I had a couple of gorgeous short rides into the the mountains behind the Gran Madre to Pacetto but other than the weekend was consumed preparing for the return of Travis and Emily and helping with Fausto's surprise party. Luckily the apartment on Via Monferrato wasn't in too much of a mess so I did some shopping to get the fridge stocked again. I wanted to buy more italian wine but realised having to drag my bags back Germany was going to be hard enough as it was!
The surprise party was called the 'The Martino Express' (after Fausto Martino www.faustomartino.com). I did some food deliveries to Lisa with items that had been stored in our fridge. Once Travis and Emily had arrived home it was our job to distract Fausto to give Catherine space to organise the party. She had to bake a pavlova afterall! Fausto is a stubborn person who, when pushed, becomes more stubborn. This didn't help Travis and my task. We had suggested we head out for some 'boys time' and go to Eataly (a gourmet food expo / foodhall www.eataly.it) where they were hosting a beer tasting. Little did we know that Fausto doesn't go out of his way for beer and "loves to hate" Eataly. With all of us pushing, including Catherine, he soon worked out he wasn't allowed at home for the afternoon and had to do as he was told. Travis and I were enjoying a few regional italian beers (some were ok, but we found more often than not the boutique beers were just too much - you could probably only have one or two in a sitting) while poor Fausto simply had to sit it out! He was very coy about the whole thing knowing full well something was up but he wasn't sure what just yet. We dropped him home around 6pm. We were to pick him up at 7:50 for 'dinner'. While Travis, Emily and I had dressed for the occaison, in protest Fausto dressed as casually as possible in a springboks rugby jersey and shorts. Stubborn! He still wasn't sure what was going on but once we said we were going to Piazza Carlina (?) I think the cogs started to tick as he knew that's where the party-tram always starts. As we turned the corner into the piazza he mentioned the tram and as we walked towards it he finally saw Catherine hop out and had worked out what going on. He was surprised and after being so stubborn about his birthday and not being allowed home for the afternoon he got into the swing of things. The tram was great fun. It was always hilarious to see everyone jolt around each time the tram started off again. We did two laps of Turin drinking sangria, champagne and eating aperitivo's. It was at dessert time when things started getting a little silly. Roberto and Lisa were making Mojitos well into the evening. Roberto's trick of covering a balloon in cream and bursting it meant everyone left covered in cream but at least with big smiles! I was very sad to leave Torino.
Thanks to everyone who made it such a great time. Your generosity was amazing and most enjoyable.
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