September 19, 2025
Day 1 – Friday, September 19, 2025
Esther wakes up at 3:30AM, gets up and immediately starts to work on her talk she’s now giving at the conference in Turin. She got an email the morning before from the conference organizers asking if she would give a keynote talk to the group. She accepted and immediately started to prepare and gather the data she needed for her talk.
I get up around 4AM, make us coffee and continue getting the house ready and packing for being away for 3 months. She left the house 8:30 after a couple of cups of coffee for a 9AM lab meeting with her group.
The car window guys arrive to fix my broken back window and when they after they finish I leave the house to run some errands. I’m not sure how the window got broken but I noticed it broken about a week ago – my car insurance paid with no deductible ($670). On my errands I first dropped off some cold and pantry items, that I didn’t think would last for 3-1/2, with Celia and Toni Celia fed me lunch a Spanish potato omelet – very tasty. Esther and I met back at the house around noon, finished packing, loaded our luggage into the Prius and headed for Esther’s house where our driver to the airport was suppose to pick us up at 3PM.
When no driver showed up we got worried and Esther texted Devon who told us the driver was having tire trouble – great! We scrambled, loaded the Prius and Esther, Toni and I left for the airport and Toni drove the car back to Athens. Flight was unremarkable but, I was glad to have had my Bose noise canceling earphones because of several babies. After a cup of coffee at Schiphol airport we called Gerard(Esther’s dad) to come pick us up – he lives about 15 minutes away. After waiting on the curb for about 15 minutes Esther’s brother called saying Gerard had a flat tire – OH NO! Anyway Gerben Esther’s youngest brother picked us up. Weather was fine when we arrived about but it started to rain after lunch – just a drizzle. I went for a, 10 mile, bike ride, visited a bike shop and took a nice hot shower when I got home. We had dinner at home and I was in bed and a sleep by 9:30 – what a day!
Day 2 – Sunday, September 21, 2025
OMG – I slept straight through until 7:30AM, I can’t remember the last time I slept that soundly for so long – I feel great and the trip preparations and long travel day are over.
We spent a little time this morning planning our trip to Norwich and Grantham UK on October 15 – 19.
Day 3 – Monday, September 22
Up at 6AM to get ready to leave for the airport by 7:45 for our flight to Milan and then to catch a train to Turin where Esther’s conference was held. After we boarded the captain announced our flight would be delayed by 45 minutes because of birds and very bad weather in Milan.
By the time we got to Milan the weather was cloudy with a little rain drizzle but not too cold. We got off the plane and loaded into a very crowded shuttle bus waiting on the tarmac for a short trip to the terminal. The terminal was very crowded and we were looking for a certain bus to take us to the central train station for our 1-½ hour train trip to Turin. We couldn’t find the bus we need and decided to take a taxi but the line for getting a taxi was so incredibly long because of the workers strike we decided to scrap that idea. Getting frustrated with our limited options we talked to a woman who helped us figure what bus and tram we needed to take to get to the Central Station.
We didn’t buy our train tickets to Turin in advance because we weren’t sure how long it was going to take to get to the train station. The entrance to the station was very crowded with people trying to leave and enter at the same time so we really had to push hard to get inside and make our way to a train ticket kiosk. Our first kiosk wasn’t working properly so we worked our way to the other side of the station and found a kiosk that worked and got our tickets – the train was scheduled to leave in 15 minutes so we had to hurry to find the correct platform.
As we were looking at one of the departing train boards we were suddenly ushered onto the train platform area by some very serious security guards. There was a pro-Palestine and anti-Israel protest was going on outside which had apparently turned violet so the train station was shut down causing some trains to be diverted, delayed or canceled. Our train was diverted but we were able to get passage on later train. We finally arrived in Turin at about 6PM; tired, hungry and in desperate need of a drink.
Our VRBO in Turin was a straight 25 minute walk from the train station the weather was cool and dry – it felt good to be outside walking and close to our destination. We dropped off our things in our place and went off to look for some food – I had seen this restaurant called “Kipling’s Restaurant and Wine’ and it was a short walk away so we headed there. It was almost 7:30 when we sat down to eat. The evening air was cool and the sun was fading but we still wanted a table outside on the sidewalk. The food and service was very good. We started with beef tartar appetizer, then I had the seared tuna and Esther had the lamb – I had red wine and Esther had white. We made it back to our place took a shower then went and went straight to bed totally exhausted but feeling pretty good – we made it!
Day 4 – Tuesday September 23
There was some good talks which were presented on Monday and Esther had hoped to get in town early enough to catch some of them but events beyond our control prevented us getting to town earlier. Events at the conference started at 9:30 and Esther’s talk was scheduled for the morning session. I got up early 6AM to make her some coffee so she could put the finishing touches on her presentation. We showered and walked the 3.2km (25 minute walk) to the University of Turin, where the conference was held. On the way we passed this incredible open aire market where vendors were selling; fresh veggies, fruit, cheese, pasta, bread, fish, meat and just about anything else – on the way back I got some sliced meat, cheese, plums and apricots to have with our morning coffee – tasty.
My 3-½ hour, TripAdvisor, guided bike tour started at 10AM so I slowly made my way to the location where we were to get our bike and start. There were 3 couples plus me on the tour the other couples hadn’t met and they were all Dutch. The tour was a lot of stop and go, the guide was very knowledgeable and did a great job.
Did a little shopping in the afternoon and went to dinner with Esther and some of the colleagues from the conference. All of these colleagues knew each other so there was a lot story memories and since I hadn’t shared any of those memories or knew the people I was glad Sean and Austin were there to talk to.
Day 5 – Wednesday September 24
Walked Esther to the conference and then stopped by the open air market to get a few things for our place; plums, apricots, bread and cheese. Went to the Museo Nazionale del Cinema – located in the Mole Antonelliana and took the lift to the top – it’s the tallest building in Turin.
Had lunch at this very good Italian burger place and had a burger, fries and a beer – it was around 2PM and I was very hungry. The restaurant was good, very busy and I was able to sit outside – there was some bad weather moving in.. Esther got home around 4PM took a short nap then proceeded to do some work from our room – was nice having her close.
We took off for dinner around 7PM – most restaurants don’t open til 7 or 7:30 in Italy We went by a place we saw online which was close but didn’t like the overall vibe when we got there so we ditched it in hopes of finding something better. We walked along the river but all the restaurants there seemed to be just bars with bar food – not what we wanted. We headed back away from the river in search of a place to eat dinner. Mind you there are small little restaurants every 50 feet and down every street. Esther’s blood sugar started to drop so we had to find someplace quickly. We first stopped at Piola 1706 but they were booked solid and had no place for us, we then tried the place almost next door, Sestogusto Mazzini, a charming pizzeria with an innovative flare and innovative flare they had. Esther and I decided on the Chef Table which was a 5 course pizza tasting meal created by the chef especially for us and paired with wines of the chef’s choosing – I wish I had a print out of all the ingredients in each dish because they were all sensations for your taste buds. The first course presented was a brand new chef creation which had beef tartar, and pickled onions as a topping. Each course was described and presented by our server and included 1 or 2 slices of hand prepared wedges of pizza – we had plenty of food to bring home for breakfast.
So much pride and joy goes into the pizza here in Italy – the special dough, sauces, toppings and of course the cheese I almost can’t call them pizzas – maybe I’ll start putting the word in quotes – “pizza”
Day 6 – Thursday September 25
We were able to sleep a little later than we have in the past few days. I made her some coffee while she did some work on her computer and we munched on some leftover “pizza” for breakfast I walked Esther to her conference then proceeded another mile down the road to the Auto Museo.I walked back to the room along the Po River which is the longest river in tally and acts like a “green lung” for the city and region – recreational and irrigation. Conference banquet tonight Banquet was a lot of fun – it started at 7:30 with wine and appetizers that were delivered to guest on trays. Most of the attendees congregated in small groups with conversations about their research or the politics of academic life, I found some interesting people to talk to; Franc from the seed industry, Sofian a researcher from the UK, who we are visiting in October along with several other folks.We walked the 3.6KM, about an hour, to the banquet but took the shuttle back – the shuttle made 2 stops; the first at the conference center and the second at the porta Nuou train station which was a 10 minute walk to our place – we got home at 12:30 AM.
