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Day 2 of Torino saw us up early and onto the bus to visit the Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile di Torino, an expansive building dedicated to the history of the automobile and the long tradition of car manufacturing in Italy. We discovered that back in 1478 Leonardo da Vinci had already experimented with an early prototype of a car (looks comfy!)...
...and that early manufacturers tried to promote their product with ever increasingly long and difficult journeys like this Itala which won the Peking to Paris race in 1907, travelling 16,000 km in 60 days. Notice the long wooden side runners which were used to create makeshift bridges while on the race.
It was neat to see the transformation from clunky and big to sleek and small over the decades. Students recognized many of the cars on display and were especially drawn to the F1 section of cars. An interesting morning of discovery in the heart of Fiat country.
There was also a super exciting ride for kids to go on, look at the nervous excitement!
And here they are at full speed! (video)
Back at the hotel, we split into two teams with the girls heading into town for lunch and a bit of free time before they went to a local pub to watch the first round of the Women's 6 Nations game. Unfortunately the game was a bit of a yawner with England winning 48-0, but the snacks and drinks were good and it is always fun to hang out as a team!
Meanwhile, Mr. Kim took 3 boys to the Alliance Stadium, home of Juventus FC, for a guided tour. An impressive building, and while they did not get to walk on the actual field itself, just being in the stadium and imagining the noise (video) of the crowd was a fantastic experience.
Mr. Daum took the rest of the boys for lunch and a bit of free time in the city center. A couple hours later they went to a local green space for a short recovery session and a few games (video). Super fun to get to run around and just be.
Dinner that night was very animated with everyone in good spirits. The hotel we were staying in was very cool and the players loved their space age cubical beds. (Good thing pictures don't convey smell...)
All in all, a lovely stay in our first Italian city. Everyone seems to speak at least a little bit of English and the general consensus is that things are a little bit cheaper than France and that the bread is a little less delicious.
Our next destination was Venice, but we squeezed in a quick visit to fair Verona on route in the hopes that all of the players would see an increase in their English marks after visiting Juliet's balcony. The stunned looks and total silence that the request to quote Shakespeare elicited would indicate that perhaps this was a worthwhile stop indeed!
In addition to some basic literature, we were also able to see a fine example of Roman architecture in the city arena built in 30AD (and, unsurprisingly, under renovation) as well as lots of interesting architecture. Students had lunch and were able to wander the streets to explore and shop.
Peter even had a chance to help out some guests in the hotel who did not speak Italian or English, what a guy!
After another short drive we arrived to our new digs in Venice (Mr. Daum was very disillusioned to see that the vast majority of 'new' Venice has no canals at all and looks a lot like every other European city) but that was all about to change the next day...
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