51st day. Wednesday, a sunny day with lot of light.
Sunshine after the rain, feel good, maybe that was why more people were out on the street.
Maybe after two days of rain, the sun was back and gave a sense that everything will be fine finally....
On the way to the pharmacy, encountered quite a number of people walking around, many of them were without mask.
More people were at the bus stop and more people were walking their dogs.
At piazza IV Maggio, dogs owners were chatting with each other and while I was there a friendly dog came to greet, so what could I do, I patted her and she went back to her owner happily.
After 50 days of restriction and confinement, even dogs miss the human contact.
A guy without mask was struggling with the 5 dogs he brought out for a walk, is he a dog sitter?
It seems that more people are trying to go back to their normal lives regardless that the pandemia is not over yet.
Location : Via XX Settembre/Piazza IV Maggio/Via Garibaldi
50th day! Tuesday, it was still rainy, denser, bigger, longer.
Been stayiing home more or less for fifty days, should I consider it as an achievement?
There was nothing much to look at on the street, just rain, few people walking under the rain with umbrella and some cars passing through the street under the rain....
Once I would take my camera and go out to shoot some photos of reflection, but we are now still in a lockdown.
The other day, passed by the normally busy via Roma, the first person I saw on via Roma was a woman walking her dog. Next, two guys waiting outside a phramacy and a third guy crossing over into the arcade.
Via Roma leads directly to the main train station, there are many shops
under the arcades along the street and it is often crowded. On the section where cars are forbidden, often there were street performances which attracted big crowd of people
Basically , in these days via Roma is empty.
In the streets without people, the shadow of the epidemic is spreading. . . .
Location : via Roma
49th day. Monday. Rainy day,
The whole day was dim and gloomy, it was the kind of rain which kept coming down, not heavily, but kept going the whole day.
The rain might be able to clean up the air, but it surely has no effect on the Coronvirus.
Yesterday, the Prime Minister Conte had announced the starting and the restrictions of the 2nd phase of the lockdown.
Quite a number of criticism and dissatisfactions have arisen.
The pandemia in Italy is showing sign of slowing down, but the spreading is still high and people are still dying. It has no sense to reopen everything all at once, reopening has to be done in phases.
Many people just too concentrate on their own problems and refuse to look at a bigger picture. They want the reopening to be soon and full, well, the virus might come back to attack soon and full too.
Perhaps, people should take the chance to get out onto the street, place themselves under the rain to clear their minds.
Location : Via Pietro Micca
48 days. The whole day was sunny until near evening, rains started to pour down and it might be raining until Friday.
As usual, we seldom go out on Sunday, but today we went out to the nearby supermarket just to top up some stuff. I saw that people were already starting not to obey the restriction of the lockdown so strictly. There was a notice by the entrance of the supermarket about each family ( group ) are allowed to have only one person enters to do the shopping, but saw some obviously couples were going in and out together.
The arcades are one of the characteristics of Turin. They are high and wide, with plenty of light shining through one side, except that between via Roma and via Po.
Due to the shops on both side of the arcade, the stretch of arcade leadings from via Roma to via Po can be quite dark. Thanks to the shop windows, there are sufficient lights provided, until now.
The other day on the way back from shopping, passed through the arcade. All the shops were closed, so no light from their windows, the arcade was dark and gloomy. It was deserted and empty, with some light penetrated from outside through the openings between some shops. The contrast of light and shadow made the darker places even more gloomy and depressed.
Outside the arcade, across the street is piazza Castello, a favourite place for locals and tourists to hang out. Although it was a very pleasant and sunny day, the piazza was empty, no one was around in the piazza.
Loacation : Piazza Castello
47 day. Saturday. Although in these few days, especially on Saturday, it seems that more people were out on the streets, perhaps they really withstand any longer staying home the whole day, but I still choose to stay home.
'Eataly' is a well-known chain restaurant that mainly promotes local food. There is a branch on Lagrange Street where you can dine inside or outside the restaurant. The other day when I was in Lagrange street, saw that the tables and chairs for dining outdoor were still there, but of course nobody was occupying any seat.
Normally, on Friday and weekends or holidays, tourist's hot spot like the Eyptian Museum has long queue waiting outside at the entrance. On some particular Friday, when there was reduced price and guided tour, the queue could go up to two blocks long.
Now the museum is temporary closed for visiting, I'm afraid that the mummies and the people will have to spend more time being apart.
After the Eypptian Museum, I headed towards piazza Carignano again, the McDonald next to the piazza was empty, not sure if it still serves take away, but the usual crowd of riders waiting outside to collect their orders wasn't there.
Under the normally very busy and crowded arcades on both sides of the entrance, all shops were closed, and the place was dim and not a single soul around, it looked rather sad and uneasy.
Location : Museo Egizio/piazza carignano/Via Lagrange
46th day. Friday, was still sunny.
Seemed to have more peoples and more cars on the street, perhaps they had started the lockdown phase 2 by themselves.
The day after I came out from the supermarket, instead of going back by the same street, I chose to turn right and walked along via Carlo Alberto, just to change the view.
Reached the junction where there was the Parish Church of the Madonna of the Angels, the usual long hairs homeless guy who often sat by the door had disappeared. The statue of the holy virgin was still standing high up on top of the church, looking down on us all beings.
Turned right and walked a few meters, then right again onto via Lagrange.
Same as via Carlo Alberto, via Lagrange is a shopping pedestrians street, but it is usually more busy and lively.
There are restaurants, bars, all kinds of shops, even a shopping complex and some very high ends shops which I have never entered before. Now, regardless high ends or low ends or whatever shops, are all closed, except the invincible grocery shops and supermarkets.
Passed by a chinese restaurant with the red lanterns still haning outside and the doors were closed since before the lockdown.
The shopping complex 'Rinascente' looked abandoned, outside there was only an old man sitting alone on the bench in the center of the street. The noise, the movement and the bustle of the past are gone.
Now, just has to wait till the 4th of May to see what will happen next. Currently unpredictable.
Location: via Carlo Alberto/via Lagrange
45th day. Thursday, another sunny day.
Regardless, I stayed home.
The day before, while on the way to the supermarket, passed by piazza Carlo Alberto.
Weekend market and also biannual flowers and plants exhibition cum market were often held in the piazza. They usually attracted lots of people filling up the piazza and the adjacent street.
One side of the piazza is the National Museum of the Italian Risorgimento and the other side is the National Library.
Fresh green grasses have already covered up the four corners of the piazza, showing of that the spring is here.
Except the 3, 4 people passed across the piazza, there were only 3 homeless guys sitting on a bench chatting with each other, not totally in compliance with the social distancing.
Turned right into via Carlo Alberto and reached the supermarket. There was a queue of 3, 4 persons in front of me.
Waited for about 5 to 10 minutes and it was my turn to get in.
There were not so may people inside, however the distance between rows of shelves was less that 2 meters, so it was not easy to keep the social distance of one meter between person, there was always a chance that someone just brushed by your side unintentionally.
After about an hour, hen I stepped out of the supermarket, there was a much longer queue outisde.
Location : Piazza Carlo Alberto/Via Carlo Alberto
