From Ski Gondolas to Venetian Gondolas

We left the slopes this morning, trading our Tyrolean mountain gondolas for Venetian gondolas and enjoy the city’s famed carnival. In hindsight we should have taken the more circuitous and longer highway route avoiding the up and down winding road through the mountains, as picturesque as it was.  The car was well stocked with plastic bags and paper towels as it was only a matter of time before we would have to make a pit stop so Madeleine could clear her stomach and overcome her nausea on the side of the road.  Gravol or no gravol, poor kid doesn't seem to fare well on these road trips but she's quite the trooper, never complaining. 

While the girls were very excited to get to Venice we all regretted having to leave Val Gardena so soon.   With the exception of a bit of cloud one day and cold windy weather another the weather co-operated and Hotel Pralong far exceeded our expectations for a 3 star hotel. The food was excellent and the service was even better.  While we’ve generally taken the more economical route of preparing our own meals on these trips, it was a real treat not having to prepare meals after long days on the slopes.  Located in the village of Selva, Val Gardena, 150 meters from one of the main chair lifts, accessing the Sellaronda ski trail was quick and easy without having to touch the car all week.

Before arriving in Val Gardena we had all agreed that 5 consecutive days of skiing would be more than enough and after 2 full days of skiing I thought I wouldn’t make it past day 4.  As the week wore on however, the girls and I and to a lesser extent Nancy wished we had bought lift tickets and rented skis for the Friday as well.  By that time however, we had our minds set on an unplanned, quick visit to Innsbruck, Austria for the day.  A short 90 minute drive across the border, we spent a few hours walking, as always, aimlessly through the old town and taking in the Tyrolean architecture before heading to Bolzano, Italy to do the same before returning back to Val Gardena. 

We all agreed that our week of skiing ranks up there as one of the best parts of our year away - so far!

Sal

Che Meraviglia!!

I love that expression. Often used by Italians to express delight or marvel. It's the reaction we often get when we tell Italians we are from Canada. Wow Canada, 'e il mio sogno', its my dream to go there they tell us as their eyes and faces light up in delight. We just spent a week skiing in the Dolomites and I can't think of a better expression - che meraviglia! We've always heard such wonderful things about the Dolomites and certainly the reviews on websites we researched describing these range of mountains use such adjectives and superlatives that our expectations were ratcheted up to the extreme. With such expectations, I feared disappointment. 

Simona hot-doggin it!

Rugged, dramatic, imposing, frightening, jaw-dropping, mesmerizing and on and on I could go. Not as high as the French or Swiss Alps, the Dolomites are nonetheless breathtaking in their beauty and grandeur. As a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site its peaks are included in UNESCO's list of the most beautiful mountains in the world. As Nancy noted it is impossible to capture in pictures let alone words how vast and strikingly stunning this area is. For the avid, expert skier, more challenging skiing (a greater number of steeper tougher blacks) can be had in France and Switzerland but from what we experienced it is hard to imagine a setting more picture perfect. 

Having snowed quite a bit the week before, we got lucky with fabulous ski conditions. With the exception of some cloud cover for half a day Tuesday and one cold and windy day Wednesday the skies were as blue as I've ever seen them and a healthy application of sunscreen was a must throughout the week. There were times where the sun literally seemed to shine down upon the granite peaks like a huge flood light. It had a surreal feel to it as though the jagged peaks were man-made, paper-mâché almost. 

Turn off the lights!

The Dolomites are comprised of 1200 km of runs and 12 ski areas of which Val Gardena is one. We stayed in the village of Selva, Val Gardena from which it is literally possible to never have to ski the same run twice in one week.  I did a fair bit of skiing on my own the first 3 days as Nancy and the girls took lessons.  The first day I skied clockwise (the orange route) around the Sellaronda, a 42 km route which takes between 4 and 6 hours depending upon lift lines and makes its way around the stunning Sella Group peaks linking 4 ski areas in the Dolomites. On Wednesday Simona, Maddy and I joined two Dutch families staying at our hotel for an all day outing to Monte Lagazuoi, the site of numerous battles between the Italians and Austrians during World War I.  There remains a series of interconnected caves and tunnels that were built and used during the war that one can walk through and visit while hiking in the summer.

Having completed 4 days of lessons, Nancy joined the girls and I on Thursday and we tackled the Sellaronda but this time doing the counter-clockwise green run.  It was an exercise in patience for the girls and I waiting for mom every 400-500 meters (literally) but to Nancy’s credit, she completed the outing as overcome with fear as she was. 

Interestingly, we discovered that there is a small community of about 30,000 people in this mountainous part of Northern Italy that speak a language called Ladin (or Ladino as the Italians refer to it).   Not a mere dialect, it is officially recognized in Italy with some official rights in the Trentino-Alto Adige region.   Try as we did, we were not able to understand it when locals spoke it among themselves. 

Sal

World Cup Skiing

Just missed the podium!!

We just returned home from our ski trip to the Dolomites.  Before leaving I said to my mom, "I'll stay on the blue and green runs with you". Well I surprised myself because I was literally skiing the whole time with dad and Simona on red runs, but the first day of skiing I made it clear to him I was NOT going on black runs.  Now this is where I surprised myself even more.  On our last day of skiing dad and I went on the 2011 world cup run known as Saslong which is a black run.  My favorite part about that run was the big billboard at the bottom of the hill which had the names of the top 3 skiers for this years race.  Well if you can believe it, a Canadian Erik Guay came in third place for the mens Super-G  race.  Once I saw the billboard I was especially proud to be Canadian.

This pic speaks for itself.....

Throughout the week we met families from all over the world including families from England, Holland, Germany, Russia, Italy, France, Bulgaria, Romania, Spain, Sweden.  I could go on and on but my point is when we told people we were Canadian their eyes lit up.  Mom told us that when she told a lady in her ski class we were Canadian the lady said, " Oh it's my dream to go to Canada, you never hear anything bad about it".

Our Dutch friends

Wednesday was our second last day of skiing so we decided to leave mom in ski school and go to a particular part of the Dolomites where you get pulled by horses for about 2 kilometers on some flat land.  We met 2 families from Holland staying in our hotel who were also going to the horses so we all went together.  All I can say is that it was freezing like you can't even imagine, minus 12C.  Going up on the chair lift I was literally crying of how windy and cold it was.  The other bad thing about going to the horses was that there was a lot of pole pushing and a lot of long line ups........ or as the English say 'there were a lot of long queues'.  The horses were ok but it was definitely not my favorite part.

I loved the hotel we stayed at.  The dinner was so good every single night. We had steak, salmon, meat skewers, rabbit with polenta and mushrooms, cordon bleu, everything you could ever imagine.  It was so delicious, and the dessert was even better!!  Some nights the main course was served covered by a cloche which made it really fancy and Thursday night we ate by candle light.  I wish we could go back. 

Madeleine

Torino - The City of Arches

Count down to 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy

Home to the Agnelli clan, owners of Fiat and big bad Juventus, I had always envisioned Torino to be a grey, dull industrial city and never really had any great urge to visit.  Yet on this particular day Torino was anything but.  Charming, elegant and energetic it was washed over in sunshine and its signature baroque architecture was on full display as we walked aimlessly through the city center. 

With time becoming such a precious commodity and so many other attractive places to visit in Europe, like many tourists we were quite prepared to overlook the city.  However, since arriving in France, more than a few people have encouraged us to visit Torino and given how close we were we figured we might be able to knock it off in a day.  As well, after learning that the Italian nation was born in Torino150 years ago and it being Italy’s first capital, a visit could not be avoided.  In 1865, the capital moved to Florence for a brief period before Rome became Italy's permanent capital in 1870.  Who knew!!

Enjoying some sun

Via Po is one of those extravagant streets lined on either side with ‘portici’ (arches) so typical of the city.  Connecting two of Torino’s main squares, Piazza Castello and Piazza Vittorio Veneto, we walked down toward the Po River along one side of Via Po and back up the other under the portici stopping at the historic Caffe Fiorio for some delicious chocolato caldo and gelato which the café is famous for.

Often referred to as the city of arches, Torino is another fine example of a European city designed and architected with the pedestrian in mind.  Palazzo Reale, Grande Madre, Mole Antonelliana, San Lorenzo Church and Grande Madre are a few of the stunning examples of the city’s elegant past.   

Torino's Egyptian
Museum

Established in 1780, Caffe Fiorio was frequented by intellects, politicians and aristocrats of the time and some suggest it is where Cavour and Garibaldi plotted Italy’s political future.  It was also one of Mark Twain’s favourite places to stop in for hot chocolate and ice cream.   On this beautiful sun-filled day, it seemed like every person in Torino was out sitting in cafes and squares or simply walking without a care in the world and enjoying the splendour that the city has to offer.    As for knocking it off in a day?  Wishful thinking, we’re hoping to find time to go back for another visit.

Sal 

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!!