March is really living up to it's reputation here in the Saluzzo area. In like a lion & out like a lamb. Well we have another week to confirm it's "lambiness", but the lion part is certainly true. On Sunday, March 7 we got a bunch of snow. I guess the crazy Washington winter weather found me! It snowed all day on Sunday and got to be a bit over a foot. Though they were calling for snow, I never believed we'd wake up to a sea of white.
Luckily we had planned a nearly perfect snow day without even knowing it would snow. The extended family with good friends Antonio & Laura went to Ruffia to have a big polenta lunch! Laura had offered to make polenta for everyone and you just can't say no to an offer like that. I made ratatouille to go with it and Maria Pia made sausages and a mushroom sauce. It was all very delicious and very hearty, perfect for a snowy afternoon.
After we had stuffed ourselves we went outside to build a huge snowman. The snow never let up, so it was hard to get a good picture. It was very beautiful though.
Then on Wednesday it snowed again!! Another 7 - 8 inches I think. Olney loved it. He's crazy for snow. He had a great time running around the field and chasing snowballs we threw to him. It was nice to get once last snow day for the season.
So that was very "lionesque." Then, the weekend before last, we met my friend Caitlin in Nice. Caitlin's studying in France, but hadn't been to Nice before. It was really nice for us to get to Nice. We hadn't been since we went with Vicki & Amy & Danny almost a year ago! One of our goals for this year is to go more often. It's only about a 3 hour drive, so it's a nice weekend get away. We left Olney in Savi Beach though. We want to try to bring him to Nice, but not when we're meeting someone else. We're worried he'll be too afraid of all the noises and strangeness. He's sort of a scaredy cat, especially of loud, low noises & booms.
Anyway, we met Caitlin in Nice Friday evening. She had arrived a few hours before and explored a bit, but hadn't quite made it to the most touristy (and our favorite) parts of Nice. We went to the apartment to unpack and relax and change before going to the Fleur de Jade, a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant a few blocks away from the apartment. I love this place. Fabri & I only knew of one or two good places to eat in Nice, the rest are all the same touristy overpriced places. I found the Fleur de Jade in a Nice guidebook from the library. The restaurant is very decorative, you have to step over a koi pond to get in, the food is delicious and (for Nice) inexpensive and the guys there speak English and love Americans!
After dinner we walked around Nice pointing out all the attractions to Caitlin. We eventually (of course) found our way to
Wayne's. Wayne's is always an awesome time and we danced (to the so-so band) and drank and hung out until we were too tired.
The next morning we woke up late and went shopping. My second favorite thing about Nice is the shopping. There are a lot of stores close to our apartment including H&M and a shopping mall, the
Nice Etoile. Everyone got something new and we continued window shopping all the way down to the beach. By then it was lunch time and we headed to the Festival des moules. Here you get all you can eat mussels & fries for 14 euros (the price went up again). It's a lot of fun and a tradition for Fabri.
After all those mussels we were stuffed and went back to the apartment to sleep. Later that evening Fabri cooked a yummy dinner of carbonara spaghetti. After dinner we went down to Old Nice and took Caitlin to another English speaking pub, Thor which has actually been renamed AkaThor. Anyway, we were all still stuffed from lunch & dinner and unfortunately Caitlin had a disagreeable hard cider. Teaches her to drink hard cider...
But overall we still had a marvelous time in Nice and hopefully Caitlin will make it all the way to Saluzzo this summer!
4 comments:
I was just thinking this morning that it must be about time for another blog post! We had a similarly lion/lamb week here, and unfortunately I was working for all the of the lamb parts! But, at least we didn't get all that snow that you had. No more snow in DC, thank you very much!
The dafodils and forsythias are blooming here and the lilacs and tulips are budding. Can't wait to see you both in April!
Jessica! That picture with me in it is atrocious! But it was fun night. Listening to Fabri sing over the band was the best part of that night...or maybe it was making our way to McDonald's. Either way, it was tons of fun!! Thanks, again, for having me!!!
Sounds absolutely wonderful. I only wish I was there (for the lamb parts anyway.) We had a glorious weekend that I spent at a soccer tournament. The only complaint was getting on the road at 5:30AM. I love reading about you and seeing related photos. By the way, the soccer coaches are both getting married (one on Saturday and the other Memorial Day) and we gave them a shower between games. We played dress the bride which the girls really loved. Of course, their designs didn't compare..
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