Middle-aged flash packers

Well my prediction was incorrect and it was actually me that experienced the tummy trouble. An unpleasant midnight hour was spent on the loo while him indoors slept like a baby in the other room.

Luckily my unintended detox was just that and I felt fine, if a bit tired the next morning. Which was good as Steve flooded the bathroom and bedroom carpet which would have made it quite tricky to gain access to the loo. Not really his fault as the shower seems to be designed to spray water everywhere other than the shower tray.

Steve also experienced room issues when we discovered the window was open and in order to shut it he had to climb onto the desk area and expose himself (top half folks don’t get too excited)to an amused audience who were sitting in the hotel garden. And no, it still wouldn’t shut, resulting in a very confused air conditioning system that blew iced air on us all night.

Enough was enough so we requested a room change. The staff are unfailingly nice and although busy found another room for us. This one had no blackout blind, a dodgy door, a safe that didn’t work and a shower with a broken thermostat. Fine.

So off to Turin. We caught the train from Pinerolo which was easy and cheap. The only issue was the train toilet lock didn’t work which ended up with various people exposing themselves to others.

The weather did not live up to its promise and it was a cool and cloudy day. However a pleasant day was had by all.

While Nik and Steve went to visit the Automobile Museum, Jan and I wandered the streets of Turin. We actually ended up walking thirteen miles by the end of the day! Chatting and exploring, we managed to see most of the key sights of the city.

We stumbled upon a local market just off one of the main streets and were intrigued to observe the multi ethnicity of both the stall holders and their customers.

Our other highlight which Jan treated me to, was our trip in the “panoramic” lift to the top of Mole Antonelliana. The lift appears to burst through the ornate ceiling, out onto the observation deck where we could see all of Turin.

We met up with the boys at the Porta Nuova station and stopped for a cuppa on our way back to Pinerolo.

We ate at L’oraguista which was a much better choice than our previous night’s venue.

As we walked home in the rain it felt more like winter than early Autumn.