Autogrills

I wondered where the coffee machines were as I stood in the Autogrill "pit stop" on the A5 autoroute about an hour after our crossing into Italy by way of the Mont Blanc tunnel.  In France, where we live, the "Aires", or the French version of Italian Autogrills, always have coffee machines dispencing good quality coffee, or you can purchase a coffee at the bar.  In Italy it looked like coffee could only be bought at the bar.  As I looked at the menu of the coffees offered, two north Africans drinking thick Italian expresso and chatting to one another in Italian wished me "Buon Gionio". 

I ordered two Expressos although I meant to say Lattes.  They arrived and the coffee was so thick you could stand a spoon up in it.  Thick, dark, black coffee.  Grains left in the cup when you're finished.  Another six hours of driving ahead to get to the ski resort in the Dolomites.