Day 22: CHILLaxing!

We had already planned to relax and hang around the B and B instead of Hike today, given that the men are flying back to California tomorrow and we leave for the train stations and airport at 5:30 am.  And it's a God/good thing we didn't head into the mountains on this day....but first, there was Ben wanting to have lunch about 1pm...none of us were hungry so he walked to a pizzeria down the street and ordered up.  About 10 minutes after that, Dan said he was hungry and he and I were in a great conversation, so I walked with him.  Then on my return walk back, here comes Peggy running up the street wondering why she didn't agree the first time to be having lunch with them on their last day here...which gives the background to this photo....

 Ben, as you might be able to tell, is completely finished with lunch...Dan has just received his pasta plate and is digging in, and Peggy is waiting for her truffle-oiled tagliatelli to arrive...we walked back to our patio, and everyone asked to play Scrabble...I mean last day and all.  When I arrive, after being told they were all waiting for me, here's how ready I find everybody...engrossed in literature!

The game ended with Ben beating me by 3 points...and only barely escaping Peggy's last play of a 7 letter UNIFIED Bingo trying to slide 2 different 3 letter words ending in U past Ben in order to capture the win:  EHU and KAU...he didn't flinch, challenged them right away and was also proven right when Dan challenged his huge 50 point ZOA to stay in the lead and win by 3 points.  How the game ended is one small story...where the game ended is a bigger story....just as we were finishing, a HUGE storm came in over the entire lake.  This is a photo from our bedroom window at 4 in the afternoon:

 and the table we were playing at literally just minutes before is now sitting in this "lake"

Motorcyclists were fun to watch as huge trucks splashed water all over them, even high enough to go over their heads at times...just below our window.  What a show.  It's an hour later, and the rain continues, but the blackness, hail, lightning and thunder are gone.  We will be having dinner indoors for sure....

Dinner was excellent!  and Indoors the restaurant is beautiful...

 The chef owner, Ty, is just over Ben's right shoulder.  His menu is listed as non-democratic, since he tells you what you have available for each course (only 1 option per course), and you decide how many courses you want....we wanted them all!  The first course, and the only way for Ben to eat fish, was to make them look like meatballs...yummmmmy!

 The second course was the pasta fagiole...home made little noodles with large beans in an amazing gravy...so good, I had no time to capture the "before" picture:)

 Then came the roasted chicken breast stuffed with herbs and covered in a delicate, flavorful sauce reduction.  Pretty tasty and filling!

 We could only handle ordering 3 of these desserts....so Ty gave me my own attack spoon, just in case.  We actually would have done well to order just 1 and split it 4 ways...called an English Trifle, it was filled with rum soaked cake, chocolate, strawberries, whipped cream and it came served with a late harvest Barbera...

 The entire meal was made extra special as we knew this was the time to enjoy the magnum we received from Marc and Monica a few days earlier.  We needed the boys to help us finish this delicious Loire Valley Cab Franc, and even Ty thought it was extremely tasty...raspberries according to Dan...

A little luggage packing, fast sleeping, awake by 5:15 am to get Ben to the train station and Dan to the airport on the other side of Milan...then phase three of our vacation starts.  Phase 1:  Us and Dan in Italy ...Phase 2:  Us, Dan and Ben in France and Lake Como...Phase 3:  Us in Italy with kids gone home...starting tomorrow...then Phase 4 starts on July 9th, Us and a whole ton of Tobin James club members on a cruise from Rome to riot torn Athens....please pray for Phase 4!   Ciao Bella from end of Phase 2!!!!