Well, I went back to Manchester for Christmas, got a chest infection and it all kind of ended up as a blur in my head. We managed to get to the theatre at Home MCR to see Little Women and it was great. It’s one of my favourites anyway, so I was pretty much guaranteed to like it.

After Manchester, it was off to Italy and we spent New Year in Turin.

We drove over from Vicenza and stopped off at an outlet on the way – I didn’t buy anything but we went to Venchi to have a ‘bicerin‘. I don’t think this was authentic, but unfortunately, the choice wasn’t mine to make *grumble grumble*. It was sickly but I’m glad I tried it.

We finally got to Turin and we were staying at Hotel Ponte Sassi. It was a great hotel at a great price. Breakfast was very generous and free parking was available. Unfortunately, there were some leak/flooding issues whilst we were there in the bathroom which kind of put a – for want of a better word – dampener on it.

We got the bus and headed for lunch to Piola 1706 which was excellent! The staff were really lovely and the food was amazing.

We spent the afternoon trotting about and then headed over to the Museo Egizio which you must must must buy advance tickets for. The queue was incredible and the people inside too! You couldn’t really get near anything. We saw people doing tours and I think it would be good to do that next time.

We have family in Turin, so at the evening, we met them and they toured us about the sights and lights. Turin is an incredibly beautiful city.

Dinner was pizza at La Medusa right next to the hotel and it was massive inside!

Day two coming soon.

Happy New Year! I hope 2024 is the year you want it to be and wishing you all the best.

Emily