Ciao, Canale... on to Venice

I am in Venice, now, but haven't really done much, other than getting a 3 day pass for the vaporetti [advised, if you are coming here] and finding my hotel and this internet point.

My final day in Canale was both great and sad. We had lunch at Tulio's wife's mother's farm [apologies to all Tulios... in the last post I consistently spelled the name with 2 Ls]...

The lunch at Mara's mom, Victoria's, place was another exercise in excess. We had assorted antipasti [small balls of mozzarella, artichoke hearts, olives, sausage, proscuitto], then her homemade fettuccini with tomato sauce, then sausages and beef in tomato sauce, then roast beef slices with green beens, roasted peppers and roasted eggplant, then roast chicken and roast potatoes, then salad, then torte [plum], biscotti, and ice cream cake. All of this with accompanying wine, followed by coffee, grappa and limoncello. We went home afterwards and passed out. I was fine and thought that I had made it through relatively well, but hadn't figured the ice cream cake and limoncello. I was going to pass on the lemony goodness, but it turns out that Victoria made it herself... who could pass that up? and it was delicious, if coma-inducing.

We did not have dinner. Tulio, Mara, Claudio, and I drove down to the beach at San Silvestre and walked around, stopping for a coffee granita... this was a nice end to my stay in Canale. Oh, when we got back to Canale, the town was still lively, so we stopped for a beverage at The Special Bar...Claudio's son, Adrian, showed up, as did his cousin Oliver... they enjoy the Special Bar, because the barmaid is cute and the ice cream portions are gigantic. It was sad to leave today.

After saying goodbye to Norma, Claudio's sister, and Rosella, Claudio's mom, Claudio drove me to the station in Bracciano where I took the train to Rome to catch the train to Venice. It was great being hosted in such style... I hope both to return and to return the favour.

Well, it is time to wander about in the 32°C weather. It seems hot, but I am not complaining, because I will soon be back in Prince George... a fine place, but not Venice. I will update some more tomorrow. Ciao for now.

All Canale All The Time!

I am in Canale Monterano and having a great time. Today, we had more food than is humanly possible to eat in a lunch that lasted 4 hours. [pictures to follow... still having trouble downloading] Antipasti, two kinds of lasagne [one was expected to eat both], roast lamb, roast chicken [same as lasagne], salad, a selection of tortes [sour cherry, apricot, and I am not sure what was on the third one, as I got away with only eating two pieces]. All this was accompanied by wine by the gallon... red, white, and sparkling, as well as grappa, limoncello, and walnut liqueur from Croatia... oh, and coffee and sparkling water. I am becoming a much more rounded Peter... luckily, we do spend a lot of time walking around... yesterday, we went to Rome and toured the city on foot... we being Claudio [see picture from earlier Canale post], Claudio's son, Adrian, and me. We visited the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Campo di Fiori, Piazza Navona, and the Colloseum/ Forum... then went home for a crazy big pizza dinner, courtesy of Tullio, Claudio's cousin [the one that owns the bakery, not the other cousin Tullio... and not to be confused with his brother Tullio]... I ate a lot of pizza... if I hadn't, it would have been noted and would have shamed me, somehow.

Right now, after typing, it is time for a wander around town... in the vain hope that some of the pizza and pasta and stuff will get burned off. 

Tomorrow, Claudio and I are going to see Leonard Cohen in Rome... it should be a dandy show... I'll let you know... ciao!

Goodbye Aix

Just a quick note to say goodbye to Aix... I am leaving tomorrow; my train leaves at 6:28, but the TGV station is a bit out of town, so I have to wake up at 4:30! Then I go to Roma via Lyon, Chambery, and Milan and get there at 8:20 pm... ouch!

Gotta go, time's up on the computer!

All Cézanne all the time

Today, I had a Cézanne kind of day... I walked all over Aix, looking at the places where he ate, drank, lived, was born, died, et cetera... then I went to the Musée Granet, where they have 9 nice works by, you guessed it, Cézanne (as well as a whole museum's worth of other fine works and stuff). After this, I walked to L'Atelier Cézanne, which is the studio he designed and had built; it has all the bric-a-brac one sees in his still-life paintings and a lot of his other belongings. (Here is a link to a website, in case you don't know his work... Cézanne...) It is situated in a very nice garden (painted often by the Master) and is a great site. After L'Atelier, I walked up to Les Lauves, the prospect from which he painted Mont Sainte-Victoire (see link above for works). While at the Musée Granet, I picked up a box of little felt markers, so I took advantage of their existence and did a little drawing of the mountain... it isn't great, but I haven't done much in the way of art in a long time, and it felt good. A guy came up and looked over my shoulder at what I was doing... he made a few nice comments, and then we discussed Cézanne's reasoning in including a lot of clouds in his pictures of MSV, when, according to my new friend, there are no clouds in Provence... today, he is pretty much right... it was a scorcher. Oh, and much of this discussion was conducted in French, so I am pretty pleased with myself.

Another thing I did today is to buy some callisons... these are a specialty of Aix and are quite tasty.

It is time for dinner, which reminds me to update you about what I ate yesterday... with apologies to Melinda, I will cut and paste a section from an email I sent her: "last night, I ate a lot. I went to a Tunisian restaurant and had a great meal, starting with a variety of appetizers (cucumbers, tomatoes, tabouleh, something like baba ghanoush, a stuffed vine leaf, a little salad with carrots, apple, peppers, and a very spicy dressing), then I had lamb couscous... it came with a bunch of lovely vegetables in a broth. This was washed down with a really good rosé from Tunisia, and followed by a shredded phylo pastry stuffed with nuts and drenched in honey, and tea with mint. The portions were enormous! I waddled away from there and had to go for a very big walk before getting back to the hotel, just to relieve some pressure... I wouldn't have had dessert, except it was a menu formule, so I did."

And now I am off.

Aix en Provence

Right now, I am sitting in an Internet cafe in Aix [having just made the last update] and am contemplating both what came before and what will come after. What came before was my leaving Locquirec [or Lokireg in Breton]. This is a sad thing; I enjoyed my stay there very much. Yesterday, Nicole drove me all over the countryside, looking at calvaires [not my photos, but a good representation for you who do not know]... these are carved stone depictions of the life of Christ [various bits, especially the stations of the cross] that are positioned both in churchyards, and at intersections, both major and minor, around the countryside. They are quite fascinating. We also visited St. Pol-de-Leon, [named after a killer of dragons, tamer of animals, and possible bell thief]; Roscoff, where Mary Stuart hid after losing the war of succession; and Saint Thegonnec, a sleepy little town with a gigantic church and the most elaborate calvaire that I saw.

Our other stop yesterday was to Morlaix, to try to make a train reservation so I could come here, to Aix. It turned out to be a little complicated. In Morlaix, the fellow could only get me here via Paris [other possibilities showed on the Internet] and from Paris to Aix in 2nd class, at 5 pm [after starting out in Morlaix at 7:23, after having to get there from Locquirec...]. I have no objection to 2nd class, really, even though my Eurail pass is for 1st... it was the almost 6 hour wait in Paris that I didn't like, getting to Aix... actually about now, surprisingly [it is just past 8 pm], some coincidence... When I got to Paris, I went from the Gare Montparnasse to Gare de Lyon and once there stood in line for a long time to ask whether I could get on an earlier train... voila! Luckily, the guy worked some magic and I was in 1st on the 1:30 train. I also wisely asked him to make me a reservation for Aix to Rome [he seemed so professional, why not use his talents?] and ended up finding out that this was probably not the best spot, from a schedule standpoint, to divide up the trip from Brittany to Italy. It turns out [perhaps because of the late hour of the reservation] that I will have to go to Lyon, then Chambery, then Milan, then Rome... quite the elaborate trip. The plus side is that I will be able to see the French Alps... I've only travelled this route before at night.

Well somewhere in there I think I expressed what came before... and what comes after, you might ask? Dinner, I say. I'll tell you what I have, later.

Missing Paris Information

When I wrote about my last night in Paris, I mentioned a restaurant [actually, a cave a vin], and two wines we had. If you have not read the comment sections, you will not have received the updated information that Rosemary provided.

The restaurant is called Le Zinc de Cavistes. The wines were, and here I am quoting Rosemary "**Crozes Hermitage 2007** courtesy of winemaker Combier (with a flowery flourish) and the second was Madiran, which was 100% Malbec grape but different from the Argentine variety."
Drink either/both with impunity.

Locquirec

Just a quick post to let anyone know who happens to be following this that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth... I've just been having a wonderful time in Locquirec, Brittany, for the past few days... without a readily available computer.

My friend Nicole and her family have been wonderful hosts... I have been wined, dined, and entertained very well. Every lunch and dinner includes a starter, a main, a salad, some cheese, and dessert... with a little wine, perhaps an aperatif, perhaps a digestif... I need to go for a swim in the ocean or a long walk after every meal... luckily, this is possible!

Until the next time...

Leaving Paris

I guess that it is a good thing to feel like there hasn't been enough time... it means the necessity, or perhaps inevitability, of return. The past 6 days have whizzed by. I got to see some favourite sights (Musée d'Orsay, Louvre, Centre Georges Pompidou), I got to see some new ones, (the Paris sewers, the film museum), and I got to visit friends... thank you to Roemary, Frederic, and Chih for helping make my stay here even better.

Yesterday, we went to a spiffy wine bar... I should have noted the name (I'll give an update, if I find out); we had two impressive bottles of wine and a tasty dinner (same note on the wines... details, details... they are important). I hadn't met Frederic, Rosemary's partner, yet, but it was great doing so. Here he is living in one of the great cities of the world, and he can't wait to move to Canada. They are going to be in Montréal at the end of the year, so I guess we'll have to go visit them there! (they have to stop living in cool places, if they don't want a lot of visitors)

I have to make this quick; I have to check out of the hotel, and then it is on to Locquirec! (look that up on google maps) My stay at the Hotel du Parc Montsouris has been great; it is close to the RER line (a direct link to the airport), and is right across from the lovely eponymous park.

I am not sure when I will get a chance to type this again soon, but stay tuned; there will be updates.

Le Marais

Right now, I am sitting in Web 46 an internet cafe on rue du Roi de Sicile [#46, duh]. So far today, I have managed to go up the Arc du Triomphe, have lunch with Rosemary [see photo under "Evidence I am in Paris"], and tour the Centre Georges Pompidou. After looking at all the great modern and contemporary art, I have been wandering around this cool neighbourhood. Just up the block at #52, at Moto 777, I bought a tres chic hand silkscreened tie... I am pretty sure that no one else in Prince George is going to have one like it... you can see their stuff for yourself at moto777.com. I wish that I had brought my cord with me, so I could post a picture or two of my spiffy sojourn in Paris... well, I guess that both my loyal readers can wait. I am going to meet Chih [see same above-referenced photo] on the steps of the Bastille Opera in a few minutes. I will let you know if we get up to anything interesting... what am I saying? of course it will be interesting... doing anything here is, by definition. If you have a coffee, you are having a coffee... IN PARIS... if you walk down the street, you are walking down the street... IN PARIS... if you stub your toe while walking down... you get the idea.

The Inkwell

I have been doing a mess of sightseeing these past few days; I will update these sights in one go, soon. I do have a short review of sorts of a great restaurant that I went to, yesterday. I would have made the post then, but I fell asleep when I got back to the hotel... perhaps from eating too much?

The restaurant is call L'Encrier (the inkwell)... it is at 55 Rue Traversière, 12e; metro Ledru Rollin or Gare de Lyon... it is easy to find. I arrived before the place opened (it was 7 pm, and it opens at 7:30), but the gracious host told me to sit and wait there... he brought me a carafe of water and some amuse gueule, consisting of little toasts with tapenade. When the ordering was in order, I ordered l'assiette du sud-oest, which turned out to be salad with walnuts, a chunk of foie gras, and smoked duck breast... superb. Next, I had "bar entier grille", which is a fish, like a very big trout, and delicious. It came with lovely deep fried potatoes and zucchini cooked with a hint of cumin. I washed this all down with a half-litre of red from Anjou (I know, I know, red with fish? but it went very well). For dessert, I crammed in sorbet pamplemousse, which is made in-house and is exquisite. I waddled away from the restaurant, quite content.

Well, that's it for now... stay tuned for more fascinating drivel from me... your foreign correspondant... speaking of being in another place... it is taking me a bit to get used to the French keyboard, handy if you want accented vowels, but a bugger if you are used to a North American keyboard...

Evidence that I am in Paris

I had my first day sight-seeing here in the City of Light, and then topped it off with a meal with friends, Rosemary and Chih. Even though I understand the concept intellectually, it still amazes me that I can come a few thousand kilometres to a relatively unfamiliar place and, suddenly, here are people that I know... trés, trés cool.

The evidence:

Chih is here attending business school, hence the dapper attire; Rosemary is living and working here for a while, hence her Parisian chic; I am a tourist here, hence my collosal geekdom. And thanks to the anonymous fellow at the Denfert Rochereau RER station for taking this fine photo.

On my first full day here, I tried to get good value from the 4 day museum pass that I bought. I went to Notre Dame (free, but the tower with its dandy view of the city costs, but not with the pass!), the Crypte Archeologique, the Paris Sewer Museum, and the Pantheon. I will update with photos, when I get to a facility that will enable such; stupidly, I left the connector cable for my camera at home. I was lucky at the Pantheon; the tower part was closed for regular tourists, but a tour group was being let in, so I tagged along, no one said anything to me, and got another great view of Paris! (after already going up Notre Dame)... I feel a bit spoiled. There was a display about Emile Zola and the Affair Dreyfuss in the Crypt of the Pantheon (Zola is buried there)... J'Accuse!

If you are ever in Paris, do try out the Sewer Museum, near the Pont de l'Alma (noteworthy as the place of death of what British princess, for $400, Alex?). It is certainly not an olfactory delight, but it gives good insight into the development of the city, as well as a different view of the problems created by that development... besides the good history, you can then say that you've toured the sewer... this has a lot of caché in some circles... considering how many school groups were there when I was, I have a pretty good idea who might think such a trip might be a good idea.

Made it to Paris

Here I am, using the free internet point at the Hotel du Parc-Montsouris... the nine-and-a-half hour flight from Vancouver was relatively uneventful, chicken korma for dinner, a nice and quiet seatmate, only a little puking as we landed (not by me)... what more could a boy ask for?

We passed through customs, etc, with no problem; North American gestapo airport security could take a page or two from Charles de Gaulle Airport... no hassle, with no diminished sense of security... and it is all about perception, n'est-ce pas?

The RER trip was easy; a major stop is just blocks from my hotel. I checked in and went out for dinner (having been more or less awake for about 30 hours, now). At dinner I had a little wine with my big salad and créme brulé, so I am feeling little pain. I think I will go to bed now and will update this later.

As Promised - Introducing Canale!

On my trip [T minus 2 days!], I will be spending the most time with my friends in Canale Monterano, Italy [just North of Rome... check google maps]. My friend, Claudio, his son, Adrian, his mom, Rosella, his brother, Tulio, Tulio's wife, Mara, cousin Tulio, other cousin Tulio, Mario, Mauritzio, all the other cousins and friends, and all the other great people of Canale await.

While there we'll visit the neighbouring towns, the beaches [both salty and fresh], Rome, some Etruscan tombs, Florence [perhaps], and a few other choice sites. All while trying, most days, to make it home for lunch, or there will be hell to pay with Rosella.

Canale has the castle, a market, some swell old buildings, picturesque streets, a beautiful landscape, five bars... all one could want!

Here are some photos to introduce the place to those who might be interested [currently, me and Melinda, if the sitemeter is to be believed]:

Big-Ass Veggies

Just a quick note to show off a recently-harvested bok choy from my garden:

Canada Day

We recently celebrated the 141st Birthday of Canada... yee, haw. In Prince George the temperature hit 30 celsius, which didn't seem supremely Canadian. I think that our nation's big day should be moved to winter, where it will seem more appropriate... celebrating things Canadian involves snow and ice, or it should at least be frosty... and not just the beer.

Of course, there were a lot of good Canadian songs on the CBC, which made me think a bit about Can-Con... having rules about the percentage of Canadian music played on radio stations made the Canadian music industry successful, without the severe diminishment of quality predicted on its inception.

One wonders when the bright folks who might make it happen will figure out that this system will work for Canadian movies, too. If theatres had to show even 20% Canadian content, then it will be in their interest to promote these films properly. Most movies get big audiences because people hear about them; if the public hears about a Canadian movie, they will watch it. If Canadian production companies prosper, they will be able to procure bigger budgets for new films; thus, eradicating the major complaint made about current productions.

If Nacho Libre [for one example among many... an egregiously un-funny piece of crap... it should have been good... c'mon, Lucha Libre is a supremely interesting (and amusing) phenomenon, and Jack Black is capable of a certain frenetically humourous charm] can garner an audience based solely on hype and turns a profit, then many Canadian films will be able to do so.