September 18-19 - Italy

9/18/14 - Sestriere 

Today we drove to the nearest town, Oulx, to the shopping center.  The town is quite small, and the wholeshping center is not half as big as a Walmart in the US. Manfred bought veggies and soup mix. 

When you buy produce from a bin, you bag them, put them on a scale and punch the picture of the item on a screen. The scale puts out a sticker with the weight and price, which you stick onto the bag. The checkout girl does not have to know all the prices. I don't think it would work in the US, because there's nothing stopping people from punching a cheaper picture, or adding more items to the bag. I guess that Europeans are more honest than Americans. 

The meat counter has a butcher who wraps up your choices. Manfred bought some sausage.  

The store also sold clothes and household goods. 

The drive was a bit hairy because the road is very narrow and windy, with sharp switchbacks, and it was very foggy until we got to the town, which was below the clouds. The TomTom works very well. Almost every intersection is a tiny roundabout, and the GPS voice is British - Manfred can't hear the difference between "take the 1st exit" and "take the 3rd exit." On the way back, we stopped at a tiny village for some gelato. Yum!  

When we got "home" I stayed in the lobby to do Internet stuff. When I got up to the apartment, it had the wonderful smell of soup cooking. 

9/19/14 - Sestriere 

Today, we could see the valley and a bit of blue sky in the morning, but then it got socked in again, and we just stayed in the building all day, and ate bread and eggs and soup. There is something to be said for not having anything at all to do. I read another book, Manfred wrote things and studied maps. It was strange, but fun.