Mom & Dad Visit

Mom & Dad are safe & sound back at home in Maryland and I think we can safely say we all had a great time.  We met in Paris this weekend which was awesome, but I haven't loaded the photos yet, so those stories will be featured in the next post. 

Mom and Dad arrived Friday morning in Turin where I picked them up.  We headed straight to Saluzzo for them to meet the Olney pup.  He was not sure about these new people and all their luggage, but everyone quickly became friends when Mom & Dad brought out the liver treats.

Friday afternoon after Fabri got home from work we all went for a private tour of the Convent of Saluzzo.  Fabri had been the doctor of a monk from the convent and the other brothers were happy to thank him.  We got to see a lot of behind the scenes murals and woodwork.  The Chapel was breathtaking and it was extra special to have the brother as a guide.  They're Franciscan monks and gave Fabri a book full of amazing pictures of Franciscan monk convents.  I think Fabri & I will be going back soon as they're having a festival this weekend and invited us to come.

Saturday we woke up and headed to the Saluzzo market.  It's always neat to walk around the market especially the food stalls.  Olney came with us, and his favorite part is the food stalls as well.  We bought food to make for dinner that night as Maria Pia & Antonio were coming over.  We also bought some fresh pasta for lunch and some plants and flowers.  We went home and had a type of cheese ravioli with butter and sage or with oil and parmesan.  We ate on the balcony as it was beautiful and sunny for the first half of the day.

Saturday afternoon we headed to Manta Castle.  It's the most beautiful castle I've ever been to.  It is beautifully decorated inside and there's a small chapel next door full or paintings as well.  Though the chapel has had many of the paintings destroyed by water damage.  There are photos in the slide show below.

Saturday night we had a nice dinner with our parents.  Dad helped by smoking some chicken & pork.  I made steamed clams with garlic oil and cauliflower popcorn to start.  Then I made chicken and sauteed veggies to go with the smoked meat.  We had cookies and pastries Mom bought when we were at the market.  We drank the dolcetto wine we made last fall with Gaetano.  It was finally really good.  When we've drank it earlier it's been too sweet.  We ate on our fancy Butterfly Meadow china.  It was a special occasion to have both sets of parents over for dinner and the dinner went very well.



Sunday we woke up early and headed up past Limone to the Colle de Tende.  It's a passage through the alps between Italy and France and part of the old salt road from the middle ages.  Fabri, Olney and I hiked it before in better weather.  There was a possibility of scattered storms, but hiking in the alps was something Mom & Dad had wanted to do, and we were all willing to risk it.  It was getting sunny in Saluzzo, so we all opted to wear shorts.  That was sort of a silly decision, but we were fine.  When we got up to the mountains, we opened the trunk of the car and put on all the layers we brought especially the wind breakers.  You can see the photos in the slide show.  After hiking and visiting the forts, we had lunch at Le Marmotte refuge up in the mountains.  We had some delicious mountain food: polenta, boar, cheese, tagliata and wild mushrooms.

On Monday I took Mom & Dad to the museum to see where I work.  It was fun to show them around and we of course received a private tour from the museum director and Gian, the museum entomologist.  For the rest of Monday we took it easy, played with the pup, Mom and I went shopping.  Monday night we went out for burgers and beer at Fabri's & my favorite risto-pub.  Then Tuesday morning I drove Mom & Dad back to Turin and they flew to Nice where they caught a train to Holland.