Cher Pere Noel,

Comment ca- vas? J'espere que tout va bien au Pole Nord. Je m'appelle Simona Rocco, j'ai onze ans, j'habite a Nice, mais je suis Canadienne et je viens du Canada. J'habite a Nice seulement pour cette annee et après je returne au Canada. Pour Noel j'aimerais avoir de Scooby Doo pour fabriquer des bracelets, un certificate pour acheter des chansons sur iTunes, et une boîte de Lindt Chocolat s'il vous plait. J'espere que ce n'est pas trop pour vous a porter. 
Joyeux Noel, 
Simona

Christmas Day

Its Christmas morning and I wake to the clanging of church bells from the Duomo and Santa Croce echoing in harmony throughout Florence. It's our first Christmas in Italy and for that matter our first Christmas outside of Toronto. We arrived in Florence on Wednesday with much anticipation to spend a few days with my sister Maria and her family and Simona and Madeleine were so excited to spend time with their cousin Giovanni. Florence was paralyzed by a blanket of snow the previous week and with any measure of luck we might enjoy a white Christmas. It was not to be as we were greeted by a blanket of cloud; warm, rainy weather that gave the city an eerie dark feel. 


The words don't come as easily today and I struggle to capture my mood. Mixed feelings mostly. On the one hand, Christmas is always such a fun time of year and this year is no exception. So much to be grateful for given this wonderful adventure we are on. Grateful to be able to share Christmas with Maria and her family in Italy. She was her paranoid self and generously went out of her way to make sure we felt welcomed and at home.

Her stuffed squid and spaghetti last night was delicious. Watching Simona and Madeleine dote on little Giovanni with him squealing in delight was priceless given how little they see of one another. Midnight mass in Brunelleschi's Duomo, however anti-climatic it was with less than a few hundred worshippers was memorable nonetheless.

Certainly, Nancy and I don't miss the stresses and hustle and bustle that this time of year so often brings. The running around and buying last minute presents, the worry of having to host Christmas dinner are things we are happy to not have to deal with this year. Santa seemed to be particularly generous and even though Nancy and I agreed that we'd dispense with gifts for one another given the year we are having, gifts managed to find their way beneath the tree. 

Yet in many ways, as Simona and Maddy so innocently and genuinely observed, "it doesn't feel like Christmas". No snow and no tree twinkling in our living room. No Rudolph or Frosty or Silent Night and no halls decked with holly. No watching the girls rushing madly downstairs on Christmas morning to discover what Santa left the night before. No stockings hung by the fireplace. 

At this time of year our moms always make strufoli, deep fried dough balls covered in honey that the peasants of southern Italy made during Christmas with leftover dough. As much as I dislike those desserts (if you can call them desserts) and urge our moms to stop wasting their energy making them, right now a few strufoli might not be such a bad idea. 


Perhaps I'm just waxing nostalgic but I'm thinkin Christmas back home in Canada ain't so bad after all.

Merry Christmas, Buon Natale, Joyeux Noel 


Below are various pictures taken during our week in Florence over Christmas. 

Sal 

Midnight mass at the Duomo

Maria and Giovanni

Walking home from midnight mass

The view from Piazza Michaelangleo

Giovanni and Zio Sal

A Date with Dad

La Grande Roue

Last week during lunch break dad and I took a walk to Place Massena to take a ride on the huge ferris wheel they built for Christmas.  It was a warm, sunny day and there were few people on the ferris wheel since it was a weekday so we had it all to ourselves.  Each time we got to the top we could see the beautiful ocean with the sun shining down on it, the snowy alps in the background, and the city of Nice below us.  We bought some chocolates on the way to the square, but unfortunately dad sat on them (way to go dad!!) while we were on the ferris wheel so all the caramel oozed out of them but we still ate them. 

What a view

After the ride we went down into the square to sit down and enjoy the sun and our chocolates.  While we were sitting there we found mom in the square.  It was a fun way to spend my lunch break with dad, but unfortunately  we didn't have enough time to go  skating  so dad promised we would go back some other time.

Since I don't go to  school on Wednesdays we went skating the following Wednesday, and again it was a beautiful sunny day. The ice wasn't great but I still skated. Dad skated for a bit but kept complaining "these skates are killing me" (stop complaining dad!!), so he got off the ice. I didn't care if he was getting off because I found it to be very fun skating on an outdoor rink in December in Nice and it was warm.  There I am skating and I spot mom in the crowd, I quickly rush over to her, and show how great I can skate.

While I'm skating I see dad coming back from a little cafe in the square. He had something in his hand which you would probably think is coffee but it was actually hot wine. Most people don't have skates here, so you have to rent them. When you rent them there is a time limit for how long you can skate, which is an hour and 30 minutes. My time limit of skating was up for the day and there was this woman who shooed us off the ice.

I think I can get used to having all these Wednesdays off! 

I'm glad school is over and I can't wait for Christmas!        
A Merry Christmas to all!
Maddy

Lunch in Ventimeglia

All Dressed Up for Christmas

Place Massena by night in full colour

We are simply in awe at how beautiful Nice has been made to look for Christmas. Decorative Christmas lights strung from building to building criss-crossing the streets are everywhere as the city has been all dressed up for the holidays to give it a magical, festive feel.

Apart from some grocery shopping in Ventimeglia Saturday morning followed by   lunch at a seaside restaurant sitting on pillars (what a magnificent view with the sun shinning as brightly as ever), we decided that we’d stay put and enjoy Nice the next two weekends.  There is a definite buzz in the air as people scurry around buying gifts and get ready for Christmas.   The city has started to come to life again as Parisiens, Italians, Brits and Russians with second homes descend upon it to escape the cold and enjoy some sunshine. The rains have disappeared, replaced with sunny crisp days and clear blue skies.   One woman assured us that with November behind us we are over the coldest and wettest part of winter.   Given some of the reports we are getting from back home (minus 13 today yikes!) we’ll take the sun-filled 12-14C we’ve been getting over the past two weeks.  

Cadeaux falling from the sky

Saturday and Sunday evening we decide to join every other person in the city and head to Place Massena, undoubtedly the focal point of Nice.  The square has been transformed into a remarkably, beautiful winter-wonderland - sans la neige thankfully!!  There are colourful lights everywhere brilliantly beamed onto the facades of the buildings, in alternate colours and designs.  Three dimensional, lit-up, decorative shapes have been installed throughout the square and Sinatra, Bennett, Nat King Cole and a host of unfamiliar French singers crooning Christmas classics piped in over speakers in the background.  

Tasty Churros

A hugely popular skating pad has been installed and off to the side an outdoor café offering up vin chaud and other drinks overlooks smiling skaters.  Similar to the ones we saw in Berlin an outdoor Christmas market selling food and CNE-like knick-knacks you’d never want to look at again after buying has been installed.  I can never resist roasted chestnuts so I stand in line while Nancy and the girls opt for the sugary and tasty churros with nutella dipping sauce.  

Up and away on the ferris wheel

With treats in hand we stroll through a mini-forest with countless (perhaps 800-1000) real pine trees that have been put up and covered in 'snow'.   A reindeer drawn sleigh allows people to take precious polaroids of children not yet old enough to think they are too cool for such silliness.  Tired of beaming into the camera Simona and Maddy scoff at the thought.   We are lured to the outdoor fun-fair like play park with a dozen or so trampolines, jumping castles and slides, jungle gym like apparatuses and a bungee-trampoline station which the girls enjoyed.  

Looking down on Massena from the ferris wheel

 The highlight for me was taking a ride on the biggest, brightest ferris wheel which towers over the square providing a beautiful panoramic view of Nice, Place Massena immediately below and the ocean to the south. 

By day or night spending time in Place Massena during this holiday season has a magical feel to it.

Sal

The streets of Nice at Christmas

This is fun

Bungee-trampolining

Cafe Rivoire

This Hot Chocolate is Yummy!!

Its mid afternoon and as usual Rivoire is bustling with locals and tourists crowding the bar to enjoy tasty sweets, hot cappuccinos and Rivoire's signature hot chocolate.  After all our sightseeing and museuming over the past few months Nancy and the girls decided that our trip to Florence to visit my sister Maria and attend Giovanni's birthday party would involve some shopping.  Sightseeing would have to wait until we return for Christmas in a few weeks. 

Posing with David

After a few hours of being the cooperative and patient dad I decide that a visit to Florence wouldn't be complete without a visit to Rivoire which sits on the edge of Piazza della Signoria facing a replica of Michaelangelo's David in front of elegant Palazzo Vecchio.  Back in 1872 when Florence was the capital of Italy, Enrico Rivoire the official chocolatier of the royal House of Savoy, opened a small business offering his chocolate delights to Florentines and ever since the cafe has been an institution in Florence.  Today I decide to wait the girls out by finding a seat by the window looking out on to the square to savor my outrageously expensive but delicious cappuccino.

Palazzo Vecchio

Ponte Vecchio

As I stare out the window at all the activity in Piazza della Signoria I can't help but feel envious at the way in which pedestrians in European cities are able to connect and enjoy their cities.  Unlike most North American cities that seem to be designed for the automobile in an efficient, grid like fashion, European cities large or small appear to have been designed with the pedestrian in mind.  Forbidden to cars, squares and streets dedicated solely to pedestrians are full of people.    

I often thought that our hibernating, indoor behavior in Toronto was attributable to our long cold winters.  While this is undoubtedly a contributing factor, after seeing Berliners enjoying their city and the many Christmas markets scattered throughout the city in sub-zero temperatures, I am much more convinced that our urban design plays a far greater role for this.  Maybe it's because Europeans tend to live in smaller homes or flats and are therefore more motivated to spend time outdoors.  Perhaps its the prevalence of mixed use zoning where industrial, commercial and residential land uses are far more common than in North American cities where we separate such uses and are therefore required to use our cars to go from one area to another.  Whatever the reason, it seems that Europeans are far less reliant on cars and there seems far more opportunities to enjoy their cities on foot.                 



A la prossima,


Sal

Berlin

Christmas Market in Front of Charlottenburg Castle

We were in Berlin last weekend and it was a wonderful educational experience for all of us.  We really weren't sure what to expect from the city we knew relatively little about. Berlin is made up of many city centres and not one main  downtown area. Each city centre has it's own vibe and charm.  Geographically, it is large and very spread out which made it difficult to connect with and we found little quaintness about the city. The wide boulevards lined on both sides with shops and restaurants reminded us of University Avenue.  
         

Brandenburg Gate

We stayed in West Berlin, in the area of  Charlottenburg, close to the high-end main shopping street, Kufurstendamn (think Bloor St. on mega  steroids!!) and decided to take a double-decker, hop-on, hop-off tour of the city to make the most of our short visit.  

Architecturally, we found Berlin to have little by way of classical beauty. After World War II, 75 percent of its buildings were destroyed and the city was buried in rubble requiring it to be quickly rebuilt.  The result is a city with many institutional looking buildings of little architectural interest.


Two areas of interest were the Brandenburg Gate which has become a symbol of a reunified Berlin since the fall of the wall and the wall that divided East and West Berlin.  A 1km canvass of the original wall now stretches through East Berlin painted by over one hundred artists from all over the world.  Its presence stands a memorial of the city's divided and painful past.  

Frohliches Weihnachten!!  (Merry Christmas)

    
We were fortunate to visit during the Christmas season, as the scope and magnitude of the Christmas decorations adorning the city were truly magnificent.  Christmas lights, trees and Santas were in abundance as were the traditional outdoor Christmas markets.  Large outdoor celebrations that begin a month before Christmas and go on late into the night these markets have vendors selling food, hot drinks, Christmas ornaments and gifts . Despite the cold temperatures, -1 to -5 and nightfall starting at 4:30 in the afternoon, they were bustling with people milling about and enjoying the atmosphere.

But the true richness of Berlin is it's history and understanding it a little better after visiting the Berlin wall museum and History of Berlin exhibit, gave us a better appreciation for the city.

A city that has undergone  several  cycles of division and unification, in present day has emerged a modern, world class city. Visiting what remains of the Berlin wall and learning  about some of the unbelievable stories of those who tried to escape to the West was a highlight. This is a city whose citizens have endured many  hardships, including the terror during the Hitler era, the Soviet occupation of the East and 40 years of the Berlin Wall.  After learning the history, I felt  a sense of long awaited justice for Berliners, who with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989,  enjoy all the freedoms that we don't think twice about.  

These beds don't look too comfy!! (Bomb Shelter)

Although the kids couldn't grasp the significance of what we were visiting and a lot went right over their heads, it spurred some interesting questions.  After visiting an underground nuclear bomb shelter in the centre of Berlin that was constructed during the Cold War, they  wondered  whether we would ever need to use a bomb shelter in Canada. At least they have  some sense of how privileged we are to live in such a peaceful country.  Although we weren't in awe of Berlin in the same way that were with London or Paris, there was a certain satisfaction in experiencing a city that has paid its dues and whose recognition as a strong world class city has been a long time coming.

The Berlin Wall

Nancy  

Fun in Florence

Berlin's Christmas Market

Last weekend we went to Berlin and it was FREEZING.  So instead of walking everywhere we took a hop-on hop-off, double-decker sightseeing bus around the city.  We saw many interesting places such as squares, museums and obviously the wall. One thing that Berliners know how to do is celebrate Christmas.  All over Berlin there are outdoor Christmas markets with vendors selling sausages, ornaments, cookies, pork sandwiches, chestnuts and beer.  Many of these markets have little merry-go-rounds and ferris wheels for the little kids.   

Getting Our Visa to get into East Berlin

The other thing that I found very interesting was going to see the remainder of the Berlin Wall, which separated East Berlin from West Berlin.  In those days when the wall was up there was a guard who gave people slips called visas that are like passports so that people were allowed to go to the other side.  When we were there someone dressed up as a guard did the same thing.  We went to 2 museums one called Checkpoint Charlie which we went to at night so I wasn't very interested in it, and the other one was called the Berlin Story which was a history of Berlin. 



This past weekend we were in Florence where my Zia Maria and cousin Giovanni live.  We went because Giovanni had his 4th birthday party with a whole bunch of his tiny friends at Zia Maria's school.  Simona and I got to see a two friends named Bianca and Caterina who are Italian, but like Zia Maria their moms are Canadians living in Florence, so the girls speak English.  Caterina doesn't really speak a lot of English but Bianca is fluent. 

Giovanni & his Buddies - Cute eh!!

At Giovanni's birthday the four of us were considered "the big kids", so the 4 of us played in one of the classrooms with a pretend kitchen and we drew and coloured . . . (even though that doesn't sound big kidish) but we still had fun.  At the end of the party when everyone started to leave it was just me, Simona, Caterina, Giovanni, one of Giovanni's friends and the parents. At my aunts school there is a bunch of these cushy pillows and this big tube, so we put the pillows side by side and jumped off the tube and landed on the pillows.

 We would try to do these different jumps each time, it was so much fun!  After we played in the dress-up area and put on these wacky costumes that we showed the parents. Unfortunately it started to get really late and it was time to go home. We left Florence the next day which was Sunday. 

Checkpoint Charlie

I had a great time in Florence and I loved seeing Giovanni and my aunt.
I can't wait till we go back to Florence for Christmas.


Ciao,
Maddy            

Riding with the 'Big Boys'

Along the Prom after a rainfall

November has brought it's fair share of rain for an area that claims to have 300 days of sunshine each year.  Nowhere near the rains experienced by Paris or London but given how we got accustomed to consistently dry, sunny warm weather, 2 to 3 days of rain per week over the past few weeks was not what we bargained for.  I know bring out the violin.  Along with the rain, temperatures have dipped which has restricted my riding to coastal outings, alternating between rides west towards Antibes, Golfe Juan one day and east into Ventimiglia, Italy other days.  

            

After the rain

Two weeks ago Nancy and I drove to Ventimiglia to stock up on some groceries and have a rich and creamy, sumptuous cappuccino at Bar Canada (the original owner apparently lived in Canada for a brief period) which is right across from the daily market.  Ventimiglia is a small coastal town located on the Italian side of the border and were it not for it's proximity to France I suspect it's economic prospects might be more hard pressed than they are.  A 20-30 minute drive from Nice, Ventimiglia is a pretty enough town but no real reason to visit.  Given its proximity, many French along the coast frequently cross the border to buy groceries and clothing in Italy where the combination of greater selection and price differences of 20-40% make it a no-brainer.  A cappuccino in Ventimiglia sets one back 1.20 euro while in Menton that same cappuccino goes for 3.50 euro.  One café immediately across the border has cyclists lined up to order cappuccinos while 500 meters on the other side of the border a similar café can’t entice anyone through the doors.
  

View from Antibes looking towards Nice

It's a brisk (8C) sunny morning and I'm glad I'm wearing a few extra layers along with full-fingered gloves as I hop on my velo and head to Ventimiglia along 'le bord de mer'.  It's about a 90km round trip and for the first 30 to 40 minutes I lose myself in my thoughts as I still can't believe we are here.  The sparkling mediterranean waters combined with the snow capped Alps in the distance envelope me with a giddy excitement, a feeling I find hard to capture through words.  Beaming down upon me the sun warms me up and it's rays dance and shimmer along the water's surface.  

Snow peaked Alps in the distance

As I approach Monaco, a group of cyclists whiz by me and I soon find myself tucked in behind 3 guys all sporting RadioShack cycling outfits motoring along at a good clip.  I decide to test myself and see what sort of progress I've made by trying to keep pace.  Soon we are zipping along the coast of Menton, the last town before the Italian border and the guy next to me looks over and says "plus doucement, tranquil, tranquil' realizing I'm working too hard.  I nod politely and smile thinking 'no kidding buddy' of course I'm working hard, whadda ya mean go softly?  As we cross the border into Italy, he asks where I'm from realizing from my accent that I'm not a local.  He shares with me that he and one of his buddies are from Belgium and live in Monaco year round.

"So what do you do in Monaco" I ask?  "I cycle" he responds.  "As in cycle for a living, professionally" I retort.  "Yes", he nods.  "As in Tour de France, professionally" I add.  "Yes for the Radioshack team".  I soon learn that the 3 guys I've been busting a gut trying to keep pace with over the past 30 minutes have all competed in the top international races, including the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia.  The guy next to me points to his friend and says “he’s a former world champ”.   Yeah right I think to myself.   Not sure whether they were yanking my chain I decided to introduce myself by name and asked them for their names so I might look them up online.            

Just before Ventimiglia my 30 minutes of riding with the big boys was up as they vanish up a hill and leave me to ponder whether they were who they said they were.  As I slowed to a near crawl making my way up the hill I kept repeating "plus doucement, tranquil, tranquil" and visions of another frothy cappuccino at Bar Canada was all I could think of.  

I was able to identify and confirm that two of the cyclists I cycled with today are both 30 year old Belgian cyclists, Tom Boonen and Gert Steegmans.  Steegmans rode for Radioshack this year after not wanting to sign an anti-doping agreement with his former Russian Katusha team which agreement required any riders testing positive for performance enhancing drugs to pay a penalty of up to 5x their annual salary.

Boonen is a former world champion (2005) and was among the most famous Belgian riders over the past 10 years.  This past season Boonen rode for Quick Step.  Incidentally, he's been caught using cocaine 3 times and was suspended from competition by Quick Step in May 2009 missing the Tour de France that year.  It's amazing what one can discover from the net!!  

Maybe with a quick visit to the local pharmacist I might find out what sort of concoction he can come up with and this 45 year old can be ready for next years Tour de France!

Sal