How Embarrassing!!

'Dad you're so embarrassing'!  'Mom please don't embarrass me'. Bewildered Nancy and I look at each other wondering if perhaps we've grown a second head or a new appendage since arriving in France. We realize that few 9 and 11 year olds view their parents as hip or cool but until recently we couldn't figure out why we were so embarrassing. Ok maybe we aren't the most fashion forward parents with the latest clothes but we know who Lady Gaga and Rianna are. We've tried giving the kids some space by sending them on errands such as buying a loaf of bread unaccompanied or allowing Simona to walk home by herself from school which is about a 20 minute walk. And yet on countless occasions we are scolded for how embarrassing we are. 

Back in the fall Simona along with another girl from her school represented the grade 6s at two cross-country meets. She was adamant that we not show up to cheer her on. In the mornings when we walk her to school (it's dark when we leave the house) she insists we let her walk the last leg on her own lest her friends spot her with us.  Similarly Madeleine was downright irritated when Nancy showed up at the school to ask her teacher about some french grammar lesson she was struggling with. This past week she was reduced to tears when Nancy along with another mother volunteered to accompany the class on an outing to a local gallery. Totally baffled at the reaction we reminded Madeleine how disappointed she was back home when mom wasn't able to participate in many class outings because she often had to work. As it turned out Nancy was on her best behaviour and received a passing grade for not being 'too' embarrassing. 

So what's the cause of all the embarrassment and torture we have inflicted on our 'poor' kids you ask? The way we speak French!! Or as the kids suggest our inability to speak proper French. I must confess there have been more than a few incidents which have justifiably given cause for embarrassment. Take for example last week.   We were having dinner when the phone rings. After a few "pardon, excusez moi, repetez plus lentement si vous plait", I finally make out it's a dad of one of Simona's friends inviting us to dinner on Saturday night.  What should have been a 3 or 4 minute discussion turns into a much longer 'discussion' as I struggle through obligatory pleasantries such as what can we bring and take down the address of where they live etc. I could see Simona, Maddy and to a lesser extent Nancy's faces cringe at my verb conjugation and sentence structure and as our discussion is about to end, instead of au revoir, I blurt out 'ola' just like Dora the Explorer. I could feel the exasperation in the air as I hung up the phone and the girls simultaneously howled hysterically and berated me for how embarrassing I was.  It was indeed embarrassingly hilarious I agreed.  

So after months of living in France and speaking 'french' daily to apartment rental agents, landlords, bank tellers, countless merchants, registering the girls for school, taking the kids to doctors and dealing with the hospital when Simona broke her arm, buying a car and getting insurance, filling out all sorts of forms and the list goes on and on and on, our lovely little darlings can only remind us of how embarrassing we are for not being able to speak French!!  And yet as much as we'd like to wring their little necks at times, we can't help but chuckle at the irony of it. After all it wasn't so long ago that Nancy and I felt equally embarrassed by our immigrant parents who struggled speaking English in Canada. 
Sal

Skiing for the Weekend

With the Clio all packed up we pulled the kids out of school early and off to the hills we went for a long weekend of skiing.  After our one day outing a few weeks ago I got the itch to get out and take advantage of being so close to the Alps to do some more skiing.  As a relative newcomer to the sport and as much as she enjoys skiing, Nancy wasn’t as eager as the kids and I to spend the weekend on the slopes.  Give her credit though, she didn’t spoil the party and off we went. 

Thankfully Nancy told one of the merchants the day before leaving where we were headed and noted how great it was to be able to be in the Alps within 3 hours.  Apparently the direct route we were going to take which I identified on Google Maps involved going through a road that is closed in the winter and had we taken that route I would have had to suffer the wrath of Nancy and the girls for having to turn back and detour through the mountains after getting halfway there.

This sun is blinding

With our re-vectored route established, we headed west towards Aix en Provence then north towards Gap and finally on to Serre Chavalier a 4 and a half hour drive from Nice.  Serre Chevalier is situated on the edge of the Ecrins National Park in the Hautes-Alps approximately 15 kilometers from the Italian border and is made up of a number of ski villages including, Briancon, Chantemerle, Villeneuve and Monetier.   As one of the largest ski resorts in Europe with 103 lifts and 250 kilometers of runs at altitudes ranging from 1200-2800 meters, the skiing promised to be limitless. 

As we approached Serre Chevalier, Nancy and I wondered aloud how much skiing we might actually do.  Apart from the peaks, there didn’t appear to be a lot of snow.  As it turned out Andy the manager of Residence du Temple, the place we stayed at in Briancon, suggested that we head over to Montegenevre (not part of Serre Chevalier but close enough), about a 20 minute drive through the Montegenvre pass towards Italy (as an aside, a leg of the Tour de France often passes through these parts).  In addition to being located at an altitude of 1850 meters and located in a manner that its slopes seem to be awash in sunshine all day, it received about 6-8 centimeters of snow the day before and generally had excellent ski conditions.   

Being about 90 minutes from Torino, Montgenevre is a popular destination for the Torininese many of which own ski chalets in the village.  The skiing was nothing short of spectacular with beautiful vistas of mountain ranges as far as the eyes can see.  We got lucky with two days of spring like skiing, temperatures in the 6-10C each day.  Our bodies exhausted, we called it quits after two days and decided Sunday morning to drive home through Italy stopping in for lunch in Torino.

Sal

In Search of Snow

Having just started skiing a few years ago, I was content with our 1 week of skiing in the Dolomites booked for later this month. We had already been to Auron skiing at peaks of 2500 metres a few weekends back and I was relieved to have made it through that.  But of course that wasn't good enough for Sal who has been skiing since university and Simona and Madeleine who started skiing at 6yrs old. They wanted another weekend of skiing in the bigger and higher French Alps and I was outnumbered. We set off on Thursday afternoon on a 4 and a half hour drive( it was supposed to have taken only 3 hours Sal had assured me) to the  town of Briancon, apparently the highest city in Europe to ski in the Serre Chevalier valley. Thankfully the mountain roads were not too laden with switchbacks which made the long  drive easier for all of us. Briancon is a small picturesque town at 1326 meters surrounded by mountains.  The views from the town were spectacular. 

We quickly learned that the French Alps have been suffering from a lack of snow this winter, and  ski conditions in the Serre Chevalier area were questionable. We were advised to ski in Montgenevre about 15 minutes away right on the border between Italy and France. The majority of the skiers were in fact Italian, from Torino, just 1hr 45 minutes away. We had 2 great days of skiing in sunny, spring like weather with highs between 6 and 10 degrees. I was happy to ski the gentle green and blue runs at my own pace and left Sal and the girls to the reds. By about 2pm each day, I had my fill  and enjoyed sitting in the sun at the bottom of the hills waiting for them to surrender to their exhaustion.

We visited the hot springs, Monetier les Bains, after our last ski day. Water from the hot springs flowing into various sized pools, both indoor and outdoor was a soothing treat.

Italy's First Parliament Building
 in Piazza Castello

We decided to set off early the next morning and visit Torino before heading home, one of the many cities on our list to see.  We were overwhelmed by the beauty of the city which has experienced a rebirth following the Olympics. There were many impressive and well kept piazze and palazzi. Piazza Castello was the largest and most important with Palazzo Reale and Cathedrale San Lorenzo, both spectacular.

Bank of the Po with Gran Madre Church

On this beautiful +13 sunny Sunday the squares and boulevards were packed with people shopping, walking, and lining up for ice cream. 
Our mere 6 hours in the city didn't do it justice and we hope to return as Torino is the city hosting the celebrations commemorating 150 years of the unification of Italy given it was the first capital.

Nancy

Chocolate.... of course!!