Italy Journal
Thursday, December 20,
2012
AN EXCURSION WITH
CLAUDIA
I got up early this morning to go and pay our huge gas bill
for the house. It was huge because they have been estimating all year, and now
they have suddenly actually read the meter. Peter and I may have our Christmas
vacation on the gas company’s steps! Fortunately for me, I went to EGEA at
8:25a.m., at Enzo’s recommendation, and ONLY 5 other people were waiting with
me when they opened at 8:30. It worked out fine, though, because most of the
people were like me and just wanted to pay a bill.
Mid-morning, Claudia came to the house. Both her sister Ana
and Peter are still working on their papers for class, so Claudia and I decided
to go on an excursion.
We started off in Cherasco. It was very chilly and overcast,
so it didn’t take us long to understand that we should just take short walks
from one warm place to another. We started at Riccardi’s Chocolate Shop, and I
didn’t even try to resist getting a large bag of Cherasco Baci (Small dark
chocolate medallions with hazelnuts crunched in them.). I did get them wrapped up for a present, if
for no other reason than to keep me from eating them on the way home. They are
the hands-down favorites of all of our guests! Mr. Riccardi asked about Peter
and asked me to remind him that he was going to come and visit the production
facility soon. Yes, I will definitely remember to tell Peter that! We will take
our tours there for sure, too.
After a stroll through the street market near THE TOWER (see
picture), Claudia and I chose to stop in at a café for a bathroom break and a
warm drink. We stayed there talking until almost time for our reservation at La
Torre for lunch. The walk to La Torre was short and sweet, and we were ready
for lunch in that lovely restaurant.
Claudia liked the idea of tasting 3 yummy appetizer dishes,
but then she hadn’t had gnocchi here yet, too. She ordered those items, and I
chose a salad with the veal plate. It was all soooooo fine, and we were “fat
and happy” when we left.
We considered taking a nap in the car before going on to
Eataly, but desided to wait. I had promised to take Claudia to the Slow Food
store. We took our time in Eataly and found everything we were looking for. I
was glad to have Lisa’s 5% off card by the time we got to the register with a
buggy full of items for Claudia to take home and a few things for Peter and me,
too. Then, we heard from Ana that she wanted Claudia to come home and play with
her. She was almost finished with her writings.
Thanks, Claudia, for a super enjoyable excursion! Colleen
No comments:
Post a Comment