Visiting Turin . . . and leaving in a hurry

John poses in front of the Porta Nuova station.

I'd sometimes heard by other Italians that Turin was a cold, foggy city dirty and full of heavy industry and certainly not worth visiting. It may well be dirty on the outskirts but the centre is outstandingly impressive. The streets are wide and built - unusually for Italy - to a grid system. The buildings are generally very smartly maintained and most are at a common height of around four floors. The result is a kind of architectural coherence which is very pleasing to the eye. Another striking feature of the architecture is the ubiquity of porticoes; very useful for keeping out of the hot sun in summer of course, but they must be equally helpful in the cold winters the city endures. Marilena and I were really impressed with the town.

There's a relaxed feeling to the place in the evening. We noticed this especially whilst strolling down the fashionable via Garibaldi. The locals were out in force: chatting with friends, window-shopping, eating ice creams or walking their tiny (appartment-size) dogs. And everyone seemed to be suntanned and wearing stylish clothes - even the students and children.
It was whilst Marilena and I were eating (delicious) ice-creams in the enormous Piazza del Castello at Turin's centre that unfortunately my back decided to have a seizure. I limped to a public bench and we both sat down and thought about our next move. Challenging, since I was barely mobile any longer. Marilena soon had measures in hand however.
A taxi picked me up at the bench and took us to where our camper was parked at a railway station 20km west of Turin. I climbed carefully into the (fortunately supportive) passenger seat and Marilena drove me to the campsite where she took everything down herself - including the awning - and loaded the van with all our stuff. Then she drove us to her sister's appartment near Bologna 350km away. All this in a matter of a few hours. I am now comfortably installed here at her sister's and starting my recovery. God bless the family; and my capable wife, too!