Closed? - it's lunch time.

Welcome to Italy! Christie and I arrived this morning to Milan, Italy! It was a decent flight, about 9 hours, which we spent a much shorter time sleeping than we would have liked. Regardless, we made it alive - here are our pictures shortly after getting off the plane.



We then gathered our things and rented a car and headed to Turin, Italy. First thing we did was eat some pizza (we'll post about Italian pizza another time for sure!) and then went to get on the bus to explore the city for a bit. It was around 1:50 when we set out for bus tickets. The first place was stopped was a bar (there is a bar on every corner here. Not quite like an American bar, more like a Starbucks type thing, but with alcohol as well.) The bar tender was nice, but said they didn't sell bus tickets. I asked where we could get them. He then told us that any tabaccheria would sell them, however all those would be closed until 3. He said he didn't know where else we could buy any and apologized. We fortunately found another bar that sold tickets and were fine.

The part of the culture that I wanted to highlight is the long lunch breaks. In Italy, it is normal that everyone takes a 2 hour lunch - it's standard. Shops close and familys reunite, usually between the hours of 1 and 3. What I love about this tradition is the fact it shows that family/friends are more important than work to the Italians. In America, everyone is always going, working, but here they are enjoying their lives and days. The tradition of long lunches has been around for a long time in Italy, and hopefully the tradition will continue to go forth as it has.