of fried cheese.  At first that seemed ok, but the risotto was a large serve and quickly melted the cheese so the bottom of the risotto was swimming in oily cheese.

Risotto alla milanese

Risotto con funghi porcini

Rob ha fatto la Maratona di Torino!!!!!

Rob ran in the Torino Marathon today, three weeks after the Venice Marathon!  He originally registered in the Torino marathon around the same time as the Venice marathon just in case he missed the Venice marathon.  Anyway, he finished the Marathon today in 4hrs 47mins -about 16mins faster than Venice.

He didn't tell anyone that he was going to do the marathon (apart from nostri figli) because he only really decided last night  and didn't change his diet etc -except he had a beer with dinner instead of a glass of wine :).

No more marathons while we are away! 

In Via Roma on the way to the start in Piazza Castello

 

 A very cold and bit nervous Rob

Getting colder hanging around

The start was about 30mins late and they had the usual national anthem etc.  These were the 'ordinary' runners the elite runners were a little further in front -Rob was put with the elite runners in Venezia by mistake :)  During the pre-race announcements Rob was mentioned as being a"straniero da Australia" who was participating.  I was videoing part of the start for family and happened to jag that bit :) The runners were pretty much all Italian whereas the Venice Marathon had a lot of people from other countries.

Rob near the finish line

Checking his time at the end

Pretty tired at the end.  Those legs didn't have much left.

Rob was very happy to have finished -just a little tired :)

Torino at night

Dusk and the lights have just come on

The evening passeggiata under snow lights made from recycled plastic bottles

Piazza Castello being set up for the marathon -should be exciting

More lights with a stellar theme

SIgns of the zodiac

Tagliatelle ai carciofi

Spaghetti con speck e asparagi

Poetry in lights -we haven't been to the beginning yet to follow it all the way through

Last night was beautiful -very clear and not too cold. It's foggy and going to rain today so it's good that we got some photos last night.