Start of the Trip

Today is a holiday of some sort in Italy leaving us with a three day weekend. Some of the French people, Delphine, Nicholas, Jennifer, and Sophie, and I decided to go to Lago di Garda, Verona and Venice. Unfortunately everyone else in Turin seems to have had the same idea. We took the 9am train from Porta Sousa, which was the second stop, and there was already no room. The wonder that is Italy and their lack of proper technological integration allowed them to sell 150 tickets or so for every 100 seats. We were packed like cattle for two hours on the way to Milan. That’s what we get for not reserving seats. After Milan things got slightly better, but not much.

The weather at the lake was warm and only a bit hazy. On cloudy days the lake is usually completely covered by fog. It was nice to be outside of Turin, fresh air and the smell of water. It instantly made me feel relaxed, which was nice after the crazy work week that I had.

In the early evening we headed to Verona to check into our hostel and get a feel for the town before our full fledged exploring tomorrow. Getting to the hostel was a bit interesting. We had planned on taking the bus 73, but since it was a holiday we had to find a different bus. There are no detailed maps showing how the holiday buses make their way through the town, so we were a bit at a loss. We found a bus that went the direction we needed and got off to early. The first person that we met turned out to be quite the character. He gave us directions, but they were for walking. We asked a second guy who knew how to get there, but told us that the bus was a better option.

Finding the hostel from the bus stop was relatively easy. There were signs at every intersection requiring a turn. The hostel is an old palace that sits on the hillside across the river overlooking Verona. It was an impressive building with a beautiful garden. The biggest shortcoming was the lack of hot water in the shower, which became the phrase of the trip “aqua calda” or “hot water”.