We arrived in Alba, in northwestern Italy this afternoon. Since our arrival, we’ve been busy. OK – busy eating, mostly. But now we’re on a mission. We need to procure donkey race tickets before they’re sold out. It turns out that it’s no easy feat to buy a couple of tickets to the donkey races. Who knew?
At the local Tourist Information Center, we had been advised that tickets could be purchased at a place just outside the city center. They even gave us a map, so we wouldn’t get lost. Well, we found the place, but there was nothing much there. So at that point, I suppose we were indeed, lost.
We weren’t far from some structures that looked like abandoned concessions stands, as if a fair had been held here. Some high-school-age kids were hanging out there. We went over and asked them for help.
High-School Kids to the Rescue
They were nice kids. Communicating was a challenge at first, but between their little bit of english and my little bit of italian, we managed to communicate pretty well. Unfortunately, they didn’t know where one could buy tickets to the donkey races.
Then one of the girls said she thought her brother might know. She whipped out her cell phone and called him. I can tell you that the italian she spoke with her brother increased in speed by a factor of a hundred compared to the italian we had been speaking.
Our conversation was like someone typing by the hunt-and-peck method, compared to the way she spoke to her brother, which was like someone typing 300 words per minute.
From what I could gather, the conversation sounded promising. Maybe her brother was giving her directions. They talked for quite awhile, though, so if she was getting directions, they might be LONG directions. We’d just have to wait and see.
She said “ciao” to her brother and ended the call. She told us her brother knew where to get tickets. Great! But as we had suspected, the instructions were complicated. After much discussion among the group of kids, they unanimously agreed: they could tell us where the place was – but we would never be able to find it. Mamma mia.
Li Accompagnerò Lì, (I’ll Go With ‘Em)
Then one of the kids volunteered to give us a personal escort. He said it was within walking distance, not too far. But there were a lot of twists and turns along the way.
We said, “No, no, no, it’s too much trouble,” or words to that effect, just to be polite. But before he had a chance to think about it, we took him up on his offer.
We said our “ciao’s” and “gracie mille!” and headed off on foot. The three of us went down a ways, over a ways, up a ways, through a gate, and around a building. We found the place we were looking for, but it appeared to be closed. We tried the door handle anyway. It opened right up.
This Place is Deserted
Looking inside, we were peering down a dark, empty hall. We walked down the hall anyway, made a turn, and found ourselves standing in front of a ticket window. The room behind the ticket window was full of people bustling around. And in the window was a little poster advertising the famous Donkey Races of Alba. We’d found it!
Those kids were right – we would never have found this place on our own. After thanking our young friend profusely, we said our good-byes and purchased tickets. We were going to the donkey races!
Thinking back, we were really impressed with those kids. They were fun and so helpful to a couple of strangers. Can you imagine – the girl calling her brother on the phone, getting directions, then the whole group figuring out how to get us there. And then the guy who escorted us all the way to the ticket window? Really nice, eh?
By the time we got back to the hotel, we were wiped out. We’d just arrived this afternoon, but it seemed like we’d been in Alba for three days. It was dinnertime, but we had eaten lunch late, so we weren’t very hungry.
Pizza al Taglio (Pizza by the Slice)
We’d walked past numerous pizza and sandwich places today. They had the best-looking stuff in the windows. We decided that I would go out and bring back whatever I could find, and that would be dinner.
It was dark when I ventured out. A lot of people had ventured out, too. The streets were well-lit, and the city looked neat at night. I had one particular place in mind, but I wasn’t sure where it was. I must have passed three or four gelato places while I was looking for it. We came pretty close to having gelato for dinner that night
Finally, I found the place I’d been thinking of. They made pizzas in big, rectangular sheet pans, and sold it by the slice. Each slice was a large, rectangular slab of goodness.
I made my purchase and headed back to the hotel, walking fast so dinner wouldn’t get cold. I arrived with my catch of the day, which we devoured with great delight. What a day it had been. We would sleep benissimo tonight!
To be continued…
Note: The photo at the top of the post is from fieradeltartufo.org
