I have to say that the French are by far the friendliest toward hitchhikers. I made it 1200km in less than 24 hours thanks to their kindness. This allowed me to sleep in a bed for my birthday, which was really nice after that kind of day. It involved lots of walking, lots of bad French on my part (but good practice), and 7 different rides. The drive across the border to Italy was spectacular as well.
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| Lake off the highway before crossing into Italy |
As for Torino, I had a wonderful time, but I don’t plan on going back. I’m sure I will come across worse, but so far it is the dirtiest place I have ever been. Now, I’m not talking some garbage in the streets dirty. I’m talking, for a city with such magnificent architecture, culture, and history, they really have let that city fall apart. The people throw glass bottles at will and the shattered shards are scattered everywhere around the city. Every other kind of rubbish you can think of will be on the ground as well. Dog owners don’t clean up after their animals so there are smears of dog shit all over the city. There is more air pollution than anywhere I’ve been. Add to all of that it was spring time so my allergies were going absolutely berserk. And still, with all of that, I was able to have a fun time.
I don’t know how I do it, but I met two Nigerian guys, Lucky and Lawrence, in the park while I was having lunch on a bench. They decided to sit down next to me and we got to chatting. They offered me some beers and we had a great time. We spent the entire afternoon in the park getting to know each other. They were very interested in learning about the USA, so much so, that I couldn’t really ask them about Nigeria. I was able to collect bits and pieces about the country and think I have to add it to my travel list, really though, what’s not on my travel list? While hanging out on the park bench, we heard some music bumping across the park. We decided to check it out and it was worth it. There is a cafe that fires up the park with a dj from their patio. People can hang out tossing a Frisbee or kicking a football around while throwing back a few beers with some good tunes. It turns out that Lucky is a football player in Nigeria. He loves the sport so much that we kicked the ball around with a 5 year old for at least an hour. It allowed me to practice before we spontaneously entered a real game on our way out of the park with some locals. Of the 10 or so guys, only Davida spoke English, rather well, explained by the fact that he worked in London for a few years. He was the first Italian I had met that spoke English to me. I don’t know if that’s because no one else I met knew the language, but I’ve been told that it’s common for Italians that do speak English not to on principal.
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| National Liberation Festival |
I met a German guy called Phillip on my last day and we walked the city until my train departed for Venice. We ran into an open-air market and picked up some fruit for lunch. It was really nice to have proper produce after being in the British Isles for so long. All in all, he’s a good kid, eager to travel, and absorbed what I had to say like a sponge. He asked lots of questions about how I go about traveling. It was a little awkward, because I really don’t consider myself a seasoned traveler. I suppose after 3 months of nomadic behavior you figure out how to do shit on the cheap. He’s off in Greece working his way back up the Danube now and says it’s bitchin’!
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