Errors from last email
I think I got a few things wrong in my last blog. Torino is in Piedmont. Milan is in Lombardia. Both areas house the super powers of Italy in terms of industry and this wealth. I'll need to research what the crazy Napolean was up to when he tried his hand at joining Italy to France.
Food
Most days for me here in Torino revolve around food. I have been checking out cook books and watching people at restaurants in the hope I can learn to make the food I cook and love 'more' Italian. Most days I try to make a new bread / focaccia / pizza base. I've been trying a few Indian dishes as well as I find their food has the same simplistic rich taste philosophies. My biggest challenge is finding what each ingredient is in Italian. Once I work that out, i'm all good. It's been great and I think i'm getting better at bread. I clearly will need a wood fired oven in my house (when that all happens!) and a good source of flour, yeast and vegetables!
Chiuso
Chiuos is a word that is seen on most shop fronts at the moment. While you might think that the Italians would want to be doing everything in their power to stimulate the economy actually they are on holidays. I estimate 80% of shops are closed at the moment. In the touristy spots most things are open but everything else is closed. I don't know if it is a rule but the shops all show when they are closed until. Some have said they won't open until September! The little bakery below me here on Via Monferrato has a ?? marked where it should have a re-opening date! It is bloody hot here in Torino so I can see why people are leaving...
Milan with George
On Friday, the 14th I headed across to Milan to meet Georgie Mitchell. She had been hanging in Lausanne and was keen to meet up. We thought Milan would be good as all the main train lines head through there. Feeling somewhat like a local I was able to show her around the main bits of the city and all the fancy shops. Luckily for her credit card most of the big shops were closed for the holidays. Nonetheless we found respite in the air conditioned Ralph Lauren shop among others. We had lunch in front of the Duomo and also checked out the Design Super Market in La Rinascente. Unfortunately our trip was short but we got to do the main things and hang out which was great.
The only bummer was getting back to Torino to find Trav's bike missing where I had locked it up in front of the train station. This meant trying to deal with the train station security and the police. All very hard with no Italian! Not sure what i'm going to do now but presumably owe Trav a bike! Bummer.
Bike rides with Falsto
Falsto has been taking me on short little bike rides around the hills of Torino as well as along the River Po. He rides a mountain bike so it's a little hard to keep up on my roadie on the dirt tracks! In any case it's been fun. On Saturday we followed the River Po south. It was great seeing the back-blocks of Torino. Sections of the track were lined with huge apartment blocks clearly built for the working class who operated the former Fiat plant here in Lingotto. A great side of Torino and Italy to see.
He had to head home but pointed me in the direction of Avigliano which is a small town to the west of Torino with some gorgeous little lakes. Although it was pretty warm by then I decided to head around to the huge old church/cathedral San Michele perched high up on the cliff above Sant Ambrogio. i couldn't find a way up there from where I was so ended up riding along the main roads to Susa. The road to Susa follows a large valley running west of Torino. It is one of the main exits to France and Switzerland. Also in the valley is a mountain stream. I got to Susa, rather exhausted mind you, and found a bakery to refuel. In fact it was a sensational bakery and one of the best i've been to in Italy. Lots of sweets! The Focaccia di Susa (sugar coated sweet Focaccia) was amazing.
I had planned to head back to Torino (as Susa is 50kms from Torino by main road) but on my way saw a sign pointing into the mountain saying Colle delle Finestre. This road also had road signs pointing to France! This excited me...anyway it was some serious climbing. It was about 12kms of switch back after switch climbing to 1500m altitude. Luckily much of the road on the way up was in the shade and there were water stations along the way. I was sweating seriously hard and constantly out of the saddle punching the 39-25 wishing for a 28! I was hoping to get to the top which is at 2200m or something but unfortunately the road turned to very rough dirt road stopping me. This was probably a good thing because I needed to get home as well! So I punched back down the switch-backs on the brakes a lot of time. The front wheel was scorching hot from the friction brakes when I got to the bottom in Susa and stopped for directions. I pointed my front wheel in the direction of Torino and hit it into a stiff headwind all the way home. By the time I crawled onto the couch in Torino and checked google maps i'd done 158kms. Once again, it was great to see different parts of the country side here. It turned out I was only 20kms from the Swiss border! Next time...
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