London

From London

It has been a busy, busy June and things aren't going to slow down until mid July.  I have at least 2 and a half blogs worth of stuff to write about, so I better just get down to it.

A couple of weekends ago we went to London for 3 nights.  Fabri had a conference at the world's first hospice, St. Christopher's in London.  So his work was paying for him and a nurse to go and I said "I get to go too!"  We arrived Thursday evening at Gatwick and our friendly Scottish cab driver took us to our B&B in Sydenham, a neighborhood in southern London.  It was a no frills accommodation, but it was walking distance to the hospice and only cost 20 pounds a person.   Thursday night we found a lovely Indian restaurant on the main road and had a delicious 5 course meal!  That was the foodie highlight of the trip, from there the meals went downhill. 

From London

Friday morning Fabri & the nurse (Annalisa) went to their conference.  I packed up and headed into London to find our hotel for the weekend.  I really enjoyed the train ride and the Underground.  It was fun just being in a city again!  I found the hotel without a problem and dropped my bag off.  Then I went and had a yummy sandwich in a pub before going shopping.  I just got a couple of things from chain stores (nothing exciting) and after 4 or 5 hours of that I was bored and tired.  Fabri & Annalisa were supposed to be done at about 5:30 and it took me 45 minutes or so to get to the hotel, so I headed back to that neighborhood and had a pint of ale in a pub.  The ales were the best part of London.  They are all cask condition and every pub seems to have something different.

From London

I FINALLY found Fabri at 7 or so and we went to the hotel.  We were actually staying in an apartment off site from the hotel, so the hotel people took us over.  At first look, the apartment was really nice looking and we were excited, but then we come to find out there were some big problems.  The main one being that the shower was horrible and came out either freezing or scalding, but only a trickle of water at a time.  Also there was no maid service while we were there, but they didn't have some basic cleaning supplies in the apartment (namely a broom).  None the less we survived.

From London

Friday night we went to a pub to watch all the Brits watching the England World Cup game.  There was a lot of yelling involved with that.  We had some beers and some appetizers and then went to another pub for some more extensive food.  I realized walking around that London smells like a food court.  Most of the "restaurants" we saw were take away joints for street food from all over the world.  A lot of Indian food, but also Portuguese, Spanish, Mexican and Middle Eastern.

Saturday Fabri and I went on a long walk around London and saw a little of everything.  We also bought tickets to Chicago the musical for Saturday night.  It was fun and tiring, but we saw all there was to see!!

From London

From London

From London

From London

Saturday evening we met up with Annalisa and the 3 of us went to the theatre.  Did I mention our seats were in the front row!?  We really enjoyed the show, especially Fabri who is very motivated to see more musicals now.  Broadway, here we come!  After the show we wandered around looking for a restaurant for dinner.  We eventually found an Indian restaurant that was just so-so.

Then Sunday we took the train back to Gatwick and had one of the best meals in the airport (and of course some final pints) before leaving London for Italy, the land of no bad meals.

From London

Weekend Update

From Blogger Pictures

Beautiful flowers from Fabri for the weekend.  

Wow, we had a busy weekend.  We have just now finally recovered from it!

First, Wednesday was a holiday (Republic Day), so Tuesday night we went to Giovanni & Brunella's house for a beer tasting dinner.  The Prison here in Saluzzo brews beer and because Giovanni works there as a doctor, the guards gave him a nice discount.  Everything was delicious, but the meal was all carbohydrates and we were STUFFED by the end.  We learned about a new local brewery though and Fabri really loved the Pils.

From Blogger Pictures

Pretty Balcony!

Wednesday Fabri, Olney & I went for a drive in the Roero wine region.  We attempted to go to a local products market with strawberries and wine, but it was misadvertised and wasn't there!  Boo!  At least we were in a gorgeous hilly region on a beautiful sunny day and we really enjoyed the ride.  Then we had a refreshing lunch on the balcony and headed to Ruffia for dinner on the grill.  Yum!

From Blogger Pictures

Pasta Primavera, primavera style for lunch!

Friday Fabri & I went out to dinner at a pizzeria and then picked up Olney from the house to walk around downtown Saluzzo.  We got a couple of ice cream cones and than ran into Anna & Claudio hanging out with a pack of Americans in town for Anna & Cladio's wedding on Saturday.  We heart Americans, so we decided to stay and hang out.  We did a little bar hopping and were able to show off our city which was fun, but we ended up getting home at about 3 in the AM.

Saturday morning we were up around 9:30 with the pup.  We went to the market and bought a new bed spread (exciting stuff, I know).  Then we went to Ruffia to tire out the pup and have some lunch.  We left Olney in Ruffia to spend the night with Maria Pia & Antonio.  We got back to Saluzzo at 3 and had to hurry up and get ready because the wedding started at 4!  We arrived a little late (fashionably), but before the bride, so we were good.  It was a beautiful church and a moving, though long, ceremony.

After the ceremony we all walked up the hill to this very fancy restaurant/inn.  The food was delicious and we ate and drank and danced until 2 in the morning when Fabri and I stumbled down the hill to home.

Sunday we were exhausted.  It turns out we're too old for two late nights in a row!  But, Sunday was a fun day in Saluzzo, so we had to suck it up and go out.  There was a flea market which we checked out, but didn't find anything.  We really went out for the first ever Saluzzo beer festival!!  There were about a dozen Italian microbreweries and we tried beer from 8 or 9 of them.  We located some great beer to buy, but more exciting, we have a list of breweries/restaurants that we WILL be trying.  We'll even bring you, if you come and visit!!