Sunday, 16 September, 2018 30C
Today we went to the Balon flea market but it wasn’t there! I’m puzzled since I thought it was every Sunday! Never mind. So we headed back up to the main road, Regina Margherita.
At the top of the street, we saw a roughly painted whale shape on the wall and, looking a bit more, there was a guy sitting on a wooden crate – the artist? Yes! So I went to chat with him. He said his name was Fijodor. He was from somewhere else but now in Turin. Where he comes from, it’s on the French border and in that part of the Mediterranean there are whales. His theme for the wall art will be plastics and the plight of the earth. The other interesting thing was he was from the place where plastic was invented.
He gave me his card.
We didn’t do too much. Just wandered along the street and into the back streets a bit. The heat was building. There are a few Chinese cafes and shops along here but none are really enticing. The buildings are run down but the doors can be beautiful.
The neighbourhood along here and around the back is shabby and very quiet. There’s a big hospital and some odd buildings – nothing matches.
We decided to try a restaurant for lunch. Anywhere further away would likely not be open by the time we reached it. In typical fashion we faltered … twice. But then in we went. The place was called Il Pirata (Pirate!). It’s shabby but sparkling clean in there and clean makes Krish smile. We ordered a plate of meat and cheese and some lasagna since Krish has been looking for some for ages. The plate alone was enough for us both to have lunch but at least the lasagne looked small (and a bit like something the cat threw up!) It didn’t taste too bad. A bit heavy on the bechamel but satisfied that craving, I suppose.
We walked through Balon again and noticed how many places were slated for demolition of some kind. A bit sad but I can understand why. These buildings have been the same since we first came here but in the early days they were still occupied.
