Disappointment

Sun Mar 25

Yesterday we woke to gray, heavy skies but decided to go along the coast west of Genoa and just hope that it wouldn't rain too much. Our hopes were dashed as a moderate and continuous rain began before we even reached Genoa but we soldiered on along the coastal towns that clearly would be a great hit in warm weather. The rain was heavy enough that we didn't even get out of the car though we could appreciate some nice ocean views along the way. We gave up and returned to Busalla after taking a turn onto the wrong autostrada that required about another 25 miles of driving. We decided to have lunch in Busalla and found a small restaurant nearby that is also a wine shop. It holds about 20 customers total but was quite nice inside. We were brought an amuse bouche of some fries that looked like French fries but were made from chickpea flour and were delicious! Lunch for Dick was tortelli stuffed with potato and cream in a pesto sauce with pine nuts. I had tagliarini (a local fettucine variant) with white truffles and an egg yolk on top. Both were incredibly elegant as well as delicious. A nice Barbera d' Asti to drink. I neglected my picture taking duties, unfortunately. Lunch was followed by yet another trip to the grocery store for a few things we had forgotten on the last trip. A drive north to check out the communities near us was out afternoon entertainment along with a visit to the train station to pick up tickets for our planned trip into Genoa on Tues.
Sun was a spectacularly clear, sunny day! A perfect day to go to the small fishing village of Camogli and also take a ferry to a sanctuary on the Portofino Peninsula. HAH! Every individual in Italy had the same idea. Getting to Camogli was no problem but then we needed to park, An hour was spent going around and around looking for a parking place and there absolutely were none. We had no option but to give up our plan for a wonderful event. 😢 We drove back home on a route through the mountains on winding roads with nice views and stopped for a late lunch in the last valley before home. Lunch was good but didn't match the elegance of yesterday's lunch. I had veal scallopini with mushrooms and Dick had ravioli with a meat ragu' accompanied by a mediocre wine.
This morning we observed that everything with a time function controlled automatically was WRONG!! ie iphones, Kindles, times on public structures, etc. Turns out Italy went on Daylight Savings time today. Duh.






This is an almond flower branch that our landlord
put in our apartment for us. It's a bright spot in every
day and it has a wonderful fragrance!

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