Cinque Terre, Torino, Barcelona

I arrived in Barcelona by night train this morning. The night train was quite an experience. After sleeping in less-than-stellar hostels, a clean bed with sheets and a blanket (and a little bar of soap, toothpaste, and a collopseable toothbrush) feels SO posh. I really felt like this second-class sleeper car (which I shared with 3 other ladies) was the fanciest thing ever!

I had a very long travel day from Cinque Terre yesterday. Tuscany had a train strike scheduled from 10am-6pm and my train out of Cinque Terre was supposed to be at 4. To avoid getting stuck, I left on a 7am train so I could get my connection to Barcelona. This train brought me to Torino, which I guess I'm showing my ignorance by saying I didn't know anything about this city until I showed up in their station. Anyway, I arrived in Torino at 11 am, and my connecting train wasn't leaving until 8 pm. I decided to explore a bit, and found out that Torino is quite a beautiful city. It made me think of the nice parts of New York, with fancy shops and interesting people (lots of neon colored hair). I ate in a really nice cafe with miniature cactuses on the tables and worked on my journal (I've made my journal a priority over blogging, sorry). Then I walked around the city a bit, partly just to see what was there, and partly to look for a cheap belt (I forgot to pack one). All of the stores were way too fancy, and belts cost 15€ at least.

Finally I returned to this nice park across the street from the train station. I asked this middle aged lady sitting on a bench across from me 'Dove posso comprare...?' and pantomimed a belt. She tried to explain to me about this place where I could get a cheap belt, but I was afraid it might be too far away (I cut the bottom of my feet by jumping off a rock in Cinque Terre). Finally she led me to the place she was talking about. She's a Romanian lady who works as a caretaker for an old lady (who she brought along of course). She led me to a booth where a guy was selling belts for 5€. Then, because I'd tried to explain why I didn't want to walk far, she led me to a pharmacy and helped me get some bandaids.

After that, I returned to the park with Maria and her charge (I don't remember her name...) and we hung around on the benches for quite some time. Other friends of theirs showed up and gave happy greetings, and joined the group. Soon there were 9 or 10 people hanging out on the benches, chatting. None of them knew English, but we still managed to communicate using some combination of Italian and Spanish. I told them about my travels, and one guy told me about his family back in the Ukraine, showing me pictures of his recently-married son and his teenage daughter. I had a great time with these people, who were mostly from Eastern Europe and worked in blue collar jobs in Torino. One lady was named Valerie too! They were all so kind to me, and advised me to be careful in Barcelona to avoid theft. They also told me it'd be best to wait in the train station as things started to get dark in Torino. I said farewell to them with an Italian kiss (I was hoping to get this before I left Italy!) and headed into the station to get some dinner and catch my train.

I better get to bed early tonight...my only full day in Barcelona is tomorrow. Stay in touch!