January 25, 2026

Torino, Italia > Milano, Italia

I am afraid that it will be another not so exciting today. The goals for today are simple. Go to Serra’s get V’s suitcase, take it back to Milano. We will also go through the suitcases we left here and get some of our cold weather cloths, sweaters, long johns, and the like, and take them back to Milano with us. Hopefully not too much.

We will stay in Milano until Friday the 30th, then we will return to Torino for the weekend. We knew about the Olympics being here, but I don’t think we realized that it would have such an impact on us. We aren’t really changing our plans much because of the Olympics it is just that there are probably more people around and using the trains, etc. which does have some impact on getting around.

It is cold again this morning 3 C (37 F). There is a moderate snow and ice warning here in Torino. The weather app says that Milano isn’t much different (4 C or 40 F). It is supposed to get a little warmer as the sun comes up but there appears to be little chance of of breaking into the double digits in celsius or going above 50 fahrenheit.

We will head to Serra’s in an hour, and should get there by 09:00. We have a 13:00 train back to Milano. That gives us about three-and-a-half hours to repack things and leave for the train station. Hopefully, the taxi stand in Piazza Vittorio Veneto, two blocks from Serra’s, will have a taxi waiting for us. We could walk the whole way but it is cold out there, and we are old.

I went down to breakfast at 07:00 when breakfast opened. As expected I was the only non working person there. It is a nice breakfast buffet with a good number of choices. I made myself a cappuccino and picked up a brioche with apricot jam. I went on to have some scrambled eggs, bacon and fruit. I don’t know when, or if, we will get any real lunch. They will serve us a snack on the train.

Yesterday they served us a sandwich on the train. A simple combination of ham on a small roll. I don’t know how the Italians do it, but they can make even such a simple sandwich taste wonderful. If you are riding on the train and they offer you “salato” that is the simple sandwich. They may also offer “dolce” which will be some type of cookie. However, the Italians can’t see to get the concept of “cookie.” The one they offered us on the train was a “chocolate chip” cookie bar. Dry and tasteless. Thank goodness they gave us each a bottle of water.

I was back in the room by 07:45 with Mary’s coffee. She got up and got dressed. We left for Serra’s house at 08:45. It is a short walk from the hotel, probably just over 1 km. We got there just as it went 09:00, as planned. Pietro and I went down to the cantina and got the suitcases and brought them up to the apartment. We played hide and seek with Luisa. Played with Amadea.

Then repacked. Putting things we brought from Milano that we wouldn’t need into the suitcase, mostly light weight clothing we thought we would need in Jordan and Egypt. Then we put things back into the folding bag we brought the other stuff in, yes I always have a plastic folding bag in my suitcase. It is good for many purposed. Holding dirty laundry, those things we mistakenly bought that won’t find into the suitcase, or transporting things without having to pull a bag. In this case it was to and fro, but the small wheeled bags were in Torino anyway. Just easier to use the folding bag.

We had V’s large bag and the folding bag which would do on top to take back to Milano. This is very manageable for older citizens. I took our three bags back to the cantina. Then we stayed another hour before leaving for Porta Nova. Actually we walked to Piazza Vittoria Veneto where there is a taxi stand. Yes, we could have called a taxi but it costs extra, besides it isn’t raining or snowing.  

There were several taxi’s at the stand. We found the one that was up next and loaded the suitcase and bag into the taxi. It is a short five or six minute ride to Porta Nova. We were standing in the station just after it had gone 12:45. We went upstairs in the station where there are several restaurants and fast food places: McDonalds, Starbucks, etc.

We stopped at the Toast House. It is almost like it sounds. Two pieces of toast with meat and cheese in the middle, maybe lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. We got one of these and a code and split them. We have a 13:00 train, so we went back down about 12:40 to check the status of the train. They usually post the binario (platform) the train will be at about ten minutes before the train arrives. In this case the train starts here and sometimes they post the binario a little earlier.

We waiting looking at the display of the various train. It still showed ours as on time. Eventually, it was changed to 10 minutes delayed. At te sametime the poste binario 13. When 13:10 came about they changed it to 20 minutes delayed. Then they changed the binario to 11. The train actually pulled into binario 11 at 13:20.

Now we often get confused between Coda and Testa. This is importante because it tells you where the car might be that has your seat assignment. Coda (end) means the one closest to the beginning of the binario and Testa (head) means the one furthest away. We are in car two, so we are at the testa (head) off the train. Yes, we are going business class.

A quick walk from binario 13 to binario 11, we stood and waited. They then changed the delay to 30 minutes. All of this doesn’t matter. We are meeting V at the Central Train Station (Centrale) in Milano, but his train doesn’t arrive until 2:50. Our train was supposed to arrive at 14:02. So, we will still have to wait for V.

The train finally pulled out of Torino’s Porta Nova at 13:33. Mathematically that should have us arriving at 14:35. Which was probably about correct. We deboarded the train and headed to the waiting area at the end of the binari (pl) and looked up at the display to see what track V’s train would come in on. It wasn’t displayed yet.

It was finally displayed and we walked down to binario 7 and met him at the end of binario. Connected we headed to the M3 subway. It is in the train station, so no big problem. We used our credit cards to board and headed down to the platform to wait for a train. One was pulling out as we arrived. Again, not a problem they are every three to five minutes.

We got on the next train and rode it the four stops to Duomo. Got off and started looking for where Tram 15’s stop was. I followed my instincts, but they were wrong. So, I directed us back to where Mary and I got off. Again, timing, a tram was pulling out as we arrived. However, again, it is only a few minutes before another tram arrived.

It was fifteen minutes later, and we got off at the stop indicated by google maps. Unfortunately, it was one stop to early. Why? Well because the stop we should have gotten off at is just past the apartment. Google maps doesn’t want you to go beyond and walk back, even if the walk back is a much shorter distance.

We walked back to the apartment. Managed to fit all four of us in the very small evaluator to take us to our apartment on the 1st floor. Interestingly there does not appear to be any way to the apartment but in an elevator. Still looking for some stairs but not finding any. We got into the apartment and got settled.

Harry V and I went to the Conad or Tuday across the street and got things for dinner. We made our dinner and played a couple hands of canasta. Even before the game was finished V said he was tired and needed to go to bed. He went off and then a little while later I went off.

Buonanotte e ciao

Enrico e Maria