By car in Turin Paradise National Park.

📍 Gran Paradiso National Park, Turin (With my return to China approaching, I felt like doing something wild 🚀) On a whim, I rented a blue 5-seat electric car from Noleggiare at Porta Nuova, planning to drive my friends to hike in Gran Paradiso. But one friend had to drop out last minute 😢. Luckily, we were joined by skilled Driver C, who got all five of us back safely 🚙💨. We picked up the car around 8:00 AM ⏰ – waited in line for about an hour. Turns out the EV’s range was less than 200 km, so we switched last minute to a petrol car (only a €5 difference! The staff said EVs are better for city driving 🏙️🔋). We got full insurance, rented for one day – €100 deposit (credit card only 💳) and around €120 rental fee. Highly recommend Noleggiare! Super friendly to under-25s – no young driver fee 🎉. After completing the paperwork, the staff handed us a key and a parking ticket – we picked up the car from Esselunga’s underground parking 🅿️. The drive from Porta Nuova to the mountain top took 2.5 hours 🛣️. The last half hour was intense – continuous U-turns, steep slopes, a one-lane road with cliffs on one side and rock face on the other 🏔️, plus occasional tour buses coming right at us 😅. Big thanks to Driver C for taking the wheel, and to Fan Fan, Ying Jie, and Haixing for the moral support! We made it, swaying all the way 🥴. Along the ascent, we passed three scenic spots: a small chapel ⛪, a twin-lake viewpoint 🌊🌊, and a large lake near the summit. At the last spot, the left front tire pressure alarm went off ⚠️. We tried looking up solutions on Baidu and borrowing a pump… but no signal, no equipment 😅. We decided to just roll with it – worst case, we’d spend the night outdoors 🌌. While making sandwiches by the lake, a rescue helicopter suddenly landed nearby 🚁 – sand and dust everywhere, totally ruined my lunch 😤. Turns out someone was trapped halfway up the mountain (the helicopter mobility was seriously impressive though!). After lunch, Driver C stayed with the car while the four of us continued upward 🥾. Stepped into the grassland and grasshoppers popped like frying oil 🦗💥 (nightmare for insect-phobes 😭). We saw multiple marmots – some digging holes, some fighting, others contemplating life on rocks 🤔💭 (very relatable modern mental state). And yes, marmots really scream like in the memes!!! 📢 The higher we climbed, the harder it got – gasping every few steps above 2700m 🥵, real altitude sickness hitting hard. Felt like doing push-ups would’ve been easier 💪. But the views opened up more – melting snow forming streams ❄️💧, sedimentary rocks peeking through green meadows. Life is a wild field, not a track. 🌄 #Turin #Hiking #RoadTrip #LifeIsAWildFieldNotATrack