Turin Monday and muddled churches

There is a bus that goes direct from Turin to Malpensa airport at Milan out of which I am flying on Saturday. I want to sort out how to get to the bus rather than wait till Saturday and potentially get all hot and bothered before I even get on the bus, let alone the plane. To this end I set off today in search of the place to buy a ticket which I got from their website. The first place said ‘not any more’ or many words to that effect. The lady at the second place was quite abrupt, also ‘No’ so I kept walking to the third place, thinking ‘do I want to risk getting to the airport in another city with a company with an outdated website’? It may be just the first places. Anyway I bought a ticket. The bus leaves from there or also another place in Turin that will be easier for me to get to, so I walked there – a big bus depot to find where the bus left from, but I have just realised I do not know what side of the road the bus goes from. Bother!.

From there I walked to a little old café for a bicerin. This place, called Al Bicerin, claims to have invented the drink in the 1700’s . I sat in the little piazza , near where I had luch yesterday, and watched people and read a little. The drink came in a glass. Hot coffee, then hot chocolate and then a 1cm layer of a cross between milk and cream. The coffee and chocolate were hot, the cream was cold . I was told not to stir it. The way it flowed, when you sipped, you got a bit of hot liquid and a bit of cold cream. It was delicious. Not as rich as , say a hot chocolate from Koko Black. For me, the chocolate dominated over the coffee.

I set off in the direction of the main church. After a while I passed a really modern bar – an aside – that’s another thing about Turin – there are lots of modern design shops, both furniture and accessories. Alessi, for 1 is based here.. I went into the bar and had another coffee . It was all steel and glass but somehow friendly – maybe the staff helped. There was a downstairs which you could see through the partly glass floor.

The church I thought yesterday was the church of San Lorenzo and could not work out why is was so important wasn’t . It was really the Duomo of St Giovanni Battista – nothing special. The church that the book said was special was quite different. It was built attached to the Royal Palace and did not really have a nave, just seats under this very impressive dome. The dome had all sorts of curved semicircular bays at different heights. There was a guy talking about how wonderful it was but I sometimes wonder if people extolling the virtues of domes in Christian churches have ever been into any of the huge wonderfully light mosques that are around. I was pleased I didnot get too annoyed with myself for making a mistake and not reading the map carefully enough yesterday. I am wandering around from place to place with less regard to the map than normal. I am not always comfortable but it is a good exercise. Except several times I have thought I would go back and have another look at something and have had only a very rough idea of where it was.

I then went to a bookshop that sells books in English and bought 2. I have a long day on Saturday before I get onto the plane and I have almost finished my book and have not found any English books in any of the 2nd hand books shops I have been into.

I then walked almost back here and had lunch at the same place as on Saturday. I did not have as much as Saturday, but the lady remembered what I had had and kept asking me.

In the late afternoon I wandered back into the town. I wasnot sure if I wanted coffee and cake or a drink and nibbles. It seems that some of the places put their cakes – or most of them – away after a certain time of day . The main street was too noisy again, so I went to a little piazza just off it and had an aperativ della casa. How’s that ? I had no idea what I was getting. Afterwards she said it is always fruit of some sort and prosecco in that bar. The nibbles were not as good as the night before. I had an afterthought about the previous night – as I was leaving I saw several couples with a drink each and 1 plate of nibbles between them, the same size as I got. Today I walked passed and saw, in the window , a whole lot of the plates made up. Yesterday I was the only single person and I ddnot see any when I past today. One plus of being on my own.

There ia a scheme run by the council of hiring bikes. There are places within every 500m or so with racks of about 20 bright yellow bikes. The ones I have seen have all been in very good nick. You have to register before hand and get a smart card which you put credit onto. I think an Italian tourist could register for it. You wave the smart card over a part of the rack that the bike is attached to, the bike is released and presumably the time returned is recorded as well.