Torino

It was still dark when I flew into Milan this morning.

I rode the big Malpensa Express bus with 3 others 

to downtown Milan's Centrale station and caught

an early train heading west, to Torino.

It was a 10euro, 2 hour ride with lots of stops and

I arrived here around 10 a.m. with my new and uninvited companion,

my cough.

I have, however, lots of company; I hear the same distressed hack from others everywhere,

and at least I can forget worrying about catching it.

 It's a real damn nuisance, and strikes very stealthily:

I can be perfectly fine one moment,

then the next, tickle, tickle, I must cough, but in fact

coughing does little to quell the itch, 

and after awhile it goes away on its own mysteriously as it came,

often not before I've caused a mighty and very public ruckus.

Torino:

. . . received clarification that Turin is the name used by English speakers

while Italians say Torino.

I always knew it was the same place but didn't know the distinction.

Anyway, Torino (as I shall, now here, refer to it,)

is a wonderful town with, I suppose,

vestiges still of civic improvements put in place for the Winter Olympics

held here 6 years ago in 2006.

After stashing my stuff, I set out at once to explore

the streets around the hotel, and was pleased with every turn I made.

For New Year's Eve, everywhere today were aloners like me,

couples, and families, lots of families comprised of generations, young to old.

I happened upon EATALY, Torino-style, and marveled 

at the difference between it and its over-the-top, chaotic NYC counterpart.*

Back in my room tonight, a drunk, or some otherwise happily disposed person

is serenading me and all others within earshot from his perch

on the stone-cut street below my window.

Happy 2012 to him and to every one, every where.

*there is, I discovered, another, much larger EATALY out by the Fiat factory.

in Lingotto, just outside of Torino.