Birthday Pictures

As anybody who read the last post knows, Friday was John's 30th birthday. We celebrated by drinking a bicerin (pronounced 'bee-chereen'), which is a Torino specialty: hot coffee mixed with chocolate with a cool foam on top. It was very good--even for non-coffee lovers like us--and we had it in purportedly the best place to go for bicerini in Torino, a 17th century pub/candy shop sort of place. Alas, we forgot our camera! Fortunately, we remembered to bring it to another notable venue, a picture of which you'll see below. Friday night we went out to a nice pizza place where John had a sausage pizza and I had a sausage pizza with potatoes on it! It was a beautiful blending of worlds. Then that night, we watched Hudson Hawk, which is a very, very strange movie that John really enjoys and I sort of tolerate. But anyway, on to the pictures!

Birthday presents from Dyfan, Caroline, and family: Walkers Shortbread and Italian Chocolate. Fantastico! Plus a homemade card which, if you zoom in, will have an eerily familiar picture.

1930s-ish reprint of a photo of Piazza San Carlo. We walk through this piazza on the way to church.


Blowing out the Birthday Torta! The little white blob is a tealight, which is the closest thing I could find to a birthday candle.

Saturday we took a trip to the venue of which I spoke earlier. Note the charm and familiarity of the drive-through: a little slice of home, complete with minivan.

Every Sunday at church they ask for brave souls who have just had a birthday to come forward. Then Ben (the man in the middle) and the congregation sing Happy Birthday to them and finish with three rousing "Hip, Hip, Hoorahs!" Today was John's turn and he shared it with Andrea (which is a boy's name over here). It was a memorable time.

Next stop, Bardonecchia!