Torino!

Okay, okay, I get it - I'm really lucky :) It's so easy to get caught up in all the nit-picky things wrong with your life...the frustrations of work, money stress, the larger 'where am I heading' questions. But, as my friend's wife aptly named her blog, Life is Good. Maybe I shouldn't have mine called Ramblings, maybe I should change it to a title that reminds me again to be grateful!

I flew into Turin for work on Thursday - and spent all but the 15 hours of sleep out of the first 48 hours in a conference center, talking to Italian businessmen and women about ISBNs and print on demand and convincing them to work with us (and with fair amount of success, I hope! Of course, my body language interpretation could be horrible and my Italian colleague could have lost everything in translation, but for now I'm optimistic.). Fortunately though, I did manage to escape the enclosed florescent lighting that sucks your soul and erases any memory of the outside word. I finished up at the Book Fair by 2pm today, went to my new hotel and crashed for a nap, and then headed out to wander through the historic center of Turin. God, it's beautiful. It's built on Roman ruins, some left above ground as well. In the Piazza del Castello, there's a massive 'residence' that's basically a "new" (as in only 500 years old) front to some ancient building. And they've cut out the floor in the foyer and replaced with thick glass/plastic so you see the ruins you're walking over!

It was a gorgeous day. I found everything I wanted to see - and got to go shopping :D Yay Italian shoes, you are my friend. Together we find many fantastic ways to make extra funds in the bank account disappear rapidly. Stupid Euro. It's even catching up on Sterling!

I found a little ristorante in a small street near a piazza, and sat outside to enjoy my dinner. Sometimes being a tourist is fun - you're allowed to really enjoy the man playing the accordion, the guys trying to sell you roses, and not be the slightest bit annoyed by screaming kids in the table next to you, because they're screaming in Italian and somehow that's just cuter.

I like dining on my own. I tend to eat slower, enjoy the food and the sights and sounds around me, and completely relax. The only downside is that if you leave to go the bathroom you have to take all your bags with you, unless you feel like donating to the guys selling roses. But that's about my only complaint.

I love Europe. Even after all the traveling I do for fun and for work, I still get this stupid grin on my face when I first land in a new country. I get this high off listening to everyone around me rattle off a different language, seeing how things work in a new place, learning words and phrases, trying food, wine, chocolate, ice cream...ooh I had some devine gelato today, with Nutella in it!

Oh - one more cool thing - a lot of architects from Turin moved to St. Petersburg when it was buying built as a "European city" - and thus the buildings look very similar! It was crazy to pull out memories of when I was in Russia in 1997 and actually see the resemblance. Maybe there's hope for my memory after all...