Another Great Weekend

Cours Mirabeau

Realizing we are almost half way through our wonderful year away and still so much more of France we want to see, we decide to take a day trip to Aix en Provence last Saturday.  A beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky makes it a perfect day for exploring the city, just under 2 hours away.  Although Sal and I had visited Aix on our last trip to France, it certainly was much more captivating this time around.

Place Albertas

Aix is an elegant, modern, city with narrow streets that open up into beautiful squares.  We enjoyed strolling and shopping on the Cours Mirabeau dubbed the "Champs D'elysee" of the south. The wide tree-lined boulevard was a beehive of activity and the restaurant patios overflowing with patrons enjoying a meal or a drink in the spectacular January sunshine.

The lively vieille ville was a delight to meander through with lovely shopping, cafes and no shortage of street entertainers. It is certainly an alive and youthful city and droves of people were out in full force on this Saturday afternoon.  Place Albertas with its greenery and cobblestone road is one of the more unique and quaint squares we have seen in France. Hotel de Ville (Aix' city hall) was a beautiful and stately looking building overlooking a charming square.  LaRotonde, a large central waterfall and statute seemed to be the hub of the city, from which several roads emanated.  Madeleine got a kick out of seeing Eglise de la Madeleine which incidentally is where Cezanne was baptized. 

We could certainly see why Aix is a favourite destination for ex-pats.  Enjoying the city as we did, we couldn't help but wonder whether we would have preferred to live in Aix instead Nice.  We all agreed that Nice was the right choice for us since we love being so close to the ocean and its proximity to Italy. 

Fun in the sun

Last Sunday reinforced that sentiment, with bright sunshine and16C we decide to spend some time on the beach, as did many others.  It was a great day to enjoy the sun, listen to the waves and just hangout on the beach.  The kids skipped rocks, played cards and dreamed of the day when it would be warm enough to go swimming again.  In fact there were some brave swimmers out there, but for mid-January we were just content to be able to sit out on the beach. There is something so peaceful and relaxing about being close to the ocean.  I am convinced there are definite health benefits to these moderate winter temperatures and abundant sunshine people enjoy here. 

More fun on the beach

With weather like this we often wonder how we will manage another cold snowy Toronto winter.  Fortunately we don't have to worry about that until next winter.  In the meantime, we will continue to enjoy our winter here, where the only snow we see is far off in the Maritime Alps.

Nancy

January sunset in Nice

Tombola

Galette des Rois

Last Friday night we went to an Italian bingo night called tombola with some Italians who we have made friends with and are also living here in Nice.  The evening was at an international school where  the kids spoke only Italian and French and there was no English spoken throughout the whole night, yet I was able to understand both languages.  We had lots of fun and there were many kids. There were lots of prizes, one of the prizes was a big proscuitto.  Unfortunately I didn't win anything, but Simona won a big gift basket from Sephora. 
The event was in celebration of La Befana. The tradition of La Befana started when baby Jesus was born and the three wise man came knocking on an old woman's door asking for directions to see baby Jesus.  The old woman did not understand them, so she wasn't able to help them. Before she closed the door the wise men asked "would you like to come with us?"  She said "No I'm too busy."  After the wise men left the woman realized she had made a mistake and set off in search of the kings.  After searching for a few hours without any luck she stopped each child she saw and presented them with a gift because she felt so bad she had missed the opportunity to see the baby Jesus.
So from then on La Befana is celebrated throughout Italy, with La Befana coming to each child's house on the night of the Epiphany leaving candy for good kids and a lump of coal for those who are naughty.                    

In France, instead of La Befana they celebrate Le fête des Roi and instead getting candy, children get a chance to be king or queen for the day.  Boulangerie windows are filled with "galette des roi", each  come with gold crowns.  Inside each cake there is 1 little figure, like a baby Jesus or a king. Whoever finds the figure in their piece of cake gets to wear the crown and be the king or queen for the day.


Madeleine 

Art Classes

When Madeleine and mom started taking art classes last fall I had not one bit of interest in joining them. I instantly changed my mind when they both came home with two beautiful paintings making me want to own a masterpiece just like theirs. We take art in a small studio close to our apartment with a couple of seniors that awkwardly enough sing while they paint. 

I wasn't going to rush to try and paint a Picasso right away, and so I started with drawing simple still life pears.  I sat down with a blank canvas, a picture of two pears and my palette all ready to go......but I had no idea where to start.  Our instructor Pierre showed me how to start and how to center the pears properly. I was instantly drawn into painting and my class went by so quickly that I wanted to paint all night long. I had an amazing time. I didn't think I would love it but I was wrong.

Not bad eh?

I surprised myself with what I had done, not knowing that I had some artistic talent in me. I now realize how hard it is to do a painting that looks so simple and that it takes lots of time to perfect.  I appreciate the effort that daVinci, Picasso, Van Gough and Monet put into their art to make such lovely paintings we can enjoy.

Mom's brilliance

I can't wait to get back to painting once my arm heals.   Now dads got the painting bug.   


Picasso, ah I mean Simona

Maddy's masterpiece

Another by Maddy

Inter Milan vs Napoli

Weather-wise 2011 has not started well here. It's been damp and wet and the past two days a blanket of cloud and fog has covered the coast. Nancy urged me to stay put but hardwired as I am, I decide to jump in the car and head to Milan to watch Inter Milan host Napoli at San Siro stadium in what should be a great match. Inter, last year's Seria A champs, Champions League winners and world club champs started poorly this year but have been on a tear of late. With a win tonight Napoli can keep pace with the leaders AC Milan and take command of second place with Juventus having lost earlier in the day. 


Its January 6th, the Epiphany, the day the friendly Italian witch, La Befana, brings Italian kids gifts and a national holiday in Italy. A full slate of Seria A games are being played and I'm hoping La Befana brings a bucket of goals and a big win for the visiting Neopolitans. Its a three and a half hour drive to Milan and having never watched a match in Italy, I couldn't pass this one up no matter how crazy Nancy thinks I am. Unfortunately Simona and Maddy have school so Nancy and the girls stayed in Nice and I am on my own. 

I arrive at the stadium which is just on the outskirts of Milan in the middle of nowhere 3 hours before kick-off, buy my ticket at the box office and join 50, 60 thousand 'friends' for a good-old fashioned tailgate party, Italian style. Food vendors of every kind along with vendors of souvenirs, team jerseys, scarves, hats and other paraphenalia are everywhere. I grab myself a pannino, hot chestnuts and a drink and befriend a mixed group of fans who are debating how this game will end. Just like every passionate Canadian hockey fan, these fans are all experts on every aspect of soccer endlessly debating every last detail. There are busloads of people, predominantly Inter fans, streaming in from as far south as Naples. With temperatures just above freezing and a light mist in the air, describing the atmosphere as electrifying would be an exaggeration as excited as I am to be here. I came fully prepared with ski gloves, hat and layered up and yet I could barely feel my toes after a few hours. 

There are no bad seats in San Siro with excellent sightlines of the pitch no matter where one sits. Sitting in the second level towards one end of the field I have a spectacular view and I'm entertained all night by the Inter fans behind one of the goals who sing and chant derisively at the Neopolitans all game long. Not yet 5 minutes in and the stadium explodes in cheers as the home side finds the visitors napping and take the early lead. "What a great start" I say to the Inter fan next to me explaining that this should put the offensively minded young Napoli team on the attack in search of the equalizer which finally came just before the half hour mark. I leapt in the air in celebration to the displeasure of most Inter fans around me and was half jokingly told by one guy that I should find myself a new seat somewhere else. 

As always in Italian soccer, a match between a team from the north and a team from the south is far more than a sporting event. Just beneath the surface ready to explode in riots are the social and political tensions between north and south that have existed since Italy's unification in 1861, (incidentally 150 years ago). In many matches, this one being no exception, fans from one city or club are not allowed to buy tickets to a game in a visiting city unless they have been pre-cleared and authorized in an effort to control the idiocy of hooliganism. Once the sole domain of English football, it has now become a far to common part of the Italian soccer scene as the unemployed and politically motivated use the soccer stage to vent their frustrations and anger. Thankfully as a visitor with my Canadian passport I have no problem buying a ticket. 

The teams return to the pitch for the second half as me and my new found Inter buddies deride one another and place friendly wagers on the outcome of this one. As hard as the visitors pressed, the home side put this one away early in the half with a pair of goals before it was 20 minutes old. I spent the rest of the half sucking up the friendly abuses from those around me and enjoying the singing and chanting of the Inter fans as they mocked the visitors with the all familiar ole, ole every time Inter touched the ball. 

Regardless of the outcome, I had a blast and am looking for the next Seria A game to attend.

Sal 

Me and My Arm

Wow it’s been four months already; time flies by so fast and before I know it I'll be back home. I remember crying for hours in bed at night before we left convincing myself that I was gonna have an awful time here. I used to think about how many exciting events and activities I would be missing out on at school.  Would my friends still like me when I got back?  Would I make any friends in Nice?  Well, I was wrong. I have had an amazing experience so far and I have made many new friends. I like the change and my new surroundings, but I want to return to Toronto when the time comes, not now, but in six months. 

I like my new school in Nice for so many reasons.  Maybe it’s because I’m older but it seems like I have more liberties.  The classes are much bigger and there are six grade six classes which gives me more opportunities to meet new people and make new friends.   My school is divided into two large buildings separated by a big wide playground.  I haven’t found school to be difficult in terms of academics, although I do have difficulty understanding French in certain subjects like history, science, technology, and French. The hardest part is when my French teacher asks us to come up with a two page story and I am stuck on how to translate what I want to say into French. Along with having trouble with writing stories in French, it's also been quite a challenge for me to read French novels. Over the Christmas holidays my French teacher, Mme. Menant, asked us to read "Gilgamesh" and to answer questions on the novel. Gilgamesh was a historical king of Uruk in Babylonia, on the River Euphrates. He lived about 2700 B.C. He was two thirds god and one third human and he tyrannized all of Uruk. 

The week before Christmas Madeleine invited a friend over and we went down to the Christmas market in Place Massena.  Mom said that we could either go on the ferris wheel or go bungee jumping. We chose to go bungee jumping, which wasn't the smartest move. I decided that I wanted to do a flip in the air, but my arm did not agree with me and it twisted it's own way. Next thing I know, I end up in the hospital. It is only slightly broken and I got a green cast which will be removed in three weeks. I hope I am still able to ski when we go skiing in the Dolomites in the middle of February. I guess I won't be trying that again. On the bright side, at least I don't have to wash dishes for the next three weeks.

Happy New Year!


Simona

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