I'm Not Alone

So... I've noticed something during my time to date traveling around europe. A lot of europeans have wrist injuries. I have noticed no less than 10 other people in the last two and a half weeks that have also been in wrist casts. Seems to me like a disproportionately high number given the time that we've been traveling.

Another side note before I take you back to our travels. This should give you an idea of what europeans think about americans. The other day in Arles I got "The American" for dinner. The American is a 14 inch hogie loaded with steak an piled high with fries on top of the steak. Add ketchup and/or mayo.

Ok... back to our travels. From Arles we "set sail" for our first day in Italia. We had a lenghty five and a half hour drive to Torino as we left Arles. As you all know, Torino (also known as Turin) was the site of the last winter olympics in 2006. Anyway, we were looking forward to another somewhat grueling time in the car, just getting from point A to point B. Boy were we pleasantly surprised. We had to cross the Alps to get to Italy, and it provided some truly breathtaking views... the best we'd seen to date. Huge mountains all around us. On top of that we passed through a little town that was situated on a high lake in the alps. The water was so blue, and while perhaps a little bit touristy, the surrounding town looked so quiet and relaxing. It made me wish we had not had reservations in Torino. If you are ever traveling to the area, this would be a must on your itinerary (I'll update the post later with the actual town name).

Torino itself was a bit uneventful, but there was one thing that was a bit of a rude awakening. Italian drivers are crazy. Sara likes to say that lane markers are suggestions, not rules. They don't seem to think anything about just meandering between lanes in the curves. Allow me to illustrate. We had just gotten into town, and were already a little bit stressed out as penny was leading us all over the place (sometimes she has a way of taking us down little side streets instead of the main roads). We pulled up alongside another car that was waiting at the light. It was a three lane road. By the time the light turned green, we were lined up five across... that's right. Two cars had just decided that there was enough room for them, lane or not, and pulled on up.

Sara spent much of the afternoon making reservations for our stays in Italy. She is a real trooper I tell you. Even though she had no prior experience with Italian, she powered through and got us places to stay in Corniglia, Siena, and Rome. Without her, I'd be staying on park benches and eating McDonalds all across europe.

The next day was somewhat of a day off, as I was feeling pretty sketchy due to a surprise allergy attack and thus didn't really feel up for running around to all the olympic sites. Even so, I would say we had a pretty good day. We spent the afternoon relaxing in a park in the center of town. I took a nap while Sara read and people watched.

We were heading out for a quick dinner, intending to return back to the hotel to rest up for the next day. However, we struck up a conversation with Ralph and Denise while waiting for our table, and ended up sharing a table with them. Ralph and Denise are from Toronto Canada, and have taken a trip to Europe every year for the last 20 years. Pretty cool huh. We each got a pizza and enjoyed some good conversation. We got to tell them about China, and our upcoming itinerary, and they shared with us all sorts of ideas for this trip and future trips. At the end of the evening they asked us where we were staying, and would you believe it, we were booked at the same hotel. So we strolled back together before calling it a night. Really a delightful evening.

Two other random side notes before I let you all go. First... it turns out that beer is a good treatment for my allergies, as I had a beer with dinner and my symptoms cleared right up (sara tells me this is not the first time this has happened). Also... I really like the way they serve cafe latte in Torino. They serve you a little cup of espresso, and give you a glass of frothy milk. You combine them yourself. Don't know if it adds to the flavor, but it added to the experience for us. Just a neat little quirk.