This morning early we helped our neighbor, Laurent, rescue his cute 1 year old cat from a tall vine against the wall in our garden. This started last evening when I kept hearing someone calling a name; I think it was “Lillie.” When I realized the problem, Laurent and I tried a bunch of different methods to get the kitten to go towards his window. He kept trying to tell me to do something and it sounded like he wanted me to go up the stairs (the word “monter” is to go up) but that didn’t make sense and clearly that’s not what he wanted me to do. I woke up this morning to “Lillie! Lillie!” and it occurred to me that he was asking for a ladder! So I found one in the garage and Howard joined us to try to rescue the kitten. There was no way she was going to come to us. In fact her hissing was scaring me a little. Finally Howard suggested Laurent come over to our garden. (A smart suggestion!) After a lot of reaching (on Laurent’s part) and ladder-steadying (on our part) he was able to grab her. Hurray! Maybe we’ve made our first (or two) friends in Servian.
Just before noon we take a walk up the hill to the center of town–we have not yet been to this part of the village. There is a shortcut up a car-free alley but there are many steps. Little Lucky navigated all the steps with ease! I was the one huffing and puffing as we reached the top. There is a picturesque square with the town’s memorial to the war dead. It is truly amazing how many young men from this LITTLE town died in WWI and WWII.
The view from the square is lovely. As we wander around we find what looks like a great green grocer but she is just closing up for the noon “siesta.” She stops to admire the dogs and ask about their missing legs. We tell ourselves we must return for fruit and vegetables.
We wander by the cemetery and eventually find ourselves in front of the pizza restaurant recommended by the owners of our house, Le Vesuvio. So I work up my French “courage” and ask the proprietress if we could bring in our 3 small dogs. She says “Is the terrace OK?” I say “Oui” and we are in! Remember that Lucky and Toby have never been into a restaurant! Was it “courage” or stupidity that made me do it?! We will soon see…
There are about 4-5 tables occupied on the large terrace. We are seated at a shaded table right next to some steps down to another lower terrace. It’s the perfect spot because one side of the table is out of the way of other customers. The other side of the table is next to a family with 2 young children. We pretty quickly ask for the “cocktail maison” to calm our nerves. (The cocktail has the not-so-faint taste of sore-throat spray–we won’t order that again.) May I say our dogs are PERFECT!!! Toby, the barker, hardly makes a sound in spite of the dog next door barking loudly several times. The kids enjoy eyeing the dogs although they do not approach them even after I tell them the dogs’ names.
Our lunch is incredibly delicious! I have the lunch pasta special, tagliatelle with mushrooms and chicken. The mushrooms are sautéed in high-fat European butter and the chicken is seared and cooked to perfection. Howard has the pizza lunch special: 1/2 of a merguez sausage, onion, red pepper and cheese pizza with an amazing salad. The salad has shredded carrots, sliced green apples, a dollop of celeriac salad, tomatoes, lettuce and probably more goodies than I can remember. The lunch specials come with wine that was pretty rough–we’ll order from the wine list next time. We are stuffed so no dessert but I order a satisfying cup of espresso. Our total cost is 30€. So we have taken the leap into French dining with the dogs and are happily surprised at the result.
Tomorrow our friends, Bill and Karen Donnelly from Houston, arrive so I go back to the green grocer for provisions about 3pm. Alas, the shop does not open until 4 but I am able to find a cafe recommended by the owners. It has a small terrace. The “menu du jour” looks very good and the cafe is filled with families. So there is another potential place to have a meal with the dogs.