Destination Torino

Fog is all you can see out of the window. Pitty because my hands are anxious to grab the camera and start shooting, but ill have to wait till later on the day. The atmosphere is calm in this train 9241 destination Milano Centrale. Although id love to go back to Milano if only to visit Marco,Chiara, Fiore and the rest of the people this time I will be getting of at Porta Susua, Torinos stop. It was hard to resist the temptation of the add"30 euros ticket to Torino from Paris". Saw the add, run home, got online and bought a ticket- of course previously checking if Giulia was okay with it, afterall im staying at her place. This is where the adventure began on the 28.09 at 22h on the sncf webpage.

Expectations? Not many, will be staying at Giulias and Carlos place in Asti, 40 minutes away from Torino. Hope to speak and hear lots of italian, eat pasta with real parmaggiano, I willt ry and take as many coffess as possible. And enjoy the few hours- 28 to be precise- that I will have in Italy. Having been to Venice, Milan,Bergamo, Florence, Pisa, Rome and multiple villages in the Alps, im very happy to go back to Italy. I dont know if its the language, the people , the culture or a combination of all which makes me want to go back. This time a new destination. However, Naples remains the city where I want - and of course, one day will go to. Italy is one of the countries where I have most friends from. How this happened I remains a mystery to me, but maybe one day I will move there, if only to absorb and enjoy some of its culture.

I feel that although extremly "fashion oriented" (yes, this might be a major generalization) people are very opened and warm. The impression is that a big value is given to family vanlues and with it reunions gatherings and of course meals. the mediteranean diest appears to be complemented with pasta with all sorts of home cooked sausces , later comes the meat the cheese the cofee and the after food discussions. Loud in nature, and with a need and urge to gesticulate every zord with hands, arms and body friendly discussions form part of their daily routine.

Trains to the south- Italy, Switzerland- seem to leave from gare de Lyon in Paris. This station is very easily accessible with line 14 of the metro. This line has very few stations, however it crosses Paris from one side to the other. Starting at St. Lazare and finishing at Olympiades the line is the newest of the city and most modern. The metros have no conductors and a double door exists permitting a more secure entry and exit of passengers. Each station has a connection with multiple metro lines, becoming like this a central axis perimitting commuters to easily and cross the city.