We were up by 7am, ate breakfast and then off we went, once again on the Autostrasse, racing toward Torino. What I did not tell you the other day, was that when Kim and Cris picked up the minivan, they thought they could make a tight turn but ended up scraping the passenger side of the van! Oh, my! It did not look that bad, a long scratch really, but it just goes to show you how tight some of the streets here really are. Today we drove down yet another narrow street when we came upon an Italian guy leaning against his parked car. He took one look at Kim driving down this little street and hopped into his car and moved it! We laughed over that one! We drove as far as Modena, then decided to rake a look around. Little did we know there was a race thru town, so they had most of it blocked off. We drove all over trying to find our way back to the Autostrasse and although we did see a lot of pretty scenery it took us about 45 minutes to get out of town! We never did find the town square, lol. Our next stop was gas. They have these rest stops called the "Auto Grill" where you can buy gas and food and often times groceries-really fancy groceries (prosciutto, salami, cheeses, chocolates, dried pasta, etc). The bathrooms here are always an adventure-you may or may not have a toilet seat. The only rolls of toilet paper we saw were in Rome, otherwise they use paper that looks like cheap napkins. Finding the handle or button to then flush the toilet takes some detective work, cause none of their toilets have tanks attached to the toilets. And, sometimes you have to pay to use the bathrooms, especially public bathrooms!
Our next stop was Parma, where the make Proscuitto and Parmesan cheese. We finally found a parking place then walked until we found a restaurant. Many businesses are close on Sunday. We had a lovely meal outside sitting in the sun. But you sure can feel the change in weather from southern to northern Italy. Then we were off again, this time driving straight thru to Torino and our hotel. The rest of our group was already here and we met at 8pm for dinner. There is a restaurant and pizzeria next door to the hotel. The hotel, Hotel Guala Residence, is a residential hotel, so many of the rooms have kitchens in them. It sure is quiet when you have a room all to yourself!
Time for bed-tomorrow will be a busy day!
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