Florence- chocolate and more January 28, 2009

Saturday, January 24, 2009

As a thank you for letting me stay with them, I made a prosciutto and goat cheese strata for Linda and Bruce. It was accompanied by orange slices and croissants leftover from France. I got up very early to put it in the oven and about an hour later the smell was filling the apartment waking us up. I have to thank Linda for adding the orange slices and making it look beautiful.

 

brunch- prosciutto and goat cheese strata

 

After breakfast, Linda and I headed to the chocolate fair. It was rainy and wet outside, but that didn’t stop us. The chocolate fair was outside under tents in Santa Crocce. We saw everything chocolate… truffles, chocolate cake, chocolate fountains, chocolate bars, chocolate gelato, chocolate liquor, hot chocolate… my favorite to look at were the chocolate tools. Chocolate had been caste to look like hammers, screws, wrenches, even paint brushes and cappuccino makers. One booth even spraypainted them to be their real rusty metal color. My favorite to eat were the chocolate covered fruit kabobs… delicious.

 

chocolate fair- cold and rainy but still delicious

 

Linda in the rain

we liked the chocolate spoons

chocolate tools

chocolate covered fruit kabob

 

 

 

After the chocolate fair, we had lunch at a favorite of Linda’s (I had shrimp risotto) and then went boot shopping. I was looking for a good deal on a pair of boots so my feet wouldn’t get soaked when we were expecting to be drenched on our trip to Venice. I found my deal! Yes, Tara, Ros and Mike, you’d be happy to know I made a decision and bought not one but two pairs of boots… each made in Italy for 20 Euros. I found a tall pair of tan boots I liked and also found a pair of blue cowboy boots, which I got for kicks. I can’t wait to show up in Texas next reunion with blue Italian cowboy boots… lol

 

lunch at Trattoria

street in Florence

 

That night, Bruce, Linda and I went out to dinner at their favorite neighborhood restaurant. It would have been nice, but there was a birthday party for a bunch of 9 year olds who were loud and out of control. The parents don’t do much to control their kids in Italy I’ve learned. The worst part was the birthday girl looked miserable. It was obvious the popular kids were doing their own thing and she was left with an awfully bored lonely look on her face staring aimlessly at the other tables. I’m so glad I’m not that age anymore. Kids are cruel. We all agreed that next time we walk into a restaurant with a birthday party of kids in Italy, we will run in the other direction.

 

blue Italian cowboy boots... fun...

First Days in Florence January 27, 2009

Early on the morning of Thursday, January 22nd, I said goodbye to Ms. Tara and caught a pre-dawn train to Italy. I arrived at the train station a bit early so I had time to go to the closest bakery and purchase half a dozen fresh croissants (three chocolate, three chocolate and pistachio) straight from the oven to bring with me to Italy. The train ride was beautiful. For the first day of my international trip, I saw a full day of sun and sat sun-soaked against the wide train windows looking first at French countryside, then northern Italian lakes, then dairy farms in the mountains, then smaller hill towns, then the urban landscape of Milan. I transferred there (stopping just long enough to take a picture) and caught a train to Florence. It was dark when I arrived. I just hopped in a taxi and minutes later I was at my destination. I am staying with Linda, a watercolor painter from Syracuse who I know through Delavan Art Gallery. She and her husband Bruce are living in Florence for two years and months before I knew this trip would happen, she had extended an invitation to visit. I was met with a warm-hearted welcome and a meal of Italian spaghetti. It was such a relief to be in an apartment with people who live in a place instead of hotel-hopping. I could do laundry didn’t need to pack every day. It was good just to relax a bit. I am so grateful to Linda and Bruce for being such good company and wonderful hosts.

 

pic 1 from the train

 

pic 2 from the train

pic 3 from the train

 

Milan train station

On the morning of Friday, January 23, the first thing Linda wanted to show me was the San Ambrogia market right around the corner from the apartment. I love the markets in Europe… with fresh food and cheap goods… I needed a second pair of pants so I purchased a pair of brown corduroys. With Linda’s help I also found a skirt and a dress. I had been looking for a skirt so it was great luck that I found one I liked and for only a little money. I also needed gloves since mine fell in love with the Louvre and remained in Paris. Linda and I picked up matching leopard print gloves… lol… when in Italy, do what the Italians do.

 

 

San Ambrogia market

 

street in Florence

 

 

Linda teaches a watercolor class to a group of women on Fridays, so she invited me to come along. It was great fun. The lesson for the day was portraits and we had to paint each other. Having not been part of the class or in practice, it was a challenge, but I enjoyed the project. It makes me want to keep painting to get better at it. The women thoroughly enjoyed themselves and the host Terry was very gracious. The class was held in her home. It was a surprise to walk in and recognize the dog Asa, who she was dogsitting. Asa belongs to an SU professor who is currently in Florence teaching. He looks similar to my dog and I’ve seen him around Syracuse since he was a puppy. It’s not often you recognize a dog from another country. How funny!

 

Linda's watercolor class

Florence plate... this symbol is all over this city...

 

 

After the class Linda, Terry and another student Iris (who knows every bus route in Florence and has a basic knowledge of every place in the world and gave me advice on Thailand, Hong Kong, Santa Barbara and Seattle) decided they needed to take me to have a campari soda at a modern restaurant overlooking the Arno with a view the Pontevecchio. We were able to get a table right next to the window and what a beautiful view! Linda told me she had her first campari soda in Rome at the Piazza del Populo and every time she drinks one she thinks of that first time. The plan was for us to have one in Venice on Sunday, but we heard there might be acqua alta (high water), which is a condition when Venice floods and everyone walks around on planks to avoid the foot of water on the walking paths. So instead, the decision was made to have one here in Florence in a place with a beautiful view over the water. Campari soda is an addictive acquired taste… sort of a sweet fruit juice flavor with a bitter alcoholic kick. (A few days later I tried a ginger version, which was very good as well.) Their plan worked. Every time I’ve had a campari soda afterwards, I’ve thought of that evening overlooking the Arno.

 

view of the Arno and Pontevecchio

 

3 campari sodas and 1 prosecco with strawberries

Linda and I toast to campari sodas & good views

 

 

Linda and I said goodbye to the ladies and wandered around a bit to take in the sights. She showed me Piazza della Signoria, which is lined with large sculptures. It looked very familiar, so on a hunch I crossed the square and sure enough, we were standing on the street I stayed on when I visited Florence when I was 14. We even found the hotel. My memories of being there at 14 are simultaneously sharp and vague. Certain things I remember in detail (like where Mike Piazza’s younger brother was pickpocketed and where the gelato and phone booths were) and others were not as clear or lost entirely from my own version of history. It was a rainy evening and an eerie time and place to be reliving old times, so we headed back to the apartment.

 

the street I stayed on in Florence when I was 14

Paris- Round 2 January 24, 2009

 

Carousel and Sacre Coeur in Montmarte

 

clouds break over Paris

looking down from Sacre Coeur

me in Paris

 

the amazing chocolate pistachio croissant (cheers Megan)

Eiffel Tower from a distance

Eiffel Tower in chocolate

 

painters in Montmarte

windmill in Montmarte (think Amalie)

my glove fell in love at the Louvre

Saint Honore

 

French maid storefront

lavender honey chocolate

Paris galleria

French cheese

 

chocolate bark

Obama shirt

Pompideau

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January 20, 21 & 22, 2009

Our hotel room at the Best Western Lorette Opera was absolutely great! The place is beautiful and a great deal for Paris. Two small perks our room didn’t have were a tea kettle and refrigerator, but we were able to keep things cool outside our window. I definitely recommend this place to anyone going to Paris.

We went our own separate ways for the afternoon and wandered around Montmarte. I found a great little shop with fresh baked goods and picked up a pocket of food. It was sort of like phyllo dough but a little more moist and inside was potato, french cheese and tomato. It was delicious. I also picked up another new item, a pistachio chocolate croissant, which was amazingly delicious and also picture worthy. I took it with me on my climb up to the Sacre Coeur, a large church on top a hill overlooking Paris. The sun broke through the clouds for a moment and dramatically lit up the Paris skyline. It was a favorite moment on the trip… kind of a deep breath.

After walking around Montmarte, Tara and I watched Obama become inaugurated on CNN. What a trip to watch it from France! The French here seem to like Obama or at the very least have hope like we do for what he will do in the near future. One thing is for sure- They don’t like Bush too much. One person in the Metro started talking to me about how Bush is buddies with the President of Columbia, who the Frenchman didn’t like. Another told Tara and I that Bush put a $3 tax on a particular type of French cheese coming into the U.S. just because he didn’t like the French. Most are hopeful that Obama will be better. I hope so too.

Tara and I spent the last day of our trip wandering around Paris. We started out heading down to the Louvre (don’t laugh) to look at the bookstore. My glove fell in love with the Louvre and decided to stay there. It’s since been replaced with an Italian version (more later on that). Afterwards, we wandered up to Saint Honore, a street with high end designer stores, and window shopped. My favorite display was a French maid’s outfit in a lingerie store window… It’s as classic French as it gets. Next we decided to head in the direction of the Bastille, although we never got there. Instead, we found ourselves absorbed with pedestrian streets in the 1st Arrondissement lined with chocolate, cheese and cute stores everywhere. We ended up in the Pompideau bookstore for awhile. Then I had to leave to buy my train ticket to Florence for the next day. I met Tara back at the hotel later and we went back to Montmarte to sit down for a cafe and debrief our trip.

The morning of January 22nd, we were up very early to say goodbye. I headed to catch my early train to Florence, while Tara headed off to the airport to fly back to NY. Aurevoir la France!

France- Marseille and Aix-En-Provence January 24, 2009

 

view from Marseille train station

flowers in Marseille

entrance to Marseille harbor

Marseille beach

awesome candy store in Marseille

moss fountain in Aix-En-Provence

windy street in Aix

view from our room at Hotel Du Globe in Aix

morning light in Aix

Tara sneaking a peek at Cezanne's house

the most we could see of Cezanne's porch

 

 

January 19th and 20th, 2009

We completely improvised our trip to Marseille and Aix-En-Provence. We wanted to see the Mediterranean coast, so we went to Marseille in search of it. The town was not what we expected. To start with, it was more of a city than a town. The security guard who helped us find the lockers in the train station told us to beware of thieves in the streets. Walking in the direction of the port was definitely a bit sketchy. One person later called it “Little North Africa.” One man approached us wanting to take our camera to take pictures of us (and perhaps keep it for himself) but we played dumb. The place was definitely more “real” than any other place we’d seen yet in France. We did wander into an awesome candy store though and eventually found a tourist office where the man helping us said that Tara looks like the French President’s wife, the model Carla Bruni. Afterwards, we stumbled into a cute little area with an Indian restaurant where we had a vegan lunch. Afterwards, we walked up to a vantage point and saw the sea. It didn’t look far to walk to, so we pressed on and finally found the beach. Sadly, it was disappointing. The place was not at all what it looked like in pictures and the sky was grey and the sidewalk was smelly. A bit defeated, we made our way back to the train station and hopped a train to Aix-En-Provence. On the way to Aix we saw two hills full of shacks where people lived. While we were greatly disappointed in spending our precious time in Marseille, we decided it wasn’t a waste. We got to see the kinds of things generally left out of tourist books and they too are part of France. It gave us perspective.

Aix-En-Provence was much more impressive. It had wide tree lined streets like in Paris but still held a small town atmosphere. There were shops everywhere lining the smaller sidestreets featuring good design and high end products. We found a juice bar and passed creperies. I could happily spend a year living there. Tara and I wandered around and shopped until the stores closed at 7. Then we met back at the hotel and went back out for a great glass of wine and a good conversation. It is one of my favorite memories on our trip thus far.

The next morning we walked to Cezanne’s house up the hill from our hotel. We did get there and although the tourist attraction wasn’t open yet for us to see his studio, we did see the general area of where he lived and painted. As a special treat for Tara, the sun was actually out too with clear skies for the first time on our entire trip. Mission accomplished. We caught our train and headed back to Paris.

France- Avignon January 24, 2009

 

Avignon was lit at night by lights like this all over

Tara in our room at Hotel de l'Horloge

 

our bathroom at Hotel de l'Horloge, complete with bathrobes, slippers and bath salts

I've never seen so many fish as at the Avignon fish market

Tara wine

Graffiti on a French door

 

street in Avignon

candy bikini

Hotel de l'Horloge

looking out the window

 

room with a view

chocolate ganache tart

Popal Palace

town of Avignon

 

Tara and I

cross

Popal Palace

carousel

 

public art

The morning of Saturday, January 16th at the Taylor hotel, Tara and I overslept. We decided to split up. She went to find soy milk while I figured out how to get my train pass. I had planned to order one through Rail Europe, but didn’t realize they needed three days to ship it and I waited until it was too late. I would have had to pay nearly an extra $150 to get it shipped internationally. So, I still didn’t know how I was going to handle it. The trains to Amboise were inexpensive so I just bought them outright. The trains to Avignon were not so cheap. I couldn’t find information about it online so my only option was to go to the only place I knew that sold them, which happened to be a different train station than the one we were leaving from to go to Avignon. Time was running out, so I decided the best thing to do was leave Tara a note with the hotel information in Avignon and go to the station by myself in hopes of getting a pass and get back to the correct station in time to hop on the right train. Well, an hour later after taking a metro and waiting in three lines, one of them 40 mins. long, I finally got my pass but found that Tara’s train was booked full. I got a reservation for the next train leaving four hours later around 5 o’clock. By the time I got into Avignon it was about 10 p.m. Thankfully, Tara had found her way safely and the hotel had let her check in early… and what a gorgeous hotel room!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed at Hotel de l’Horloge overlooking a main square with a Carousel and cafe chairs sprawled out into the plaza with Christmas lights hanging overhead. Our room had high ceilings with windows everywhere and it stretched around the corner. We had a bath tub with bath salts and robes and slippers… the works. We got a deal on it… Stay Saturday night, get Sunday night free. So we upgraded a bit since we were saving money. It was worth it to spend two nights in that room.

Our room also looked out over a Papal Palace built in the 1300s. At the time, the Pope wanted to move to France, so the church literally bought Avignon and made it the center of the Catholic religion. However, the people still wanted a pope in Italy so a second Pope was named. After many years of successive popes in Avignon, the centers combined again to result in one Pope in Rome. We explored the outside boundaries of this Popal Palace in an afternoon walk on Sunday, witnessing some incredible views and experiencing how old some of the buildings in Avignon are. The whole town is surrounded by a fortress wall.

The night we arrived Tara and I just relaxed and took advantage of our beautiful room and bath salts. In the afternoon before I got there, Tara had made friends with a woman who worked at the equivalent of a health food store who spoke good English and wanted to go to Canada. On Sunday, January 18, we started out the day by going to see her. It turns out she was hosting two Canadians that night from a website called couchsurfing.com. After a trip to the market and our walk around the Popal Palace, we went to meet up with them and have a glass of wine (for 2 Euros each… what a steal!). The market was amazing… with every kind of cheese you can think of, plenty of meat, vegetables, fruits, wine and fish. I couldn’t believe how many types of fish they had. I haven’t seen so many options of fish in my life. I’m sure there were many there I’d never heard of. I really wished we had a kitchen. We sampled olive oil and I snapped a picture of a wine called Tara. I purchased a variety of fruit, pizza, quiche and two sweets- creme brulee and a chocolate ganache tart that looked amazing. We had good conversations with the woman, her boyfriend and the two Canadians. They had just been woofing on a farm in Italy for a few months. My most interesting conversation was with the woman’s boyfriend. We were talking about the difference in systems between America and the US. Tara and I had been talking about the subject earlier in the day as well.

The French have their health insurance, childcare and retirement taken care of by their government. If they have nothing, they can still survive on help from the government. In America, we have to pay for childcare, health care and even for those who have retirement savings or pensions, they are increasingly in jeopardy. The conversation started with a comment of how Americans tend to switch jobs when they get tired of one, whereas the French tend to have a job and keep it for their whole life. I explained that Americans used to operate like that but the companies don’t take care of people the same way anymore. The system is fickle and even people who have worked for the same company for many years may not see the retirement money they’ve saved. I am completely in favor of the French way of taking long lunch breaks and 5 weeks paid vacation a year, but now I understand how they afford it. The everyday mandatory expenses for health and child care are taken care of. I never realized how much harder Americans have to work just to live. No wonder we don’t take vacations often enough.

On Sunday night after making friends and drinking wine, Tara and I went back to the hotel to figure out our plans for the next day. The villa we were planning on staying at in Aix-En-Provence notified us they would have no water so we booked another hotel in town.