Practiced my Recorder in a nearby park before breakfast and decided that the best piece, by far to play was The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves, from Nabucco – Verdi. It was most successful – provoking numerous early morning dog walking owners to saunter by, stay a while and smile , allowing the pooch ample time to poop and pass on.

The Bamboo Eco Hostel was very much along the lines of an upmarket backpackers lodge: clean and funky – a euphemism for “basic”. It prided itself on bilingual messages in blue paint on whitewashed walls: “water is precious- use sparingly” and “enjoy a biologic breakfast at Bamboo eco Hostel”. I pondered the premise that my Kellogs Cocoa Pops were “biologic”?

The longest river in Italy is the River Po! Torino sits in a bend of this river. It’s not the cleanest of waterways. I cogitate on creating a limerick. Now what rhymes with “Po”?

A series of canals connects Milan and Torino – these are silted grey smelly water ways that apparently were designed in part by Leonardo Da Vinci. He should have stuck to naked men in marble!

One of the nicest ways to eat in Europe and my experience , has been in Italy and Spain, is the custom of buying a drink – a glass of wine or a beer for 10 euro which includes an all you can eat smorgasbord of anti pasta or tapas. It’s good value and totally different from the MacDonald’s offering. It was at one such bar that I developed a taste for lemon flavoured light beer.

The only benefit of lacking a permanent sense of direction is that I invariably stumble across most of the local attractions (on multiple occasions) and in addition totally unexpected, yet fascinating historical buildings or parks.

The Valentino Palace