Erick Griffin

6 April, 201923 August, 2020

Turin – Pizza Reprise

Well it has been a while since we last gave an update on what’s going on. And the fact of the matter is, not much, even though Patti and I are exhausted. First things first and consider it preliminary, retirement is just f***** awesome. But we’ll talk about sleep patterns and dreams later at another time.

View from bedroom window, into courtyard

Aside from doing a lot of work cleaning our new apartment and all that entails, and of course shopping for those things you don’t have, but just need, we have been desperate for food every afternoon. Most places open for lunch at 12 or 12:30 and again we have turned to pizza as our salvation occasionally.

Pizza Ad Hoc is right down the block from us and offers a simplified menu which includes great tuna salads, piedmontese hamburger (read no bun here, but really good bread) and an especially thin version of pizza seen above that is just awesome. This happens to be my preferred kind of pizza, short on the dough, tall on the fixings.

Of course as I have already alluded to, shopping has been a major time waste lately. Including, but not confined to traveling just outside the city to IKEA.

IKEA with the Italian Alps with fresh snow in background

After several shopping excursions here and several online, we abandoned future trips, to more accessible stores closer to our new home. Including a cheaper, but nonetheless excellent pizza place three blocks away, called Pizza Vittorio, its pizza is comparable to Red Baron pizza, in thickness.

Served as a personal-sized pizza, around 10 or 12 inches, it was served with whatever toppings you want, if on the menu. For example, wurstel is hotdog and margherita is with tomato sauce, basil and cheese. Though the place was very simple, probably for the younger crowd since the walls had places to write on with chalk, it was quite good. All in all another great place to eat, which I would definitely recommend. Our total bill for two, including beer (1 liter Becks), came to 13€.

Pizza for lunch here is just great…

4.5 Stars ??

27 March, 201922 August, 2020

Turin – The Huntsman

Yesterday we took an Irish respite after a long walk to eat lunch at a pub on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II called The Huntsman. The weather was somewhat on the cool side, but we still availed ourselves the great open air store fronts many restaurants have in Europe, and this pub was no exception.

As with anything Irish, the inside didn’t look like much and we were not disappointed. The main bar was well worn and the tables and surroundings showed years of vigorous use. Either the Italians themselves allow for a good Irish pub night out regularly, or there are plenty of international travelers of Northern European and U.S. persuasion visiting the area, or a bit of both.

In any case having been to Ireland, our somewhat home away from home country, one of us felt it incumbent to test the veracity of the Guinness. We were actually wondering if the silky chocolate texture and flavor would survive dispensing from an Italian establishment. For such an analytic task, Tristan agreed to take one for the team and give it a try.

Tristan enjoying an authentic Guinness moment

After some delay, Tristan noted the bartender getting our drink order together. He remarked, “Let’s see if they draft the Guinness like they do in Ireland?” He even noted the long pause they allow the brew to settle there when we visited the factory last year. As can be seen by his first gulp of the viscous beverage above, he confirmed and was not disappointed with the results.

I on the other hand went with the Grimberger Blonde. A safe bet, when considering every other time I have had it, it always tasted great. Aside from the fact it does not depend on nitrogen to be dispensed correctly like Guinness, it always comes through with a nice clean taste and finish. Though I will say, when dispensed properly you cannot beat a Guinness!

The rest of experience only consisted of typical Irish pub food. A mixed salad for Patti, a hamburger and fixings for Tristan and I stuck with the panini with a side order of fries. All in all worth the 3.7 the tavern is weighted on google.

22 March, 201922 August, 2020

Turin – Europe as a Mind-cleanse

Given all that goes on in America, the day to day political bullshit, Libertarianism ad nauseum, paranoia, narcisistic behaviors, etc. I have found our trip to Europe and Italy in particular more than liberating, I find it refreshing. I would like to use the term mind-cleansing, the act of ridding one’s mind of all past day to day perceptions and cares.

Yes, for sure, the European Union have their own minority stupid asses that hold sway over the majority, with Brexit and other less public referendums. But at least the Brexit has the EU fixated for a change. That they even gave the Brits a relaxed scheduled to leave actually astounds me. As any American would say, if you want to go, please go already. My own opinion is mixed on the matter, but the short of it is, the EU ought to let them fall, and fall hard if they want to. Its best for children to learn from a bloody nose and by extension countries as well.

This brings me to interesting sidewalk art I happen to find. In an effort to clear my mind’, I have allowed my once astral senses to turn earthwards, streetwards to be specific, instead of to the sky and the cosmos they so dearly love. Turin at least seems to be filled with an assortment of strange, if not 12 monkeys, related kind of street art.

The above was found low on a building’s foundation of a common thoroughfare. Of course I am not certain of the objective of the depiction, but imagine it has something to do with turning off your TV. The caption or title seems to read “skene”, which I don’t think has anything to do with the female anatomy, but rather the name of a group publishing their rhetoric.

The next image above appears to perhaps have something to do with the zombie apocalypse. Obviously a young woman in thin bandages stopping us from entering or proceding further. To what end? Or perhaps something totally different. Since I am not part of the society here, merely an interloper, I cannot know for sure. But it appears to be a sincere rejection of something.

Lastly, something I can appreciate. It took great pains during my tenure NOT to become an authority. For some, a cop out for sure, for others an understandable, even allergic reaction to becoming that which one detests. Apparently, our Italian brethren have the same mistrust of the Yale graduates and American elite we do. Once I read this my mind no longer felt as clean as I thought it should. Geography in the 21st century is apparently no longer the cognitive antiseptic it once was.

For a proper mind-cleanse, some far off mountain range, or perhaps even Antartica is more appropriate. I at least, have found the streets of Turin invigorating and its street art interesting but not enough of a distraction for a proper mind-cleanse.

17 March, 201922 August, 2020

Turin – Madama Palace and Museum

Interested by some literature, we happen to read in our apartment, we decided to visit the Madama Palace on via Giuseppi Garibaldi at piazza Castello. The entrance fee was 10€, 8€ for students, which included a map.

Some of the amazing historical items I found in there were the wood carvings. The one example I found the most compelling, was the depiction of Christ’s birth in the manger as shown above. There were other similar carvings and most were done on choir screens or benches. Most of these were reliefs, as well as all of the pictures and stained glass, were, or course, for the benefit of the illiterate part of the congregation.

Erick in front of decorative church panel

The museum is filled with many other artifacts and itself is built on an ancient castle or other ruins from the Roman times, as is evident within one of the stairwells. Ascending to the parapet on the roof provides an excellent view of the city.

11 March, 201922 August, 2020

Turin – The Egyptian Museum

Saturday, prior to my son Tristan and I knowing that we had contracted the flu, we all walked into the center of town to visit the Egyptian museum. It contains the largest collection of artifacts, outside of Egypt. We had thought that Italy was still allowing free admissions to museums from the 5th – 9th. However, this was not the case. In fact, we could not even get a student discount since those are only offered on Thursdays – oh well. The one thing we did get unexpectedly were headsets, which unfortunately ended up to be useless technological throwbacks to the early 1990’s. Undeterred, we soldiered on determined to make the best of it, even among an afternoon throng.

The amazing pieces were the statues and sarcophagi which were surrounded by glass so you can see all sides.

Below is Patti in front of a 4200 year old Sphinx, like the one near the pyramids of Giza.

And finally the sarcophagi we mentioned before.

Well after an hour, which we really enjoyed (our son, Tristan is an ancient history buff), we took our leave to consume some of Italy’s really fine coffee.

Next time we hope to post about something a little less macabre.

7 March, 201922 August, 2020

Turin – We Made It, Eating Real Pizza Now

We landed early this morning at Malpensa/Milano airport, then on to Milano via TrenNord and finally Torino via the FrecciaRossa 1000. Due to conditions beyond our control, our Airbnb host was delayed until 1 p.m. That forced us to remain at the Porta Susa train station for an hour and a half. But, as we arrived on foot to Antonio’s front door, he pulled up with his car right on time.

We spent the next hour or so discussing with Antonio what our objectives were in Torino, how we selected the city, and lastly, how to go about renting an apartment. Our host appears to be a kind person and very concerned with helping us navigate the tricky waters of high Italian rental contracts and all of their associated taxes and costs. We have welcomed any assistance he can provide.

The rest of the afternoon we spent resting.

We ventured out later this evening for something to eat, having skipped lunch we were all starving. Supper at “di Michi” Pizzeria was great and inexpensive. We ordered 14 inch pies, one melanzane and two prosciutto, for 6€ each ($7). Some beer and salad and we were satisfied.

It is now around 9 p.m. and time for more sleep, stay tuned…

6 March, 201922 August, 2020

Cary – Farewell Dinner With The Boys

Last night we enjoyed dinner at Stellino’s to say farewell to Dana, he will be staying behind in Cary, working for Genesys in RTP.

Erick, Patti, Dana and Tristan at Stellino’s

After a great supper, we said our goodbyes and stayed at the TRU Hilton hotel. It is located very near RDU airport, so it was a snap this morning to drop our rental vehicle off and start our real trip. First destination, JFK airport in NY. So we say goodbye to North Carolina for the time being, onto new adventures.

We will keep all posted as we make progress to our final destination, Turin Italy. Ciao for now!

5 March, 201922 August, 2020

Cary – The Jumping Off Point

We are in the TRU Hilton hotel next to RDU airport, our jumping off point for our trip. Tomorrow being the big day.

We spent the last couple of days moving out of our apartment. Most of the furniture went to Dana’s apartment, the rest to storage which is now really FULL.

We have a few more things at Dana’s to do then just waiting for our plane ride. Will be back soon to let you all know how we faired.

18 February, 201922 August, 2020

Cary – The Pain of Possessions Assuaged

Possessions are strange things, they exist in a real sense, are tangible and have numerous properties. Take their affect on a person preparing to move or actually in the act of moving; a task that is required of most during one‘s lifetime. We have gone through just such an undertaking in sell our house last year, but were not prepared for the work nor the memories it evoked that needed our attention. It was like these possessions had more of a hold on us than we did on them.

Our attic prior to our move, just one repository or cache for our junk…

In America we tend to amass a great many of things, possessions (what we call our property) and let‘s face it, junk! This is probably a result of our capitalistic society which not only condones this behavior of the collector, but encourages it! An affect of this behavior is we tend to collect things most of the time that have no intrinsic value, things we have no real intention of using again. Some of us even collect for the sake of collecting, or because we are too lazy or too unwilling to sell, give away or throw out. This is when we discovered we were carrying this stuff around as a large invisible burden. We did not realize it was there, until some force of nature made us confront this massive monster.

We came to our epiphany shortly after my wife and I decided it was time to sell the house and move on with our lives; which up until then we considered one of the foci of our live’s, the other of course being our children. As we poured through all the boxes and other containers in our attic we continually shook our collective heads as to why we saved some of what we had. There are always some things for sure that should not be thrown out, a family photo album or Bible, for example. What we found instead were boxes and bags of old clothes, old children toys both usable and broken, old electronics and a myriad of other paraphernalia. These were all sorted into the following substantive sets, keep for family, sell for money, donate to those in need and throw it away. It was only with this multi-pronged approach that we were able to climb out of our own mount Collyer without it falling in on us.

In the end most of our stuff will not be missed. Some of it has found a better use helping others or has been recycled into the community via the many internet transaction portals one has access to nowadays. The little that remains, that which has any intrinsic familial value, will remain with our children. Most of it furniture that we have collected, jewelry, paintings or other family related artifacts. And yet no longer having it or worrying about where something is has been cathartic. We have recognized a new found freedom that we enjoyed once prior to our marriage. We are unburdened, free. It was always there it was just covered by so much junk we had lost site of it. We have therefore made a promise, moving into the waning years of our life, to change our spending and collection behavior. Our experience is we just do NOT need it and no longer want any of it. It is with this re-found knowledge that we take to our retirement and our fondness for travel, with an ever lighter step. The pain is now gone. Buon viaggio!

17 February, 201922 August, 2020

Cary – Our Preparations Moving to Europe – Initial Thoughts

Welcome to the Griffin’s European travel journal. Here we hope to highlight our travel preparations, travels and experiences moving to Europe and specifically Italy. Today is the start of this blog but not the start of our journey, which frankly started some five (5) years ago.

To be frank, this journey has been long in coming. The first germs of our even wanting to do this occurred close to a decade ago, if not somewhat longer. Now that time is growing short for our trip, there seems almost too much to do: financial planning, selling, gifting, storing, packing, and shipping; the list seems to grow each day. We enter our third week from finishing all this up which will culminate with our travel and entry into Europe via Milan, Italy.

Our storage – our life condensed into a 16 cubic meter space for our children…

As this our first post on this subject and the day has grown somewhat long in the tooth already, I shall pause here and add more tomorrow or later this week. I hope to convey some of the results of our own specific preparations as well as investigations into what we think still must be done. Back soon!