Arrival in Italy (a.k.a. Heritage Search #2 - Pratiglione))

** highlights**:

-the exhilerating experience of arriving in Italy and getting my bearings
-adventure to Pratigione, the town where my grandmother's father's family immigrated from
-meeting Atma, my couchsurfing host, poet, traveler, and amazing new friend


ARRIVAL! (September 14, 2011)

In retrospect, I am so glad I decided to go to Turin (Torino in Italian) first. Torino, while it does have some pretty cool sites, is a lot less touristy than other Italian cities (the Rickster doesn't even mention it once in his book --> by the way that is my new nickname for Rick Steves.... Now that I have been other places, where it is practically like I am back home there are so many English speakers, it was good for me having to immerse myself in the Italian language, being in a city where I had to rely more on Italian, not to mention then trying to venture out into the countryside to find the town, Pratiglione, where my Grandma Betty's father's side came from.

Off to Italy - flying over the French Alps

So arrival! I was so in my "Coty is on a mission" zone - this is what I must do: find out how to get into Torino. Is it by bus or train? Okay, bus. Find the bus. Get to Torino. Okay now figure out where the luggage storage is at in the train station. Find the TI (tourist information) to get a map. Okay. Now let's walk for a bit and see the downtown before I have to figure out where the bus stop is for the bus I need to take to get me to Pratiglione! The downtown part of Torino is closed to cars (it was one of the first cities to do so!), so when I hit the first piazza, all the sudden I stopped. Just people, bicycles, sun, Italy! I was in Italy! That was the first time it actually hit me, and I just sat down on a bench to relax and take it all in. Unwind from "Coty on a mission" and relax into "Coty enjoying Italy and being where I am."

And so I did! I walked all over the different parts, stumbling on the church that holds the Shroud of Turin, then rounding the corner to find Europe's largest open air market! Fruit, veggies, clothes, people, bustle, bustle, bustle... I decided to order a peach but when I went to pay an older Italian gentleman payed for me. Then either said something about keeping my money out of sight so no one would steal it, or maybe something about my green eyes. (He pointed to both things and rambled something...) I'm suspecting the message was closer to the first.

Europe's largest open air market


A traditional water fountain of Torino -
found all over the city and quite welcomed to the thirsty traveller!

By then it was about time for me to go to the bus stop to get the bus for Pratiglione. (Well actually there still was a lot of time, but me being me, I needed to get there very early just to make sure!) I had stumbled on what I thought was the right stop during my earler wanderings.

* *Okay, let's just take a moment to picture me with 50 million pieces of paper that I'm carrying around. All the possible train schedules, bus schedules, things to know about each city I'm going to, etc... etc.... This pile has decreased dramatically as I have gotten more comfortable with trains etc... but wow, I was something else in Torino, especially with this little adventure to the hills!

ADVENTURE INTO THE HILLS - FINDING PRATIGLIONE

So I waited and waited for the bus. According to my schedule, it was supposed to come at 1:45.... 2:00, no bus.... 2:10, no bus. My mind had started to wander to all the other things I could do in Torino to pass the day before meeting up with Atma, my couchsurfing host for the night. There was the Egyptian museum, which houses the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts other than Cairo. I love Egyptian history! Yeah, that would be great! And that whole section of the downtown I didn't get to! Yes, this is all sounding very good. I secretly started hoping that the bus wouldn't come. It would make things oh so much easier. I told myself I would wait till 2:15, and then I would go. And then, just when I was gathering my things, I saw the numbers 3092. I'll have to admit, I had a split second thought that maybe I wouldn't get on the bus. Maybe I would just let it pass me by. And then I snapped out of it, flagged the bus, and hopped on, telling the driver I needed to go to Forno. (from there I would have to walk to Pratiglione).

And off I went! So helpful hint: Number one useful phrase to know in Italian? Dove'e la fermata (insert where you want to go here)? Where is the stop for... Oh yes, and also your directions too. A sinistra, a destra, a dritto. - To the left, right, and straight ahead. I used this many a time my day in Torino, and it has been especially useful at the train stations, although Italian train stations has everything written in English as well as Italian, and it even has the announcements in English. But I try not to rely on that. I want to engage in Italian, so I can start to learn.

But it certainly has been strange coming from Belgium where I feel completely competant with my French, to then being here, in a language I have only the minimal knowledge of. Sitting on the bus, as I was the only one on it for the entire journey except right at the beginning!, I wanted to say something, "It's hot out isn't it?" How long have you been driving? Etc.. etc... Instead, I was a mute. Nothing. I really feel for immigrants coming to a country not knowing anything and trying to maneuver in their new world. At least I am priveledged to have English as my mother tongue, the language that is everywhere.

But I managed to tell the driver where I needed to get off. And then the bus was gone, and I was standing in the middle of Forno. According to what I remember from google maps (as out of all things, that was the one page I forgot to print!) I thought I should start walking up. But I had seen a sign to Pratiglione that we had just passed that said it was 4 km away. I was only supposed to have to walk 2 km, but my intuition told me to turn around and take the other route. Good thing too because on the way back I came down the way I could have gone, and I don't think there would have been any way I would have found the route!

I knew I could get there, and I drew a lot upon my walk across England. That experience made me feel like I really could do anything I could set my mind to, and It gave me confidence that I could find this town. I have drawn upon that travel experience a lot in this trip, whether it is venturing out into the rain or figuring out a train schedule. It was something that I will never forget, as I'm sure this own travel adventure will be the same.

But oh my gosh, the sun was shining, I was walking up, up, up, in the beautiful hills, with these little villages popping up on the hillsides, all overlooking the valley. And then I could see the town! This was where the Buffo's (pronounced Boo-fo in Italian, but in America they were Buff-o) came from when they decided to take the ship over an move to the Oklahoma Territory. I wondered why they all went there.. who went first and wrote back, saying 'Come to America! Come to Oklahoma! ' This was a different experience than my trip to France (aaaaah, post is coming I swear), the town here was beautiful, but I wonder what people did/do for work, and it is small. I guess they needed a change and America was the fascination.

On the way, I asked an old man (in my very minimal Italian.."Pratiglione, a dritto?" (Oh by the way, they pronounce it Pra-tli-own-eh) He said yes, and then kindly helped me pronounce the town correctly! I then told him my grandmother's family came from there. He asked the named and I told him. And he nodded in recognition. He knew the name! He then rattled off a bunch of things that I didn't understand except for something about the center of town, which I now think he was telling me to go to the town hall.

I continued. And then I was there. Immediatly I was met by two enthusiastic young boys who knew that I was a foreigner, English speaking, and riding up on their bikes, said, "Hello!" I said "hello" back. "How are you?" they asked. I soon found out that those two phrases and 'goodbye' where the three things they could say! But boy, were they happy to have the opportunity to say them! I then told them I was here because it was where part of my family came from, Buffo. They nodded in recognition, like an "of course we know that name!' nod. I wanted to say more, but I didn't know how and so I kept going.

You may be wondering why I didn't actually try to find any Buffo's. And I guess the answer is, I just felt okay going and looking, seeing what the town was all about. And I didn't feel like I had enough information to do that. Maybe my loss, but I feel satisfied with just having gone to the town, knowing that my ancestors walked these streets, worked, lived, and played. Going to these towns has just added to my appreciation of the rich histories of our pasts, all the events and choices people made that resulted in me being here, living, traveling, sharing, and enjoying life. I'm so glad I have had the opportunity to explore two lines of that heritage.

Looking down at the village of Pratiglione

And then it was time to head back, catch the bus (crossed my fingers it would come since it was the last bus running for the evening), and figure out to get to Atma's house, my couchsurfing host for the night.

ATMA - poet, traveler, couchsurfing host, and new friend

Me and Atma before I left to catch the train

to Cinque Terre

So I made it back to Torino, asked the driver to make sure to drop me off at the Febbrio XI stop, and then asked people where the Piazza Margharitta stop was where I needed to catch the tram 16 to the piazza near Atma's house, where she would meet me. One thing I've learned with my travels is that people/things often present themselves to you when you are in need of aid. On the tram, there is no stop listing and there is no conductor to talk to, but fortunately a woman sitting right behind me was getting off at my stop and kindly told let me know exactly when it was coming up. And then sometimes, I've been that person that presents myself. Like on the way to Cinque Terre there was an Australian couple who were very frantic in trying to find what train to take and the man working couldn't speak English. Turns out, they were heading to Riomaggiore too, so we ended up having a great train ride together, and I now have a place to stay in Austrailia whenever I want! (hey Mom and Dad, did you hear that?!)

So the lesson to all this is don't be afraid to ask questions and seek help if you need it. Chances are pretty darn good someone will present themselves to you and you never know where that might lead!

And so Atma met me at the piazza, we walked to her place, chatting, getting to know each other. She has done a lot of traveling all over the world, speaks great English, Portuguese, some Greek, and probably some more languages I don't know about! We stopped to pick up a pizza (mmm... good!), ate, met her roommates who are from Colombia and Spain and studying engineering in Torino, took a shower, and then she took me out for a walk around her section of Torino (we were going to do a vespa ride, but out of all days, it got a flat tire!) going to a great gelato shop, and then to a cafe/bar place where a friend of hers works. It was officially closed, but some of the workers were hanging out back, so we sat and chatted (well I mostly just tried to catch a word here or there that I could understand!). And then it was time to go home where Atma shared with me some of her beautiful poems and I shared with her some of my music. And I now have a special, signed book of Atma poetry - something to strive for in learning Italian! It was my first time being hosted from a couchsurfer and what an amazing time. I'll take that over a hotel any day!

A video of one of Atma reading one of her poems about chocolate
with pictures from her own travels
(poem starts about halfway through)