Ventured to North Italy in business earlier this week. The very decision of the senior management to fork out money and command me to take this (truth be told) useless business trip has taken aback many in my department, as our budget for travels to clients is rather tight. But then out of the blue it transpired splurging nearly five thousand zloty for a three-day foray was absolutely doable and coming by all sign-off despite strict cost savings turned out achievable.
The total
cost was quite absurdly high (for five thousand PLN you could arrange two-week
holidays in Italy for one person, provided they travel with a companion and
share accommodation) because flights and the hotel had been booked less than a
week in advance. Hence… Failing to plan is planning to… pay over the odds. But
who cares if no one’s money is spent (if the travel budget is not fully spent,
someone will cut it next year, so it is better to expend money foolishly than
to pursue savings). If you can get a foray for free (or actually earn on it as
you receive foreign travel allowance) who would not seize an opportunity to
some nooks and crannies of a distant country?
Since there
are no direct flights to Turin from Poland, one option to get there is to take
a flight from Warsaw to Milan and then take a fast train which runs between the
cities, or, arguably more conveniently, buy tickets from Lufthansa and catch a
connecting flight in Frankfurt or Munich – we opted for the latter. “Catch” is
the apposite word, since on the itinerary my imprudent workmates from sales
department booked, the transfer time between connecting flights in Munich was
40 minutes.
Needless to
say, after a delay in take-off from Okęcie airport on our way to Munich, we
were late for a flight to Turin. Lufthansa kindly rebooked us for a flight
three and a half hours later and equipped us with a snack voucher for 7 EUR
(try to buy something reasonable to eat on the airport for such amount of
money!!!). We ended up then flying with a cheap airline one hour later than
planned (in total four and half hours later), missed a dinner with a client and
checked in to hotel at 10 p.m. On our way back the first flight from Turin to
Munich was delayed, but to our luck, the flight from Munich to Warsaw was even
more delayed, therefore we landed in Warsaw mere 45 minutes later than
scheduled.
The agenda
of the visit was stuffed with meetings morning-till-evening and I only managed
to take one brisk, long (15-kilometre) walk around the city in the evening the
day before flight home. I need to confess for the first time since many years I
ventured somewhere abroad without getting familiar with stuff such as local
transport, local sights to be seen and other knowledge coming in useful while
travelling (logistics was taken care of by the workmates).
Forgive me
the quality of photos. I did not take the camera with me, all pictures snapped
with a smartphone. To the right, Piazza Statuto, one of more famous squares in
Turin, but I have no idea why (pardon my glaring ignorance).
I stroll
(no, I rush) towards Pad river (with hindsight I have learnt it is Pad, not
“some river”) and pass by a building which resembles a town hall. In fact, this
is Madama Palace, now playing host to senate of Italy. So inconspicuous…
Less than
half a mile closer to Pad, I stop by at Veneto Victory square. Should look like
a life-bustling place on Tuesday around 6:30 p.m., but few tourists roam
around, some local teenagers hang out, besides the place is quiet.
The day I
turned up to Turin, a friend advised me to climb up the hill on the other side
of the river to take delight in panorama of the city. Here, having ascended the
viewing terrace outside Santa Maria del Monte church. It’s before 7 p.m.,
nearly one hour before sun goes down. Splendid.
Then I
scrambled even further up the hill, to Villa del Regina (my sneakers from Lidl,
bargain purchase for 27 PLN did not withstand the two-kilometre steep ascent)
to stare at the sunset. The smartphone definitely proved inferior to even a
compact camera which would have rendered far better how marvellous sight it
was. I grabbed the moment, made it perfect, immortalised it, but with an
imperfect device.
On my way
back to the hotel (one night per 115 EUR, cheapie, but who cares if your
employer pays) I cross the river again. Boulevards are anything but full of
people. Conversely, nightlife does not seem to exist in Turin during the
working week. On the other hand, I have not spotted any potentially dangerous
immigrants, yet saw many homeless sleeping on the street, a disturbingly
frequent sight, just as in Madrid.
While
moving between meeting across the city and beyond we took taxis (too little
time to use public transport). Driving in Italian cities proves to be governed
by the law of the jungle, but Italian drivers have got accustomed to chaos well
and excel in avoiding accidents (if inexperienced in driving in such traffic
conditions Poles were behind wheels, prangs would happen all the way).
Price-wise,
I was surprised basic goods in local discount stores were more expensive than
in Madrid and Berlin which I visited this year, although I can boast about
running across a restaurant where we ate medium-sized pizza and washed it down
with mineral water for mere 7 EUR.
Finally, a
foregone conclusion that Italy has seen its better days. Every time I travel
abroad I appreciate how Poland has moved on and how in many aspects it has not
just caught up with Western Europe, but often outshines the “old EU” countries.
Flying to
Malta for eight days on Tuesday, next post in a fortnight.
By the way,
any gee-up from readers after a few months without a single comment and seepage
of inspiration since getting busy with more interesting stuff than blogging?
