Home sweet home

Sunday November 14, 2010 Day 137

What a wonderfully lazy day. It is so good to relax with my own computer and do almost nothing all day. I did wash three loads of clothes. It is cool and humid, bordering on rain, so the things I hung outside to dry are not making much progress. I hung the rest of the clothes indoors.

I spent a good deal of time getting my plants back in shape after our trip. I keep most of them outside, but brought them in before we left on the theory that they would dry out less in our cool apartment than outside where they would be subject to the vagaries of wind and weather. The cyclamen did not do well, but everything else seems pretty healthy. A week or two before we left I sprayed my geraniums because they were suffering from a bug infestation. They are recovering nicely, but I think they were happy to go back outside after we got home. Here is my dragon wing begonia, which I do not put outside. It sits on our dining room table and drops its blooms daily!

Out ten days in Italy were great, but it was wonderful to be back home. Indeed, the first “wonderfulness” was when we crossed into France from Italy and saw familiar French signs - a contrast to those we could not understand in Italian. We really are beginning to think of France as “home,” or, more accurately, our home away from home. After four and a half months of being in France, I think I can honestly assert that the U.S. will always be our home. It may be good to be away from the politics, the incessant TV, the scare-mongering, etc., but I will return very willingly at the end of our sojourn here.

Homeward bound

Saturday November 13, 2010 Day 136

We left Venice in the mists of early morning. As we approached the mainland, we passed a shipyard or dry dock where we could see a cruise ship being manufactured. That must be some undertaking! The train took us to Milano, where we changed trains for one bound for Torino. While waiting to board our bus in Milano, we watched a couple of guys using long-handled brushes with hose connections to wash the windows on the engine. We arrived in Torino, then had to locate a bus for Lyon. Apparently there is a major renovation going on to the train lines between Torino and Lyon and there are no trains currently traveling between these two cities. We ate a tasteless lunch in the train station, then went in search of the bus, which necessitated a short metro ride out to the Susa stop, then it was a matter of waiting for the bus to show up. When we got on, we had no ticket, only an on-line reservation number. This did not make the driver happy, and he instructed us to get off at Chambery, the first stop in France, and get out ticket there.

Roger and I had seats across the aisle from one another. Each of us had a young English-speaking seat companion, so we stayed entertained for the entire trip. My seat companion is a native of El Salvador, but she spent a couple of years in her childhood in the States because her father was working on his master’s degree in Illinois. She returned there later for college, and is only a few classes away from her own master’s degree. She put it on hold, however, as she had an opportunity to come and study business in Grenoble, France. In between discussions with our seatmates, we enjoyed views of the snowcapped Italian and French alps, which were gorgeous. The mountains which were not snowcapped revealed fascinating rock formations.

 

Upon our arrival in Chambery (the only stop before Lyon), Roger disembarked and went into the train station. He was back in a few moments with the tickets, which made the driver happy. Buying them was just a matter of entering his confirmation number into a machine and instructing it to print out the tickets. We sat together on the remaining 30 minutes or so of our trip, arriving in Lyon in plenty of time to catch our high-speed TGV train to Montpellier. While in the train station, we noticed several military personnel on duty - pacing about, guns over their shoulders, alert. It was SO good to arrive in Montpellier and make that final trek home.

UPS in Venice and other sights

Friday November 12, 2010 Day 135

I felt so much better this morning than yesterday - I think I have almost recovered from my fall. We got up and out rather late, heading first for the Rialto Bridge. It was full of mostly souvenir shops, in contrast to that of Florence, where the shops were exclusively pricy jewelry. As we looked down at boats plying their way along the canal and docking alongside the piers, we discovered that even UPS has to deliver by boat in Venice!

From there we made our way down toward St. Mark’s square. In the square, we gawked at the basilica, the bell tower, the hugeness of the square and other sights, and a pigeon landed on my arm. I saw one land on a man’s shoulder, and one woman had three or four pigeons sitting on her arms. I didn’t mind as long as none left a deposit.

We moved on down to the basilica for photos, then turned toward the lagoon. There were numerous thigh-high scaffoldings sitting on the square, apparently for tourists to climb atop to oversee the crowds. I decided to climb up on one to get a picture of the horses on the basilica. Big mistake. The scaffolding was about thigh-high for me, and that was too tall - I fell getting up onto it. I should have climbed onto it on my knees, then stood up. Instead, I tried to step up onto it, it was too high, and I fell forward, bruising my left knee and generally setting me back. I ached the rest of the day. I got my pictures, including some of the columns bearing the symbols of St. Mark and St. Theodore, and climbed down with Roger’s help. Fortunately we did not plan to see the basilica or climb to the top of the St. Mark Campanile, because at this point, I was not up to standing in line or climbing lots of steps. The later bridges we negotiated were enough of a punishment on my back without me volunteering for more!

 

 

 As we walked along toward the arsenal, my back begged for relief, so I selected a knee-high scaffold, shed my jacket, purse and glasses and laid down for eight minutes of back exercises. These went a long way in relieving my back and making it possible for me to get through the rest of the day. From there, we walked down past the Bridge of Sighs to the arsenal for photos, then turned to walk through the city to the train station. It was a leisurely walk, and we enjoyed the merchandise in the shop windows, the architecture, the canals, the tourists and had a delightful stroll overall. We bought a lunch of torte rustica at a pastry shop - mine was spinach and ricotta, Roger’s was ham and cheese. The clerk warmed them in the oven and we took them across the Rialto bridge where we found a scaffold to sit on and eat. We shared the crumbs with two pigeons who showed up.

We later learned that the scaffolding is there to create a walkway for pedestrians (and there are nothing but pedestrians in Venice!) when the water is high and the regular passageways are under water. Thank you, Shelli, for that information.

At the train station we bought tickets to Turin with instructions to change trains in Milan and Turin. Then we strolled back down the main pedestrian corridor to our hotel cutoff. We spent 15 minutes or so making sure we could get back to the main corridor, as our train leaves at 6:58 tomorrow morning and we could not afford to get lost and spend time wandering around trying to figure out where we went wrong and getting on the right track again. Then we returned to the hotel. We spent the last few hours mostly on the computer, relaxing and taking it easy.

I feel as if we gave Venice short shrift, but Venice returned the favor by hiding the sun for almost the full extent of our stay. Because of my two falls, I wasn’t up to more exploring, and certainly not museuming. The stairs were always a strain, and there are stairs and more stairs and still more stairs in Venice. We still got the flavor of the city, which is absolutely amazing and spectacularly beautiful.

As we were headed back to our hotel, we saw how the UPS guy delivers once he off-loads the boat.

Random impressions of Venice:

Even the ambulances are boats.
Masks, masks, masks.
There are 409 bridges in Venice.
The islands have to get their power from the mainland via underwater cable.
Where does the sewage go?
Murano glass everywhere

Exploring Venice

Thursday, November 11, 2010 Day 134

The weather for our entire Venice stay was a disappointment. We awoke to gray skies both mornings and the fog never entirely dissipated. We ate breakfast and went to the dock to catch a vaporetto to the island of Murano. As we passed the Colonna Restaurant, we saw workers exiting with some sort of building materials and speculated that perhaps the restaurant was closed for renovations.

We took a water bus, called a vaporetto, to Murano. On the way to Murano, we passed the Isola de San Michele, which is the burial island for Venice. Napoleon decreed, when he conquered the city, that no one was to be buried on any of the other islands, so this island, which had been a prison island, became the cemetery for Venice. In Murano, we visited the glass museum, which was fascinating, and viewed this enormous blue Murano glass sculpture. Hungry, we went in search of lunch. Roger had spaghetti with ham, egg and cheese. I had spaghetti with clam sauce. There were about 35 whole clams in the spaghetti, and I had to pluck each dime-sized clam out of it’s shell before eating it. It was quite good, and no more work than shelling and eating shrimp or crawfish. While on the island of Murano, we bought a vase and a lovely necklace for me. On the way back we saw an interesting sculpture of two gentlemen in a boat. I am unable to find anything about the sculpture on the web - if anyone can clue me in, I will be appreciative.

We took another vaporetto from Murano around to a stop near St. Mark’s Square, then switched and took another one up the Grand Canal. The lovely old buildings seemed right out of a movie - Dangerous Beauty comes to mind. For the first time we saw the gondolas for which Venice is famous, and the myriad other boats that ply the waters of the Canal. We disembarked near our hotel, and wandered around a while before heading back to our room. We dropped into a small restaurant which purported on the outside to be a tea and coffee shop, but when we entered, a gentleman sitting at the front wanted to know if we were here to eat. Apparently if we were, we would have to return, as the restaurant was not ready to serve dinner. We said we just wanted some tea or coffee, and he motioned us in. We were hoping for tea and pastries, but there did not seem to be any of the pastries we sought. We had tea, which was really good after the cold. We left then, and wandered even more than we wanted - we got confused and had trouble finding our hotel. We finally got ourselves straightened out and found our hotel and collapsed in our room.

In the evening we went back out to La Colonna and this time it was open. We had a lovely dinner of wine and pasta and fish. We watched with interest as the waiter brought out the fish dishes and prepared them for serving by skinning and boning them. I would have supposed that would be the chef’s job, but not here. Afterward, it was good to take another hot shower and retire for the night.

Venice in the rain

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 Day 133

We breakfasted again at the hotel, then packed for the required 10:00 checkout - seems early! We took our luggage to the hotel storage room and parted ways with Christian, who wanted to go to Santa Croce. We walked in intermittent rain to the market for apples and a kaki, then strolled the streets in the area. We had explained Specloos to Christian, and we checked a couple of small grocers for the spread to give him a treat, but there was none in the stores - Nutella, yes; Specloos, no. We returned around 11:30 to the hotel lobby where we spent the next hour out of the rain and on our computers. How nice to have my own computer again!

At 12:30 Christian came back and we left for the station. On the way out the door we snapped this photo of our hotel - right next to a Disney store! Then we stopped for calzones to go and Christian picked up a large canolli. We were almost to the station when I failed to lift my foot high enough at a curb and I fell, striking my head and one knee on the pavement, then rolling over onto my derrière, supported by the backpack. The guys came back and helped me up and I wasn’t too bad off - I seemed to have sprained my left pinkie finger as well, and I was rather damp, but I knew I would survive. I discovered later that I also scratched my glasses a bit. We got to the station with about 20 minutes to spare, so Christian ran out to go to an ATM for some cash, leaving me in charge of his backpack. Christian didn’t get back to the station until six or seven minutes before our scheduled departure, and we couldn’t even see our track from where we stood, as we had to walk down Track 5 a ways to reach Track 4. We set a brisk pace and made it with a few minutes to spare. The first leg of our trip was only five minutes, and the guys just stood in the vestibule of the train but I saw down, took off my backpack and caught my breath a bit. Then we detrained, caught our train for Venice and were able to settle in. The sky was overcast all the way from Florence to Venice, and as a result the fall colors suffered from a graying which left them drab. Christian and I shared the kaki on the train, which turns out to be a Japanese persimmon - not bad tasting, and the three of us ate the apples we bought in the market. We talked and slept and laughed all the way to Venice Mestre station where Christian and we parted ways.

Our train proceeded on to the island of Venice and we detrained. Our first stop was the tourist information office, where we bought a map and a tour guide for 2.50 euros. This was the first time we had been expected to purchase a city map at a tourist office - they are usually given out free of charge. It turned out to be quite nice, however, breaking the city into manageable portions. When we exited the station, it was quite cool with a steady drip, and the rain continued all the way to our hotel. I wore a water-resistant jacket with a hood which had stood me in good stead for the past 10 years, but this day, with the constant drip, the rain got onto my glasses to the point where they were too wet for me to read the map. I remembered my 1 Euro hat in my backpack, so Roger pulled it out and I put it on, then pulled the hood up over it, keeping my glasses rain-free. Score another one for the Euro Store! We made most of the trek okay, except that Roger had to contend with the suitcase over a total of eight bridges, which was a pain. Each bridge has 10-12 steps up, and usually the same number back down, but not always! We were able to follow the directions and the map to our hotel until we got close, but we got almost there and couldn’t find the hotel. We dropped into a bakery to buy some meringues and information, showing the clerk our hotel address and asking where the hotel was located. The gentleman gave us directions, but we were puzzled because we had already been there. Indeed, we had found the building number (5394), but there were five doors labeled with letters A through E, and we couldn’t see a sign of our particular hotel on any of them. We returned and began to search the doors more carefully, finally arriving at a gate which, in very small letters, indicated the name of the hotel. Finally! We rang the bell and asked if this was Ca Ricci, a voice said yes, did we have a reservation? I said yes, and we were buzzed in. The clerk met us halfway down and helped Roger get the suitcase up the last of two flights of stairs. He did not verify our name, but took us straight to our room. He asked us to please bring our passports to breakfast in the morning for copying, gave us instructions and the key, suggested a place to eat at our request, and left. We were soaked from the rain. My water-resistant rain jacket had leaked through in several places, soaking my suede jacket, and the zipper on the suitcase did the same thing. Our shoes were wet and we were so glad to be in our hotel. We relaxed and dried out a while, then set out for supper. We had decided to eat at the restaurant he suggested, La Colonna, but when we got there it was closed. It was next door to the bakery where we had just sought directions. On the other side of the bakery was a small café, so we dropped in there for dinner. We both started with bowls of pasta, then I had a tasty fish and onion dish while Roger had three beef-and-potato patties - he described them as akin to tuna croquettes, but with beef instead of tuna. They were pretty good as well. We returned to the hotel, showered and fell into bed. We find that we are not enamored of Italian bath towels. We are accustomed to Turkish towels, and the Italian ones are flat linen, some of which have a waffle weave. We found that they did not absorb as well as Turkish towels, and we miss the heaviness of the latter as well, the way they fall about the body and warm one up after a shower. We were, however, very appreciative of the showers in the hotels. Every evening at home we mourn the lack of a shower and are giddy with delight when we can actually take a good hot shower.

Florence

In my visit to the musical instruments wing of the museum, I came across this instrument. It is a bowl (copper, I think) with brass handles, filled with water. The instructions call for the visitor to dip his/her hands into the water, then slowly rub the brass handles. This sets up a vibration in the water and causes the bowl to emit a satisfying tone much like the ringing of a bell.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010 Day 132

After a mediocre breakfast at the hotel, we hit the streets of Florence. It was raining when we stepped out of the hotel door and it rained intermittently all day. We walked through the rain to the Accademia di Belle Arti to see Michelangelo’s David, which was very impressive. We spent some additional time in the museum - I toured the musical instruments wing while Roger and Christian toured the Renaissance religious paintings on the second floor - nothing to blog about, Roger says. It was still raining as we arrived at the central market, where we stepped into a large hall full of produce, meat, fish and other food vendors. We wandered through and saw cuttlefish, tripe, rabbit, amazing purple artichokes, and lots of other foods for sale. Then we stepped outside and came upon the soft goods markets, selling lots and lots of leather, scarves, hats, gloves, and a myriad other goods. I got dragged into trying on a beautiful buttery-soft red lambskin coat, but I wasn’t really in the market for it and the cost was 210 Euros, more than I would have wanted to pay even if I had been in the market for it! The three of us bought scarves, and Christian bought a belt, wallet and some gloves, along with a couple of souvenirs. As we walked along the streets after our market venture, we came upon a Euro store. I ventured in, and Christian joined me, while Roger stood out on the sidewalk. I spent three Euros - one on a black and white checked hat which turned out to have too large a bill and looked rather ratty, but it proved invaluable later in Venice. I also bought two packages of Patrick cookies. With a name like ours, who could resist?

We ate lunch at market - pork paninis for us, ham for Christian. The pork was wonderful - it had a rosemary stuffing which gave it a marvelous flavor, and the pork was quite tender. We were quite tired, and it continued to rain on and off, so we returned to the hotel for a half-hour nap. At the end of the half hour it was still raining, so we set a goal for 2:00 to meet Christian in front of the Duomo. I napped a bit, Roger read.

At 2:00, we climbed the bell tower of the Duomo. There was beautiful scenery on almost every side, but bad weather obscured some of the mountains and clouds turned much of the scenery gray. Back down on the ground later, we headed for the Uffizi. First, however, we returned to the Ponte Vecchio to see the open shops and check out their wares. It turns out that they are pricy jewelry shops - really pricy. We returned then to the Uffizi to see Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus along with various other Botticellis. When we entered the museum, we were subject to the usual security measures, and Roger had trouble getting through. They scanned him, and he was carrying a pocketknife which has a corkscrew (he travels prepared!) and two or three blades. The guard at the scanner handed the knife to me to give to another guard who was supposed to put it in aside and give us a receipt. Instead, he looked at my purse, opened an empty compartment, dropped it in, put his finger to his lips and shooed me on into the museum. So much for security! After we located and viewed The Birth of Venus, Roger and I were too tired to enjoy the rest of the museum, so we left Christian and agreed to meet him at the hotel later. It took us almost ten minutes to exit the museum, as we were forced to go through a temporary exhibit with some rather startling paintings, including one wherein two women were cutting off a guy’s head with a sword, and another where a woman carried a basket containing a severed head under her arm. We finally exited, found a gelato and returned to the hotel. I spent some time working out a hotel for in Venice and printing up the booking information and a Google map of Venice.

Dinner was in a cafeteria, where I had minestrone, lasagna and fennel in olive oil. Roger had lasagna as well, and Christian had gnocchi. Not bad, especially for the price - we got out for about eight euros per person. Afterward we walked to the train station to work out our trip to Venice. We had no difficulty, but Christian is meeting his cousin, who is going to pick him up and take him to her house for a couple of days. We checked schedules and Christian called her to see what would work out best for her. Then he bought a ticket on the same train as ours. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped for huge Belgian waffles filled with white chocolate or Nutella. Again, Roger and I returned to the hotel after dinner and Christian went out to explore.

Pisa!

Monday, November 8, 2010 Day 131

We got up this morning, had a quick breakfast and hopped a train for Pisa. We were going to leave Roger’s half-used metro ticket with the hotel clerk or someone, but Roger was unable to find it when we left. The train ride down was rather dull, with skies which were intermittently sunny (briefly) but mostly cloudy. Sometimes the clouds hugged the ground so closely that we saw very little other than what was within a mile or so of the tracks. Other times, we could see distant mountains or the plains of the Po River. We arrived in Pisa and it was windy and cool as we set out on a walk toward the tower. Once across the river, we stopped at a charming restaurant and had lunch before resuming our quest for the tower. When we arrived, we were disappointed to discover that the tower was temporarily closed due to the high winds. The clerk told us that there would be a decision in about 30 minutes regarding the next ascent of the tower. Roger and I hung around the tower and looked at displays, then went into the ticket office to warm up while Christian bought some postcards, wrote some quick messages and sent them off. The decision was finally made that it was too windy for an ascent at 3:30, and that at 4:00 they would make another assessment. Disappointed, we gave up and caught a train on to Florence. We arrived in Florence and walked to our hotel - not a long walk except that we got lost and overshot it by a few blocks. A kind American girl helped us locate it. Ironically, the hotel is located right beside the Disney Store. At least there isn’t a McDonalds across the street! Roger and I rested and Christian went out to explore.

We asked the hotel clerk for a dinner recommendation, and she suggested a restaurant across the river. We set out for it, heading past the Disney store and lots of gelato shops. In a piazza at the end of our street were lots of statutes - mostly copies of those that can be seen elsewhere in Florence. We turned and headed for the river, crossing it on the Ponte Vecchio, Florence’s oldest bridge, dating back to Roman times, with lots of small shops built right on the bridge - all closed at this hour. We found the restaurant and had a lovely dinner of crepes, chicken in cream sauce, and wine. We bought three desserts which we cut into thirds and passed among ourselves. We returned to the hotel, showered and went to bed.

Pieta Rondanini

6-11-2010
Originally uploaded by cspatrick

From the restaurant we walked up to the Castello Sforza, which we had neglected to go into yesterday. There were a total of seven museums in the castle for a single entry fee of three Euros - not a bad deal. But we were only able to cover a couple of the museums. We went first for the Museum of Ancient Art where we saw Michelangelo’s Pieta Rondanini. This was the last sculpture he did and it remains in a rough state, having been worked on until his dying days. From there we went into the Decorative Arts Museum, but I was already dragging by this time and did not fully enjoy the museum. We left and took the subway back to the central station and home to the hotel. Christian checked into his room and took a shower and a nap. I napped as well while Roger read. Before I laid down, I took off my pedometer and noted we had already walked 18,000+ steps. No wonder I was so tired! At 4:30, we woke Christian and chatted a bit, the left a little after 5:00 to walk some more and seek pizza for supper. We asked the desk clerk for a recommendation and he gave us a card for a restaurant, told us to ask for Osama, and said to tell him that Angelo sent us. We arrived at the restaurant about 5:40 and were told they did not open until 7:00. Sigh.

We walked from there to the train station and bought our tickets for Pisa tomorrow. Christian checked out a Tabac for post cards and bought a couple, while I indulged in chocolate bar for the train trip. Then we left the station and walked down Via Piscini, retracing our steps from the past two evenings. We returned to the restaurant after a short detour to kill time, and it was a couple of minutes before 7:00 when we entered the restaurant. We ordered a pizza each and the guys shared a bottle of wine. We had failed to note the prices when we entered, but the pizza prices were fine. The wine, however, was 20 Euros, more than they had wanted to pay. Christian failed to specify that he only wanted a glass, and Roger mumbled that he wanted water, which the waiter misunderstood and poured him wine as well. Ah, well . . . Tuition. The pizza was good and the guys got a little high. We shared a tiramisu, then the waiter brought us three small glasses, told us he was giving us something off the bill and poured each of us a glass of lemoncello each. Not too bad if there wasn’t so much alcohol taste in it!

We were pooped when we got back to the hotel. I checked my pedometer and found that I had walked 26,000+ steps, so my fatigue was justified! Roger read a bit while I worked a bit online and checked the Saints game play-by-play. When we went to bed, the Saints were ahead thirty or so to three for Carolina, so we were pretty sure they had another win under their belts. I had to go downstairs to print our hotel information and a map to the hotel in Florence from the train station. Roger was already asleep by the time I got back, so I showered and was in bed before 11:00.

Christian!

7-11-2010
Originally uploaded by cspatrick

Sunday, November 7, 2010 Day 130

We told Christian to take the train into Milan from the airport. This train leaves the airport every half hour and arrives at the Cadorna train station, which is a 10-minute walk from the church. He didn’t bring a phone, so our game plan was to be at the station at 9:00 and check in every half hour after that. We arrived on the metro and had just walked up the steps into the train station when someone approached us from behind and said he was looking for someone from LaPlace. Christian! We hugged and laughed and he told his story of getting here, which was that his plane arrived VERY early. He was unable to locate the train to Cadorna station, so he joined some Americans who were taking a bus to the central station. From the central station he took the subway to the Cadorna station. He apparently arrived on the same subway as we! If we had known, we would never have had to get on the subway, as the central train station is a five-minute walk from our hotel. He was loaded with a large backpack and a smaller front pack. Since it was plenty early, we all took the subway back to the central station and walked to the hotel where he dropped his stuff in our room. Like Santa Claus, he came bearing gifts: a computer for me, a chess set for Roger. I had sent an email a couple of weeks ago to my daughters suggesting that Roger would love a chess set for Christmas, but not to send it, just hold it until we come to the States in January. It did not occur to me that one of them would get it ordered and get it to Christian in time for him to bring it along. Thanks, Alicia! Christian decided not to bring his jacket or scarf (he was layered with a t-shirt and sweater, I think - didn’t ask specifically). Roger and I were bundled a little more warmly.

We took the subway back to Cadorna station and walked to the church to check in and get our tickets. The guy told us we were too early, to return at 10:40. With half an hour to wait, we went across the street to a coffee shop and had coffee, tea, chocolate and a pastry. It was finally time and we went to the church to see The Last Supper. Viewing is restricted to 15 people at a time, and we were allowed only 15 minutes in the room with the painting. There are double entry and exit rooms, whereby we entered one chamber and stood there until the door behind us closed and sealed. Then we entered yet another chamber and stood there again until the door behind us closed and sealed. Then the door into the church opened and we were allowed into the church to see the painting high on a large wall. Unfortunately the wall and the area suffered a great deal of abuse during the last 500 years, including having a door cut into the wall, thereby cutting out the feet of Jesus and a couple of the apostles. The paint is flaking off the wall, as Michelangelo used oil paints on the dry plaster instead of the wet-plaster technique which allows the paints used to absorb into the plaster and become more permanent. No photos were allowed. At the end of the 15 minutes, an announcement came across that we were all to exit and we went through the same double-chambered exit procedure - all presumably designed to minimize atmospheric moisture from entering the room. “Church” is probably the wrong word to use for the room. The room is attached to a church, but it is a side room, not the church itself. When we left, we stopped briefly into the church, but this is Sunday, with mass going on, so we left and headed toward the Duomo and the historic city center.

The Duomo, pictured here, is quite splendid, with a forest of small spires projecting into the sky. We chose not to go in, suspecting that there was a mass being held there as well. The area is surrounded by upscale shopping centers with all the top designer names. We trekked to the seventh floor of one of them just to get a look, but didn’t bother to go into any more. Christian compared it to Saks, and I agree. Money, money, money, money, money!

It was quite cool and not warming up any. I think Christian may have regretted his decision not to bring his jacket. We located a restaurant for lunch and had tortellini (Christian and I) while Roger had risotto. Christian and I got the better deal - the tortellini was very good. We had a glass of wine each as well.

6-11-2010

6-11-2010
Originally uploaded by cspatrick

As we walked along the park toward the peace arch, we came upon this brilliant display of fall color - only yellow, but it was quite spectacular.

Italian Unity Day

6-11-2010
Originally uploaded by cspatrick

Saturday, November 6, 2010 Day 129
It was cool and foggy when we set out for the train station this morning with a goal of exploring the path Christian would take the next day upon his arrival. His plane was scheduled to land at 7:40 and he has a voucher for three tickets to see The Last Supper in the Santa Maria delle Grazie church at 10:45. We wanted to check everything out and expedite his arrival as much as possible from the airport into the city. We first went to the train station and lucked out in spotting a bus just arriving from the Malpensa Airport. However, something I read had said there was a train as well, so we looked around and found that the train from the airport doesn’t come into the central station, but comes into one called Cadorna which, coincidentally is the same location as the closest metro to the church. We bought subway tickets and took the metro down to Cadorna. We made a mistake with the metro tickets. Expecting things to be as they were in Paris, we bought what we thought would be a set of 10 tickets for nine Euros, thinking that the three of us could share them when Christian got here. No such luck – what we got was a single card which says on it that it cannot be used by more than one person for any one trip. Ah, well . . . we will just give the card away right before we leave. I bought five single tickets at a Euro each and we hopped the metro to Cadorna. We exited the metro station and entered the train station which is just at the mouth of the metro. In the train station we walked about a bit to get the lay of the land, which was not too hard, as there are 20 tracks and they all exit at the same place. We consulted a chart about the Malpensa train and it seemed to show two or three trains every hour. Then we discovered the office for the Malpensa train and the clerk there told us that the trains come every half hour from Malpensa, even on Sunday. Most of the train station is open-air and rather cool today, but the Malpensa train office was cozy and had several chairs. That done, we set off for Santa Maria delle Grazie church. This was not hard to find, and took us less than 10 minutes to reach. We scoped out the ticket office and walked back to the train station where I scoped out the toilets, and we departed.

Once we left the station, we turned toward a nearby castle and park. We happened upon a small military (“dog-and-pony show” per Roger) outside the castle. There was a bit of military paraphernalia on display, including a helicopter, a snowmobile along with an alpine patrol, several motorcycles, some 20 or so horses (some pulling two artillery pieces, others ridden by cavalry personnel), an armored personnel carrier, a communications van, a rubber raft, a red cross van, a tent with a recruitment station, and some 50 or so enlisted personnel. Additionally, we saw some coast guard personnel in their van, but we never saw them exit the van, although I assume they did at one point. One of the Carabinieri, pictured here, chatted with us for a bit, explaining that this is a demonstration of Italian Unity, and the ministry of defense was visiting in the castle and would arrive to inspect the troops in about 10 minutes. In the meantime, spectators (maybe 150 in all) were invited to sit in the helicopter and have their photos taken, and to wander around and freely inspect the equipment. I don’t think they were offering horse rides, although some of the kids would have died for one. We wandered about, then took the opportunity to have lunch from a nearby snack stand. Roger had a panini which contained some unidentifiable meat (alleged to be chicken) and I had some sort of meat and cheese (maybe ham and mozzarella) inside a cornmeal crust shaped into a ball a little smaller than a baseball. The redeeming quality to both was that they were hot. Our orange drinks were cool but not cold.

Finally, some 30-40 minutes after our discussion with the solider, some uniforms with blue sashes started coming out of the castle. These were people with swords, medals and stars. Some had so many medals that they listed seriously to port. There were a couple of guys with three stars on their shoulders. One in particular seemed quite important, and we realized this must be the minister of defense. A military band struck up a tune and everyone seemed cheerful. The horses pulled out and broke into a brisk trot along a wide walk in the park, then returned to their former station. We hung around a bit, then headed on down a path toward a peace arch at the far end of the park. Partway down we could hear cannon fire from the demonstration of the artillery.

Later we returned to the hotel, then walked to a continuous-service restaurant for a mediocre meal of pasta and bread, then we turned in for the night.

Train to Milano

Friday, November 5, 2010 Day 128

We awoke before 8:00 and went to the lobby for a mediocre breakfast, but it was only 5€, a bargain compared to many places where the charge is double that and which we usually pass. Then we packed and left the hotel, having three goals: lunch for the train, an internet café where we could print our hotel information for tonight, and then to verify that our tickets were the correct ones for the train we planned to take.

When we got to the street, there was a market going on – right in the street, which was closed to traffic for the duration of the market. There is a large square with a park in the middle of it, and the market was set up around the square and along the waterfront street. This section of the market was non-food – clothing, kitchen items, pots, pans, jewelry, shoes, gewgaws. We strolled along enjoying the wares, knowing we were not going to be buying. Most of the stuff in these markets is rather low-end, but we did pass some fur-trimmed leather going for 999€ each. Who in their right minds would spend that kind of money at a market?? We saw the local police or administrators checking to see if one stall had a proper license. We didn’t wait to see whether they did or not. There was a person with a painted face and wearing a tri-cornered hat and some sort of costume who was setting up his box and getting ready to assume a statue pose.

After we left the market area we came to a restaurant with sandwiches in the window, so bought a ham on focaccia bread for Roger and a green tort of spinach and artichokes for me, and a cannoli to share for lunch. Next we located an internet café where we got our Milan hotel info printed. Finally we arrived at the station and exchanged our incorrect tickets for the correct ones. We still had 30 minutes left, so we walked back down to a food market where we wandered through for a bit and I bought some tomatoes to snack on.

Our train left about 10 minutes late. Our path took us along the Mediterranean Sea until we reached Genova, when we turned north toward Milan. The first part of the trip we stopped at all the local stations, sometimes going only 15-20 minutes between stops, and getting up very little speed. The last half an hour before Genova we picked up speed. The scenery was beautiful – the sea to the south, mountains to the north, some of the more distant ones snow-capped. The landscape was interspersed with the sudden darkness of tunnels, causing discomfort to our ears. Once we left Genova, we turned sharply north and headed along the Po River valley. The autumn colors were splendid – perhaps not a spectacular as those in parts of the U.S., but certainly better than we are accustomed to in south Louisiana. We were about 30 minutes out of Genova when our train slowed to a halt and the loud speaker poured out an unintelligible announcement. Shortly thereafter we were joined in our 6-person compartment by a gentleman. I asked if he spoke English and he said no, so I gambled on French and he said yes. I told him I spoke a little. He proceeded to tell me that the train next to us on the track was “in English, broken.” Shortly thereafter three more people entered our compartment and other people poured onto the train, many of whom were stuck in the aisle outside the compartments. One of the gentlemen who sat in our compartment spoke English. He explained that their train had left Genova more than an hour before ours, and they had been sitting on that stuck train for well over an hour. They were grateful to discover that we would be getting into Milano around 4:00 – over an hour late for us, but two or three hours late for them. Roger had expected the trip up to Milano to provide some spectacular scenery, but unfortunately there were low clouds and some fog, so all we saw were gray skies and fields – no mountains, snow-capped or otherwise, the distance. We arrived in Milano without further disruption.

Lovely restaurant but the food didn't live up to the promise

4-11-2010
Originally uploaded by cspatrick

It was early, almost 6:00, but we were quite hungry. Roger had bought sausages rolled in croissants for lunch on the train, and we had apples as well, but that seemed a long time ago. The first couple of restaurants we came to didn’t open until 7:00, so we strolled the waterfront and walked along the pebble beach (!). The menus were similar – a selection of pizzas and pastas. We chose a lovely restaurant, which had beautiful napkins stuffed into wine glasses so that they looked like flowers. The restaurant, unfortunately, did not live up to its promise – the food was rather mediocre. For a starter, I had gnocchi, which were pretty good, and Roger had spaghetti with a tomato sauce – slightly firmer than al dente. Then we had filet of sole breaded and fried. We were hard-pressed to find the fish in the crust – it was that thin, and there was only one filet. I had a “salad” which was strictly iceberg lettuce, and Roger had fries. For dessert I had tiramisu and Roger had crème caramel. It was quite cool by this time, and we headed back to our room.

Our hotel is quite new, with cheap thrown-together furniture like something they bought from Ikea. Although it is new, they didn’t get it right – the electrical outlets are woefully inadequate. We have a toothbrush, a cell phone and a computer, all of which were hungry. There were no outlets accessible in the bedroom, and only one in the bathroom. The ones in the bedroom were taken up by lamps, the TV, and accoutrements for the TV. The computer came away hungry this morning, but not by too much. If we had realized before we left for dinner that there was a shortage of outlets, we could have plugged the computer in then. Ah, well. . . .

Heading for Italy

4-11-2010
Originally uploaded by cspatrick

Thursday, November 4, 2010 Day 127
We caught the 9:40 train out of Montpellier heading to Italy this morning. Our goal was to get out of France before Saturday's general strike started. We feared it might start early, and we wanted to be safely out of the country before then. We traveled through Nimes, then around Lac de Ste. Croix, which is a huge lake, then Marseilles, then Toulon, Nice, Monaco, and Ventimiglia in Italy. The view was lovely the whole way, mountains, the lake, the coastal plain. Interestingly enough, the train station in Monte Carlo was built in tunnel so they didn’t have to use the precious real estate for the station.
We arrived in Ventimiglia at 4:00, and before we left the station, we bought our tickets for tomorrow’s trip to Milan. The lines at the windows were long, so we found a self-serve kiosk and bought them there. It occurred to us, however, that they were not correct – they had today’s date on them and we were afraid they were not sufficient for tomorrow’s train. The information line was short, so we asked the guy there about the tickets, and he said they were not correct, that we would need to exchange them. He gave us a printed schedule. So we stood in line for the ticket sales and the guy there insisted that we had the correct tickets. We gave our best imitation of a Gallic shrug, left and walked to our hotel. It was located along the waterfront a good 20 minutes from the station, but the walk was lovely and we didn’t much mind. We had a beautiful view from our hotel window of the sea and the setting sun.

Bird sanctuary

Wednesday, November 3, 2010 Day 126


We did our usual Wednesday morning apartment cleaning chores then went to the Peyrou. Elisabeth called on our way back and asked me if I wanted to go for a walk with her. We agreed I would go to her apartment at 3:00. Roger left for chess at 2:30, and I walked over to meet Elisabeth. She drove us up to a bird sanctuary and we spent a couple of hours walking through it and out the other side, upstream along the Lez the entire way. We exited at the canoe house, which is the lowest point on the Lez which we walk when we go with Peggy to walk Egan. The walk was truly beautiful. The late-afternoon sun played through the trees, illuminating the yellow and red foliage in a splendid manner. The river was up because of two days of rain, and there were plenty of cascades creating lovely white water. We saw a swan headed downstream in the river, and Elisabeth suggested that he was headed for Palavas, which is the town on the barrier island at the mouth of the Lez. It was an absolutely splendid walk, and I regret that I did not take my camera. In contrast, when we walk with Peggy along the Lez, the walk is almost entirely flat, just a wide path along the river. There is a low point where we are able to cross the Lez to the opposite side, then we go up into the fields of the agriculture experimental station and let Egan run and chase birds in the fields. This bird sanctuary, although only a kilometer or two downstream from that area, was entirely different. It consisted of a path across a very rocky area, not flat at all.

Beef stew - yummy!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010 Day 125


We did the Peyrou, then went to the market below, where we bought nothing - just strolled along checking out the offerings. We are getting ready to leave for a week, and don’t want food in the house. We were willing to buy some beef for a stew, but we didn’t find any there that we wanted. On the way home, we stopped at the halle at the top of our street and got some stew meat.

Roger played chess this afternoon, losing all his games. While he was out, I bought some bug spray for my geraniums. Several of the leaves have holes eaten in them with insect eggs all around the holes. I took one of the leaves with me and handed it to the shopkeeper, who indicated an aerosol produce which I hope will work. I came home and spent some time on the computer, then peeled potatoes and carrots for our stew. Roger brought home a baguette as a delicious addition to the stew. He assembled the stew and cooked it and it was quite delicious - he is a really good cook.

Of pomelos and All Saints Day

1-11-2010
Originally uploaded by cspatrick

Monday, November 1, 2010 Day 124
We woke up to a Saints win this morning. Allelulia! Roger continues to suffer from his cold and is rather miserable. We walked the Peyrou, then went in search of an open store. However, it is All Saints (Toussaint) Day, and more shops are closed than on Sunday.
We went to the small Carrefour and bought a few groceries, including a Pomelo. I had never had one before, but it is a fruit of Chinese origin. A pomelo is the largest of the citrus fruits. It has a thick skin, which peels down to pulp which tastes similar to grapefruit, except a bit milder. This one was VERY dry. I suspect that a juicy one might be very good, but this one was only okay.
Roger did not play chess today. It was cool and damp still, and he didn’t think his throat would take kindly to sitting outside on stone benches playing chess or standing around watching others play chess and kibitzing with other spectators. He wasn’t even sure that there would be any players in the esplanade because of the holiday.

Happy Halloween

31-10-2010
Originally uploaded by cspatrick

Sunday, October 31, 2010 Day 123
Another lazy, rainy day. We adjusted the clocks back an hour and Roger checked football scores. Rain fell almost all day, but today it was mostly confined to a light, persistent drizzle. In the late afternoon we went out for a walk. The rain had abated by this time and a few people were out and about. The photo depicts the sun- and rain-washed streets of our quarter.

I called Daddy today and had a nice chat. I had been intending to call for several weeks, but I was afraid that the cost would be ghastly. However, I learned that our apartment phone may have free or very-low cost calls to the U.S., so I gave that a try. I won’t know the cost for a while – until our landlord gets our October bill. However much it costs, it was worth it to hear Daddy’s voice. Ninety-one and still plugging along!

We also Skyped with Alicia and Peter this evening. They gave a combination Halloween-Birthday party yesterday and had a really great time. They celebrated Caryn’s 40th birthday by soliciting note from her friends, then hung them on posters and dedicated a corner of the living room to the notes and birthday comments. One room in their house is painted orange, and they hung huge yellow triangles and a pumpkin grin and made a jack-o-lantern out of one entire wall. Neat! We got to see their cat, Sammy, who doesn’t understand video conferencing on Skype!

A little bit crazy

27-10-2010
Originally uploaded by cspatrick

Saturday, October 30, 2010 Day 122
Rain, rain, rain. The high today was 16 degrees, and it was that very temperature when we got up before 8:00. This is actually pretty surprising because generally it has been in the neighborhood of six or seven degrees when we get up. Roger suggests that the wind must be out of the south, off of the Mediterranean. Shortly after we got up, it began to rain. There have been showers off and on all day, mostly on. We spent the day cocooning, swapping out the computer and reading when the other had it. Roger downloaded several sections of NPR’s Science Friday to an MP3, laid himself down on the couch and listened while dozing. I think he has to listen to each section 2-3 times before he hears the whole episode. About 3:00 we put on jackets and raincoats and took an umbrella and went to the market. We told the charcuterie guy that we wanted 250 grams of ham in one slice (I think he usually slices it very thin). He cut off a slice and it weighed 255 grams – not bad! The guy in the stall across the way jokingly gave him a hard time, accusing him of putting his thumb on the scale, and laughingly offering to allow us to reweigh the meat on his scale. We also bought some cheese, then headed to the Two Euro store where we bought a paring knife and a sugar canister. Why do I love the Two Euro store so much? I guess because I can buy anything in there that I want – I have my choice of EVERY ITEM IN THE STORE! And each item will cost me a paltry two Euros. Okay, so I’m a little bit crazy!

I love this door knocker. It is on a huge door and it makes me smile! ;-D

Cartes de séjours - legal at last!

28-10-2010
Originally uploaded by cspatrick

Friday, October 29, 2010 Day 121
Celebrate! We are legal! We got our cartes de séjours today, with only one minor stumble.
But first – it was cool this morning, so we waited until almost 11:00 to walk the Peyrou. Then we returned to the apartment for lunch. I wanted to go out and mail a package and get some wine, but Roger didn’t quite understand that this was my goal, and we left our building too late to get the wine. We went to the post office, where I waited almost 20 minutes for my number to come up. It turns out that, since it is (fairly) clearly a document, as it is in a roll, I didn’t have to fix a customs form for it and I needn’t have waited at all, but could have used the machine instead of seeking the assistance of a clerk.

It was a quarter to two by the time we left, and we were supposed to be at the OFII at 2:00, so we set out at a fast pace and arrived just at 2:00. We needn’t have hurried. We were unable to determine the system (if any) of calling people for processing. When we arrived, there were about six people in the waiting room, among them a fiftyish man and an Indian-looking woman. As we sat waiting, some of the people were called back, and more entered the room, and they were called back as well; but the four of us – the fiftyish guy and the Indian woman and Roger and I, just sat there, waiting. At one point they called these other two back, but they were gone for only a moment, then returned. And still others came and went. It was a few minutes before 3:00 when they finally called Roger to go back for an x-ray. After he returned, I was called in for my x-ray. The x-ray technician told me that after the x-ray, I would see a nurse, then a doctor, then meet with someone about the carte. She left me in a small lighted cubicle with instructions to remove my shirt and bra. She returned a few minutes later and led me to the x-ray machine. That’s it – no drape, no cute little cape, just me, nude from the waist up. She completed the x-ray, the put me back in the cubicle and told me to dress and wait until she checked the film. She returned shortly with my x-ray in a large envelope and sent me back out to the waiting room. Roger was gone by this time, and a nurse came shortly and got me. She indicated a chair and had me sit down while she asked me a few questions: do I smoke? What medications am I on? What are they for? Do I have my vaccination record? No? When did I last have a tetanus shot? Then she took me over to the scales and weighed me, then checked my height. I was not too displeased with my weight. In our Paris apartment there were scales so I tracked my weight there. Since arriving in Montpellier, I have not set foot on scales. It was a relief to me that I had not gained weight since Paris. However, the nurse told me I am five kilograms overweight and handed me a booklet about healthy eating. Sigh. Then it was back out to the waiting room, then back to see the doctor, a fortyish woman who mostly reviewed my records and asked me if I have ever had TB. She did a blood pressure check, and wanted to know if I have a cough (no), do I spit blood (only when I am really, really angry), what am I doing in Montpellier? Retirement? How nice! Do I have relatives or friends here? No? Interesting! How brave!

That done, I returned to the waiting room beside Roger and we waited again. Another clerk came and called our name, and we went into an administrative room this time, where we produced our passports, a rent receipt for October’s rent, and 340€ each (that’s right – almost $1,000 total) in immigration stamps. There was a brief moment of panic when she looked at the rent receipt and said “but it’s not in French.” Mildly panicked, we told her our landlord is British, and this was all he had given us. She took the receipt and left the room, returning shortly saying “c’est bon.” Thank you!!! She glued the immigration stamps onto pages for her file, then fastened yellow cards into our passports, stamped them and placed a film over them. We were finished! Legal! We left with our souvenirs – large paper envelopes containing our x-rays.

I had been having various levels of anxiety for weeks, ever since we were putting together all our application papers and discovered that we did not have one of the papers that the French consulate in Houston gave us. Actually, it was a form we gave them, printed off their website, and all the clerk in Houston did was stamp it with her official-looking stamp and return it to us, telling us that we would need it in France. We had the unstamped copy with our other paperwork, but apparently we left the stamped copy in storage in LaPlace. Fortunately, there was never a request for it here in Montpellier. We submitted the unstamped form as if it were all we had (it was!) and we were never questioned about it. All the anxiety for nothing! I have discovered levels of anxiety about various things here that I never had in the States. I am sure that most of it has to do with the language barrier. I didn’t ask the doctor what my blood pressure was, but I suspect that it is higher than it was in Louisiana, where I had a tidy 110/70.

One of the reasons I was so anxious about the whole carte de séjour thing is that we were afraid we might not be allowed back into France when we return in January after seeing our new grandbaby, who is due to be born on January 5. We will stay in Dallas for a couple of weeks, then return to France. I had visions of us being denied entry at the border because we were not legal.

We celebrated our new legal status with Dr. Pepper from the English Corner Shop and popcorn and, of course, a hot baguette.

Here’s a shout-out to Wildcat, my newest follower. Thanks for dropping by.

The photo is from yesterday's trip to Nimes. I couldn't resist it for its two English grammar errors. I guess we have to forgive them, for they are French.