Ciao Italia! (Friday 2nd August 2013)

The early morning was warm and quiet at 6:00am in Paris as we threw our things together for the short trip to Gare de Lyon. We found a patisserie near the station and grabbed some breakfast while we waited for the train to depart. The 9421 to Milano pulled out right on time and was quickly speeding through the outskirts of Paris. My first observation was how smooth and quiet the train was. One would hardly know it was moving but for the scenery and buildings flashing past.

The route ran adjacent to the French Alps but we were on the other side of the train. Nevertheless, when we got way down south we entered the Alps and saw some very spectacular mountain scenery. Very tall, rugged and rocky peaks, fast-flowing grey rivers (glacial fed), snow and ice on the peaks near and far and little towns nestled in the bottom of valleys and gullies. Kerry took all the photos as she had the window seat and I was blogging.

We were joined by the French customs police at one stage. They were randomly selecting bags and seeking their owners. As we crossed the border there was a stop and a change of train personnel but no passport checks or the like.

After six hours, which seemed much shorter than that, we arrived at Torino Porta Susa. The station was not so busy and we quickly found our way the taxi rank. Soon we were at Al Piperita B&B on the edge of the city centre. We're about 15 minutes walk from the Piazza Vittoria Veneto, the main centre of Turin – in a social sense anyway. Our hosts are Pier and Federica Paolo – young couple. Pier met us and proudly showed us around home. Our room is very well furnished, the bed is comfortable and we have private access via our first floor balcony to the front door of the six floor apartment building. The balcony over looks an internal court-yard where I can hear children playing as I write. The room as wifi and a FAN!!! Yey, 'cos it's bl*&#y hot!

We had a coffee with Pier who gave us the good oil on where to go, what to see and how to get around Turin. First job was to get to the laundromat. It's been a long time since we did some washing so the clothes were begging us to go. Pier told us of a nearby 24hr laundromat so we filled two bags and headed over there. But we didn't do any washing! The proprietor's mother greeted us, took Kerry's instructions about what to do with the various types of garments and told us to go for a walk and come back in an hour. We found a nearby bar and enjoyed the air-con,cold drinks and something for lunch. Next we found a telco and I brought (I think) a SIM-only deal for 30 euros. It's with Italy's “Telstra” called TIM.

We made our way back to the laundromat to find our clothes washed, dried, folded and packed all for 14 euros. The only way to fly. Incidentally, we were going to be dumb tourists and stay and do it all until we got the sense that we might offend them if we did. So that's why we left as advised. “That's how it's done in Italy”, her son explained.

We carried our happy clothes back to he apartment and crashed for a couple of hours. We woke at 7:30pm, splashed some water on the faced and walked into town. In the main piazza we found numerous places that do “Aperitivo”. Between the hours of 5pm and 10pm one saunters up to one of the many tables in the piazza, you hand the waitress 10 euros, she brings you your beverage of choice (Corona for me!) and directs you to the buffet inside her bar. There you can choose from a wide selection of hot and cold food and fruit. Basically, as long as you're drinking you can keep eating. A great way to end a busy day! Er, needed the walk back to the hotel.....