Today started in the same way as the past few days - breakfast in our hotel. I have to write a good/excellent review of the di Stefano hotel on TripAdvisor. After breakfast, we went upstairs, packed quickly, then came down again for a taxi to take us to the train station.
As intended, we bought tickets for the same train on which we travelled to Riomaggiore the other day. This time, there were no first class tickets available, so reluctantly I bought second class tickets. The advantages of first class tickets are more leg room and more luggage space, important advantages for a 3.5 hour trip. As it happened, there was also plenty of luggage space and leg room in second class, so we actually saved money (the tickets cost €48 each, which is the same as one way first class from Pisa to Riomaggiore).
After arriving in Torino, we found the taxi rank from where we were taken to our dwelling, which is actually very close to the station, but involved a slightly longer ride, due to the one way streets. I write 'dwelling' as we are staying in a self-catering flat. Like in Venice, this flat is well appointed: we have a large lounge cum kitchen cum dining room, a luxurious bedroom and an even more luxurious bathroom - although there is nowhere to hang towels! The picture on the left is missing the couch, which is opposite the kitchen counter, and the entrance area.
We had been expecting rain and/or cold weather today, so we dressed appropriately; instead it's 27°C and fairly humid (as I write these words, my wife tells me that it's now raining). After a short period of doing nothing, I found our shopping trolley and went in search of a local supermarket; by chance, I found one a few minutes away. I stocked up on foods that we need, although I missed a few items (mainly because I don't eat them, like sugar). The bill came to €37 - much less than our meal in Riomaggiore, but will last us much longer. This is one of the main advantages of a self-catering flat; the per diem cost of the flat is also less than that of the hotel in Pisa. We've just had a late lunch/early supper of tea and tuna sandwiches; probably this would cost €10 in a cafe, whereas here the cost is negligible.
Somehow I doubt that we will do much this evening; if it's going to rain tomorrow, then we'll spend our time getting to know the shopping area around via Po which appears to be about 600 metres from where we are.
One little extra: internet access here is much easier than it was in Pisa. There we had to connect via a login page, whereas here we just need to type in the password for the router. As a result, my phone is now connected to the Internet (and to WhatsApp), but more importantly, I can connect directly to the servers at work via the regular VPN connection, instead of the more problematic connection which I had in Pisa. This may not mean much to most people, but it makes my life much easier.
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