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BIG OOPS FOR ESMERALDA! Porta Nuova, Al Bicerin, the Markets, L’Acino, and a walkabout

Saturday, 21 October (Day Thirty-four)

This morning we’re up and ready to go when Esmeralda has a nasty surprise. Her wallet is missing. We keep faith and look and look but no, it’s gone. Possibly left on the train, the last place she saw it.

It’s unbelievably hard to figure out what to do next. The sites don’t have much in the way of information. We aren’t sure what to do first but logic tells me you go first to the train company. That would work well if there was a contact point. There just isn’t. And after some phone calls that end in no information, and a vain attempt at an online chat, it’s pretty clear the only option is to go back to the station.

Once there, the queue doesn’t seem long but it takes a while to get to the front. The customer service rep isn’t there at first. Once he is, each customer takes a long time – we can only hope he’s as patient with us. Our turn next but first the rep takes five minutes or so to tidy his desk. The day is marching on.

Our turn consists of Esmeralda explaining that she’s lost her wallet on the train, the rep asking if it contains her ID card, her answering yes, and the rep telling her curtly to go the police office on platform One.

She fills in an elaborate form. The police are polite and friendly and tell us it’s 50/50 if the wallet will be found and returned. No idea, then? We think we’ve done all we can and head off to the market
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Fog! And Lingotto and Eataly

Friday, 20 October (Day Thirty-three)

This morning when I looked out of the window I was shocked to see how foggy it was. I hoped this meant we were in for a warm day.

Foggy morning
Foggy morning

Since Esmeralda was visiting for the weekend, top of my mind was shopping for food. My plan was to consider going from the station to a café (perhaps Cianci Piola), spend Saturday looking around the markets and a bit in the centre, then out for dinner and a bit of evening walking, then Sunday to invite Liat for lunch and go to the Mole. I’d see how it all works out.

Krish wanted to go back to Lingotto and Eataly so off we went. The metro gets you there pretty quickly and once off the train you’re at the side of the Lingotto shopping mall, where the hotel is. We found a funicular to go up to the shopping mall but didn’t stay very long. We were looking for the Hotel since we’d heard that the lobby was very interesting.


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A quiet day looking for a fabric store…and painting

Thursday, 19 October (Day Thirty-two)

Today I dedicated some time to looking for more stuffing so I can make at least one more doll. There’s a nice store along the main road so I headed there. Two women stopped me looking for a street and it felt good to be able to direct them. I may just know my way around a bit!

The store was lovely, the fabrics were gorgeous but even with my little bit of Italian the storekeeper’s little bit of Italian, stuffing was nowhere to be found. However, I did find a mango and some coriander! I’m going to make a mango salad for company. Wish me luck.

On the way home I was struck as always by how different the market looks when it’s cleaned up and used as a parking lot.

Cleaning up the market

Cleaning up the market
Cleaning up the market

And…I finally started to paint! I didn’t do too badly but I won’t share my efforts yet. I really need to work on scale! So instead of the painting, here’s my (hopefully not) last Italian doll.

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San Salvario and a lot of fruit

Wednesday, 18 October (Day Thirty-one)

This morning I went to get a new transit pass. The clerk was pretty surly today. At first she said she couldn’t help me without my receipt, then proceeded to ‘do things’ after I said I didn’t have it and what could I do? When I thanked her, her curt response was BYE. All right, then.

I looked at stalls to find stuffing for my next dolls. No luck. But on the way there, and after feeling somewhat down after my GTT experience, I had a good morning smile. In front of me, near the market, were two elderly men both pulling along shopping carts. Not in London, nor in Toronto have I seen men pulling carts for some serious shopping. I hope the reason here wasn’t a sad one.

Shopping carts
Shopping carts

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Exploring Vittoria and the business of Regeneration and Repurposing

Tuesday 17 October (Day Thirty) 

I didn’t expect to discover as much as I did today. And there seemed to be a theme. I heard about a restaurant and checked it out online. As often happens, looking at the restaurant meant looking at the area it was in. This one was at an area called Docks Dora. Krish said it sounded familiar and he wondered if it was a factory development he had seen on his last trip.

We took a bus and my pass wouldn’t BIP! Ugh. Off I go into the bus station where we need to step down and they confirm that it’s now BIPless. So that’s on my list now. On the buses and trams it may not matter too much but if I decide to take the metro I’ll be out of luck. Must get my BIP back!

We walk vaguely towards the area where Docks Dora is and discover a really nice high street area. There are little shops and cafes here and, although it’s quite traditional, I have a sense that this area will become a bit trendier with some time. It’s also residential and the flats here are middle class, clean, fairly modern. I could actually imagine living here.

Vittorio high street
Vittorio high street

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