Neve
There is so much snow here, it’s wonderful. The ground is covered and the city is looking beautiful. Today, the mist cleared and we could see the mountains from our apartment – they’re still magnificent and now frosted with a skiable glaze.
On the downside, Maureen and Chris’ flight back to the UK was delayed by a day – the plane never left Gatwick. They got home safely in the end: the Italians aren’t stopping for the snow, they just have to wait for their English counterparts to keep up.
Panettone
Panettone is delicious. It’s like some kind of miracle-cake: it get stored in a bag, in a box, in a supermarket for a few weeks, and then pops out all moist and fresh when you want it. I think the texture is like a bun, a sweet and yeasty dough. Amy says it’s like a cake. Whichever, it’s tasty. Not recommended for haters of candied peel though: that seems to be a requisite ingredient.
Museo Egizio
Turin hosts the largest collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts outside Egypt, at the Museo Egizio. The collection is pretty spectacular: there are mummies in their multiple coffins (displayed, behind glass, open like an exploded drawing assembly diagram). There are numerous pots: clearly the ancient Egyptians liked pots. Or maybe they just made _really_ good pots capable of surviving the millennia. Or maybe pots are of little interest to tomb robbers and owe their prevalence to their mundanity. The first room is full of pots, anyhow.
Subsequent rooms are more exciting, with beautiful statues of the gods, (complete with dramatic lighting, very Italian) some original documents that enabled the deciphering of hieroglyphs, wonderful funereal scrolls, re-created tombs, jewellery and fossilised bread. Worth a visit, if you’re in Turin.
One of the most impressive Egyptian collections outside the UK and Egypt and you reduce it to a scene from Hornsea Pottery…?
By: The Travelling Bum on December 25, 2009
at 5:19 pm
What – it has more Egyptian artefacts that the British Museum or is this just another Turino boast as in the largest square in the world, Europe, Italy well Turino!!
One of our Christmas presents was some Pandoro – looks lovely. Will report on it later.
By: john on December 25, 2009
at 5:22 pm
Just checking and Expedia says that Turin houses the largest collection of Egyptian artefacts outside of Egypt – that has to throw doubt on the claim then!!!!
By: john on December 25, 2009
at 5:49 pm
The snow must have been bad because the BBC reported that Milan aeroporto was closed during the snowy period.
By: john on December 26, 2009
at 7:44 pm