Wednesday, July 21, 2010

It's nice in Nice

From Summer Fun with Friends
I'm behind on posting as usual.  Two weekends ago we went to Nice to meet Amy, Josh & Kevin from SMC.  They were in Europe for a wedding and decided to come down to Nice to party with us for their last 4 days or so.  Fabri and I arrived at our apartment Thursday evening and waited for the others to find us.  Amy, very impressively, navigated her way to the apartment and I was waiting on the balcony to greet them.  A few cold beers later, everyone was happy and ready to go out and explore a little of Nice.  We, very unfortunately, went to McDonald's for dinner which is always a mistake and I didn't end up getting anything there.  Then we went to Wayne's, our favorite hot spot, and I got a delicious chicken, bacon club sandwich.  We ended the evening with a sing along on the beach which did not make Josh & Kevin happy, but Fabri, Amy & I enjoyed it.
From Summer Fun with Friends
On Friday we woke up late and went to Monaco.  It was the last place on Kevin's list of places to see before he turned 30 (HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEVIN!!).  People were a bit hung over/busted, so we took it easy and got some sandwiches and ate in the park in front of the castle.  The only other site we saw was Princess Grace's tomb in the beautiful church there.  A very expressive albatross that reminded Fabri & I of Olney stole the rest of Kevin's sandwich right out of his hands and flew away with it! Then we drove around the port of Monte Carlo and the casino and headed back to Nice for an afternoon nap!
From Summer Fun with Friends
From Summer Fun with Friends
After we all came to, we had a French aperitivo in the house with brie and french salami and wine.  Then Fabri & I took our guests to my favorite Nice restaurant, the Fleur de Jade.  It's a Vietnamese restaurant full of aquariums and they love Americans there.  We ate a LOT of yummy food and then went to Old Nice for a couple of drinks.
From Summer Fun with Friends
Saturday was their last full day in Nice, so we really focused on eating as many mussels as humanly possible at the Festival de Moules!  For the boys, that was 7 pots of mussels!  For Amy & I, it was a bit less.  Amy and I took advantage of the boys being slow & food drunk to do some shopping after lunch and I got a ceramic cicada garlic grater.  For some reason, the cicada is one of the symbols of Provence, along with lavender.
From Summer Fun with Friends
For dinner we went to Wayne's for a light dinner and to watch the Germany:Uruguay soccer game.  Some of those German boys are VERY cute.  After eating, Amy, Fabri & I went to get some table dancing in before we all went home on Sunday.  Dancing at Wayne's is a hot sweaty mess, so afterward we headed to the beach for a midnight dip before going home.
From Summer Fun with Friends
On Sunday we had our last pain chocolat and Fabri took the American-living Americans to the airport.  Then he and I headed home stopping in Limone for an afternoon snack.  It was awesome in Limone, I was in long-sleeves and shorts and I was cold outside!  In these hot days, I take comfort knowing I can jump in the car and be in Limone in less than an hour!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Summer Fun with Friends


Last week was my friend Anna's birthday.  We went to the Moni Bar in Fossano and had some sushi.  It was good, but Italiafied with mayonnaise and such.  I'm happy to see more food diversity in my region though.  I have to open up a Mexican restaurant here in Saluzzo!!
From Summer Fun with Friends
This past weekend we spent relaxing at home for the first time in a month.  We mostly stayed at home in front of the fan trying to keep cool.  Saturday night we went out with Fabri's friends from high school.  In standard Italian fashion, they were at least 45 minutes late, but we were happy they decided to come to Saluzzo.  We started at a bar with an extra large bottle of prosecco.  Yum!

Fabri and I had made a reservation at our favorite restaurant, the Trattoria dei Artista for 10:15pm.  We got there about 5 minutes early and were pleasantly surprised to see them preparing a table for 8.  We were not so happy when they proceeded to seat another group of 8 before us.  They claimed they would have another table ready for us in 15 or 20 minutes, but when it was almost 11, we called another restaurant and went there to eat.  Fabri & I were so mad, we're regulars at Artista and they always treat us poorly.  We decided we're never going back because they embarrassed us in front of our friends.  We were trying to show off Saluzzo.
From Summer Fun with Friends
Edo, Chiara, Francesca and Fabri

But anyway, we went to Quatro Staggioni (4 Seasons) and had some yummy pizzas and everyone was happy.  There was no waiting for a table in their beautiful courtyard and the service was good, much better than at Artista.  Take that losers!!
From Summer Fun with Friends
Mia, Valerio, Andrea & Me

After dinner I went home to get Olney and we hung out at another Saluzzo bar for a bit.  We all promised to hang out more often and we're looking forward to the birth of Francesca's baby (she's due at the end of the month) and Chiara's wedding (at the end of August).

Monday, July 5, 2010

Another Weekend Trip

First, Happy Independence Day!!  We canceled our 4th of July party this year because very few people were in town this weekend and there was construction at the country house where we hold it.  I'll just have to come up with another reason to make some beer can chicken and barbecued ribs....you know, like a day of the week ending in "day."
From Caserta June 2010
Second, we bought TWO new cars!!!!!!!!   Whoot whoot.  Both from Seat (pronounced C-ot), a Spanish brand owned by Volkswagen.  Fabri got an Ibiza pictured above and my Altea XL will arrive in September.  In Europe they don't make thousands of cars in advance to sit around parking lots and be bought, they do more custom orders and you have to wait for the factory to make your car.  I think it's good because dealers aren't stuck with cars no one wants and it eliminates the need for giant parking lots, but I really miss that instant gratification where you buy a car and they hand you the keys that day.  Fabri's was one of the cars that was already made, so he got his a few days after we bought it (they had install the Bluetooth for him). 

So the new cars were very important because two days after getting Fabri's we drove it about 9 hours to Caserta for the weekend.  For those of you who don't know, Caserta is down near Naples and it's where Fabri's parents are from and were many of his aunts & uncles & cousins still live.  We went down for Fabri's cousin's wedding.  Olney came with us for his longest road trip ever and he was great in the car.  He slept in the backseat pretty much the entire time and did not bark or cry or make any noise at all.  I have decided we need to sell our house and buy an RV and just live there so that Olney can be so perfect all the time!
From Caserta June 2010
We left Thursday afternoon after Fabri finished work and got to his uncle's house in Pozzovetere (in the hills above Caserta) where we were staying about 12:30 at night.  We had a quick meal and were off to bed.  Unfortunately, since Olney slept all day, he had some extra energy and we didn't sleep that well...
From Caserta June 2010
That's the palace of Caserta which was built to be like Versailles in France.

On Friday we took Olney around Caserta vecchia which is the medieval town of Caserta up on the hills above the modern city.  It's very beautiful and you can see Caserta and Naples all the way to the sea from up there.  There were a lot of stray dogs around and one of them took a liking to Olney and followed us around a bunch.  It wasn't a big deal until he followed us all the way to the car....  It was very funny though, there was some old bread on the road, and the stray dog passed it by without a thought, but our dog who eats two meals a day and gets a ton of treats pulled to eat some of the old bread....
From Caserta June 2010
I need to go into a little detail about the lovely Caserta vecchia.  It has excellent tourist potential, and we talked a while with two owners of a bar/restaurant where we had aperitivo who said they do get a fair amount of English tourists.  The problem is that a lot of the beautiful medieval sites aren't open to the public.  During the week, the cathedral and the smaller churches are closed and the castle and tower have been deemed unsafe and you can't get closer than Olney and I are in the picture below. Sadness.
From Caserta June 2010
There are beautiful medieval streets to explore and a LOT of restaurants and bars with good local food and wine, so Fabri and I happily went there both Friday and Saturday mornings with the Olney pup.
From Caserta June 2010
Saturday afternoon was the wedding.  I went down to the center of Caserta to get my hair done with Maria Pia & Francesca.  Life is very different in the south of Italy from the north.  The cities are dirtier and more dangerous and the mafia presence is much, much more apparent.  People are really only concerned with themselves and don't think about other people.  Even though Caserta is a relatively small city (the same size as Cuneo), it is full of beggars and crime.  There are a lot of stray dogs that form packs and roam around at night looking for food.  The center around the palace is very nice though with nice stores and restaurants and parks.  It's nice to visit, but I would never want to live there.
From Caserta June 2010
After the hair we went back up to Pozzovetere to get dressed and go.  The wedding ceremony was in a room of the castle of San Leucio (above), another town in the hills above Caserta. Unfortunately it started to rain as the guests were arriving and got even worse when the guests were exiting to go to the reception which was held at the groom's parents' country house.  The house was gorgeous and like at all Italian weddings, there was a ton of food.
From Caserta June 2010
First there were passed hors d'oeuvres.  Then there were two buffets of appetizers.  One with meat and cheese including 3 types of mozzarella di bufala, the best, freshest mozzarella in the world.  The other with fish and seafood including stuffed mussels and octopus salad.  Then there were two pasta dishes and a main course of fillet of fish and a mini eggplant parmigiana.  Then there was a HUGE cake and an even huger dessert buffet.  I just had a little cake and a couple mini cannoli. 
From Caserta June 2010
Sunday we left in the morning to get home as soon as possible.  Fabri had to work early on Monday morning and it was a tough week because 3 of his colleagues were on vacation.  Now we're looking forward to the next weekend road trip.  Our summer vacation is made up of several short weekend trips, but I think that's great and it means seeing a lot of different places!  Next stop: the beach!!