The EXTRAVAGANZA continues… #2

 For my actual birthday … Jacopo took us to a restaurant in a tiny village close to Aosta. This restaurant is owned by a couple: The woman is the server (yes, as in only one), the man is the chef, and their first son drives every other day two and a half hours to pick up the fish that the second son fishes for on the coast… You don’t get a menu, you merely sit down and she brings you the courses that he’s prepared for the day. Everything is homemade and incredibly fresh. There were five tables in the whole restaurant and you need to call ahead and tell them that you’re coming if you want to dine… IT WAS MARVELOUS! We sat down around 1:00 and seven courses later plus wine and genepi we stood up to leave around 5:00? Kelly, my favoritest nugget in the whole wide world  gave me the present she had been toting around with her for two months:WHAT!!??!?! AHHH!!!!After lunch Jacopo introduced us to his friend Jepo… Jepo and his father are butchers. We stopped by during business hours and Jepo and his father immediately opened a bottle of wine and started drinking with us, all while letting us taste all their fresh sausages!When the second bottle was opened the team was a little hesitant:It didn’t take TOO MUCH PERSUASION: I needed only to remind them that they were sitting in a Butcher’s shop in ITALY being offered fresh Italian wine and sausage during business hours!!! HOW MANY TIMES TO GET TO DO THAT IN THE STATES?!!  Good talk. Birthday night was a party… I danced all night at a “toga” party … in Italy?… hmm…   Needless-to-say- it was magical to have my father out here to catch a glimpse of my life. I’ve wanted to share this with him for a long time. It was a treat to have Fred Arne travel out for the extravaganza… such a fabulous thing to see him. Jacopo was, as he always is, the most incredible host in the world… and my nugget made my birthday extravaganza what it was… she stuck with me all the way around the country… she even navigated me through Paris.  Few closing shots:  (this is the view from the back door of my dad’s hotel room! AH!)  (Kelly and Rachael on an old Roman bridge)  (for anyone that wouldn’t know… that’s a ski lift on top of the rocks?)