June 22, 2009

The night life in Torino is mind blowing. There are many squares throughout the city and during the long summer evenings they fill with people. Not just in the bars and restaurants and cafes, but in the squares themselves. Friends meet and greet, there is music, the sky turns slowly to its deeper blue. Everyone seems in a good mood. The bars do what is called Aperitivo, which is something I had never come across before. You pay about the price of a drink, somewhere in the order of 7 Euros. Then you get a drink (usually a cocktail) of your choice, and as much as you want from a buffet of delicious bite-sized offerings. Olives, little bits of pizza, salami, anchovies, grilled capsicum, breads of various types – it is all wonderful stuff. It makes a really great budget dinner option. I think a bar that did that in Canberra would do very well for itself – it would be different and relatively cheap to make happen, and people often seem to stay for a second ‘full price’ drink after the first anyway.

I’ve now moved from Torino in Italy to the Bernese Oberland area of Switzerland. The stereotype of Swiss precision is absolutely true – everything is incredibly well ordered, trains run perfectly on time, and unlike in Italy, it would not be acceptable to park your car in the middle of the road, even with the hazard lights on. I’m hoping that in the next few days the clouds will move aside and reveal the mountains that I’ve come to see.