wormer family band

Recovery from our Florence trip took most of the morning, but by early afternoon the natives were restless. Margaret, Sam and Sarah decided to go back to Florence, apparently not having had sufficient time to shop at the leather market the previous day. As they set out by bus, the remainder of us headed out to explore Siena.
Sienna was a rival to Florence in the 13th and 14th centuries and they were frequently at war. The Black Death devastated Siena in the 1300’s and a final blow to their prosperity came in 1555 when after an 18 month siege the city fell to the accursed Medici. The ‘Medici occupation’ lasted for two hundred years, so there was little development during the renaissance in Siena. What was bad at the time now leaves us with a well preserved late medieval relic.
The main sights in Siena are the Piazza del Campo, which is shaped like a gently sloping amphitheater. A horse race is run around the Piazza twice yearly in early July and in August, so we just missed that spectacle. The Piazza is surrounded by palaces and most importantly the Palazza Publico, where the council of nine ruled the town; inside the Palazza every room is decorated with frescoes and elaborately carved wood. The most significant frescoes are called the ‘Allegory of Good and Bad Government’ and depict the prosperity to be expected from good governance on one panel and the depredation, misery and death resulting from poor government.

After our tour of the Palazza Publico we walked to the nearby cathedral, or Duomo. This is a spectacular cathedral, with inlaid marble floors and an elaborate facade. Plans to enlarge the church in the 14th century were abandoned when the plague wiped out almost half the city population, but some of the structural work from that project is still visible. We didn’t have time to tour the cathedral as we had to reconnect with the shoppers (who returned with their leather fetish satisfied).

We had a late dinner at a great restaurant just off the Piazza del Campo serving traditional Tuscan style food. Following dinner it was home to bed. Tomorrow we’re off to the ‘tower town’ of San Gimignano.

Early Sunday morning we awoke to catch the 6:20 bus from Siena to Florence. On Sundays the bus and train schedule is limited, forcing us onto the early bus in order to reach Florence in time for our “Florence in One Glorious Day” tour we had scheduled.
On reaching Florence we had an hour before our walking tour of the city began, so we had a leisurely breakfast. The heat was already rising as our day began.
Our Florence tour was actually three separate tours, with a morning walking tour of the city, followed by separate tours of the Uffizi and the Accademia museums. As we set out through the streets of Florence our Belgian guide pointed out highlights of the city, while explaining its place as leader of the Italian Renaissance under the guidance of the Medici family.
The Medicis rose from rural obscurity to become the bankers of the Renaissance, beginning with Giovanni di Bicci, whose two sons Cosimo and Lorenzo established the two lines of the family that ruled Florence for almost three hundred years. In the process they provided patronage to such notables as Michelangelo, Botticelli, Galileo,Machiavelli and Titian. The final surviving member of the family Ana Maria Lodovica, leaving no heirs, willed her family’s estates and art collection to the city of Florence in 1743, creating the Uffizi Gallery.

Highlights of our walk included the Ponte Vecchio with its shops arcing across the Arno River, several churches and piazzas historic to the city and the unification of Italy (Florence was the first capital). The ornate cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, with its marble facade, dome by Brunelleschi and bronze doors by Lorenzo Ghiberti called the “Gate of Paradise” was spectacular.

After finishing our morning tour we stopped for lunch, most of us had cheese tortelli with walnuts and pears with a nice bottle of white wine. Then it was off to the Uffizi. Our guide for the museums was a British art historian and antique dealer named Kate, who came to Florence 28 years ago and never left. With her expert commentary we spent two hours at the Uffizi, wending our way through late medieval art, to early and late Renaissance painting and sculpture. Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’ and Titian’s ‘Venus of Urbino’ were my favorites.

A Brief break for cooling water, we were then off to the Accademia. There is really only one reason for that museum and that is Michelangelo’s sculptural masterpiece ‘David’. As Kate explained the history of the sculpture and described Michelangelo’s style and significance we wound through the galleries past his four unfinished sculptures called ‘The Prisoners’. At the far end of the room in its own rotunda stood David. Seventeen feet high on its pedestal and so perfectly formed you can see the veins on hands and neck it is a breathtaking sight.

Museums over,  it is back to Siena. We have missed our bus, but fortunately there is a train in 20 minutes. The train is cool and pleasant. We reach Siena, stop for groceries at the convenient store in the station and set off on a quick walk back to the apartment.
Alas, it is not to be. A wrong turn as we leave the station takes us in the opposite direction and we walk at least two kilometers before realizing our mistake. Laden with groceries, hot, tired, and surly, we walk back and reach our apartment at 10 p.m. To late for dinner, we eat leftovers and go to bed. Death March all over again. Tomorrow we rest in Siena.

Saturday was our travel day from Nice to Sienna. As we loaded our bags into the car they were heavy and bursting with our own gear as well as assorted souvenirs and gifts.  Our plan to travel light to avoid checked baggage had worked well to get us to Paris, but it was quite clear that would not be possible on the return to Toronto, so we’ll be looking for an extra bag.  As I mentioned previously, dropping off our car was a joyous occasion and we reached the train station with time to spare.  Settled into our seats we pulled out of Nice for Italy.  One problem with booking tickets is the inability to book more than 5 seats at a time on Trenitalia, the Italian national line. Instead I had cleverly booked all six of us to Ventimiglia using Rail Europe, and then switched to Trenitalia’s system for the remainder of the journey, booking 5 people and leaving Matt to fend for himself.

On reaching Ventimiglia we exited our train and with only a short layover went scurrying to find our next train to Genoa.  Racing through the station we checked the board and discovered . . . We were back on the same train we had just left, but in different seats!  So much for brilliant planning.  The ride along the coast was beautiful, with the blue Mediterranean to our right and small villages on our left.  By 9 a.m.  the rocky beaches were filling up with people.  We had noted during our trip that the mattresses on our beds were incredibly hard, and decided that was to prepare people for the beaches, since everyone seems to just put down a towel on the rockiest shore and lie there contentedly.

After changing trains once again in Genoa (this time for real)’ we continued down the coast to Pisa.  This is our only stop for sightseeing today, and it’s a brief one. We exit the train, check our bags at the storage room and race off through town to see the tower.  It’s a long hot walk, since the tower is on the other side of the city and we really can’t do Pisa justice, but it is quite pretty.  We reach the tower, snap a few photos for posterity and head back to the train.

The final part of our trip to Sienna is on the local trains, which are slower dirtier and much hotter than the regional trains we’ve enjoyed to this point. We make one final transfer at Empoli to the slowest, hottest train of all.  There is no air conditioning, there are two small windows that open about three inches for air, and we finally arrive in Sienna roasted and tired.  A short taxi ride and we reach our apartment.  The driver asks if we’re sure of the address, as the building appears to be under renovation, but we’re soon greeted by a young woman who rattles some keys and directs us to the apartment in the basement of the building.  It’s actually not bad, with vaulted ceilings and large rooms.  Settled in, we walk out for our first meal in Italy.

Our final day in France we spent at La Condamine, packing, relaxing, finishing as much of our food as we could and all of our remaining wine; tough job, that. In the morning it’s up early and off for Italy. We’ll have multiple stops tomorrow as we pass through Monaco, Change trains at Ventimglia, Genoa, Pisa, Florence, and finally arrive in Siena about 5:30 in the afternoon.
The majority of the trip is along the Italian coast through the Cinque Terre. I visited there on my last trip to Italy, and the views are spectacular, so it should be a great ride.
The final stop at Siena will be our home for the next four days, with a side trip to Florence on Sunday- we’ve scheduled a guided tour called ‘Florence in a Day’. I’m already having flashbacks to the Paris museum death march.
So here are some observations on our time in France, and some thoughts on the French way of life. The driving we’ve already discussed in hair raising detail, and I’ll dwell on it no further, except to mention that as we backed into the parking spot at the Nice train station to return the car, touching bumper to bumper with adjacent cars without an inch to spare, our vehicle and ourselves were intact. It was one of the happiest moments of our trip.

Eating in France is legendary, and the French relationship with food is not casual. We never had a bad meal during our 2 weeks here, although we ate at middling restaurants. The patisserie stop for fresh croissants or baguettes became a daily routine. The French grocery store dairy section is phenomenal, with hundreds of different cheeses, yogurts, creams, and things I’m not really sure of. We tried 6 different types of yogurt, including goats milk and sheeps milk varieties. We preferred the sheep over the goat; although it had a cottage cheesy texture, the flavor was delicious.
The other interesting thing about food in France is that it can be difficult to find. Grocery stores routinely close on Sunday, while restaurants close on Monday, as do most of the other shops. Both grocery stores and restaurants will close in the afternoons, with restaurants re-opening at 7 or 7:30 for dinner and stores re-opening at 2:30 for another three or four hours. We were just about locked into a grocery store on our first night in La Gaude as we tried to get supplies, so we grabbed a few items and planned to come back the next day for groceries. The next day was Sunday. Fortunately the patisserie was open and we could get sandwiches for dinner.

Wine in France is inexpensive and good. The grocer sold Provençal rose’s for less than €3.00 per bottle that were fine. You could also get a 6 liter box of wine for €16, but we didn’t venture there.
Seafood in Provence is fresh and plentiful. We had delicious shrimp, squid, mussels and fish. The local grocer in La Gaude carried octopus, trout, salmon, whole tunas and about a dozen other varieties, all of which looked freshly caught.

Raw beef is very common on restaurant menus, and at one place we saw no less than three menu items that featured it. Apparently no worries about mad cow disease here.
Among the things we ate here you may count escargot, duck pâté prepared 3 different ways, lamb, beef, duck, mussels, salmon, sole, squid and one order of stir fry that Melissa ordered when she panicked.
We had macaroons, glacés, butter cookies, croissants, pan du chocolate, creme brûlée, chocolates and gelees. We drank sparkling and tap water by the gallons. After 2 weeks, we hardly fit in here, but we’re certainly more comfortable and able to make our way. We’ve seen Paris and Provence, climbed hill towns, swum in the sea and walked countless stairs. Our favorite place in France has been our refuge at La Condamine, where we could return for a swim, find quiet, and maybe be just a little more at home. We’re sorry to leave, and the bags are full to bursting with souvenirs and gifts. Italy awaits.

After a good night’s rest with a cool breeze, we spent our morning at La Condamine, went into town for a few groceries and fresh croissants and took a dip in the pool.  In the afternoon we drove into Nice.  We arrived in the city with only a few wrong turns and found parking at the Museum of Modern Art.  Matt took a tour of the museum, while the rest of us wandered the streets of Nice for a few hours.

The  city of Nice has a colorful past.  It has been variously Italian and French, attacked twice by the Saracens and was finally ceded to France permanently in 1860.  In the 19th century its warm climate and beautiful waterfront became a favorite wintering spot for wealthy Englishmen, who paid for construction of a walkway by the sea now called the ‘Promenade des Anglaise’.  A further extension of that is called the ‘Quai des Etates Unites’ and includes a small replica of the Statue of Liberty.

The entire waterfront on the Baie des Anges is nearly four kilometers long and is a continuous series of beaches and waterfront restaurants.  Parasailing out over the bay was popular, but most people seemed content to lounge under the innumerable umbrellas to escape the hot sun.  At one spot it looked as though someone had built a fish impoundment and  we could see a school of sardines swirling about, as well as larger fish that would occasionally break the surface for a tasty bug.

the late afternoon heat proved relentless, so we turned to the shaded side streets of Vieux Nice, or the old town.  Here there were shops selling olive oils, Provençal herbs and crafts as well as an open air market.  Restaurants small and large were starting to open for the evening, and we had reservations for dinner on the  rue Milton Robbins at a restaurant called ‘Frog’.

Melissa and I wandered into the most beautiful candy shop we had ever seen, when we saw a girl pouring glacéd fruits into large bowls in the front windows. The shop was called Confiserie Henri Auer and has been in Nice since the 1820s.  The floor was a beautiful mosaic tile  and the back room displaying chocolates was all stained glass and gilt wood.  We bought a small box of gelees and ate them as we walked down the street (surprisingly little flavor, we thought).

As we sat outside along the alley, the breeze from the sea was cool and refreshing.  ‘Frog’ as the name implies does feature frog legs as an entrée (that being the appetizer course- the main course is called the ‘plate’).  None of us were interested in trying the frogs, but settled on lamb, steak and mussels.  Our waiter assured us that these were not the larger (and left unspoken, inferior) Spanish mussels, but were instead the smaller local mussels.  I ordered the mussels and was rewarded with a pot filled to the top with at least 5 dozen little mollusks in a tomato and herb broth.  We had learned from the locals to use a mussel shell as a tweezers to grasp the meat from the remaining mussels, and it worked well.  After dessert of creme brûlée and melon with white cheese, a complimentary limoncello finished the meal.

A Nice afternoon indeed, and then back to La Condamine for a swim before bed.  Our time in France quickly running out, tomorrow we will rest and pack.  Next stop Italy.

after looking out at the Mediterranean Sea for the past several days we decided it was time for a visit. There are many beautiful and famous towns along the Côte d’Azur including St. Tropez, Cannes, and Cap Ferrat, but our choice was the town of Antibes.  Noted for its beautiful old town and its sandy beaches, Antibes lies just west of Nice, and about 20 kilometers from La Gaude.  After spending the morning at home we left for the coast in the early afternoon.  Once again the driving and parking proved a challenge, and I was gratified to get behind a student driver so the locals had someone else on whom to focus their disdain.  Ignoring caution and common sense, the French drivers would pass on blind curves, steep descents and impossibly narrow roads; motorcyclists are the worst, and our gasps of astonishment as they raced past were followed by sighs of relief as they escaped calamity by millimeters.

On reaching Antibes we parked the car and briefly walked the town before a tour of the Picasso museum there.  Picasso lived and worked in Antibes in 1946, and while not his best work the museum was enjoyable and complimented by a series of photographs of Picasso taken at the time.  My favorite painting was called ‘Ulysses and  Sirens’ – an enormous canvas featuring our hero lashed to the mast as the sea nymphs try to lure him to his death.

After our cultural detour we launched for our main objective, a sheltered beach in town that looked inviting for a swim.  Now let me say that we did spot a few topless older women along the beaches on our ride into town, but this was a family friendly spot, and all the boys were disappointed at the views.  Most of the beaches along the coast are quite rocky and only a few have sandy shores.  As we stepped into the water the coarse sand turned quickly to pebbles and then rocks covered with seaweed. It was necessary to quickly immerse to gain the buoyancy needed to avoid an awkward fall into the sea.  The water itself was wonderfully cool and clear.

I swam to a rocky break wall nearby and could see small fish in the water below.  As I reached for a rock a small hermit crab raced for safety in a nearby hole. After a short swim I headed back to shore, rinse off in the handy beachside shower and headed off to explore the fortressed walls enclosing the nearby harbor.  As we discovered, there were several adjacent harbor areas with small boats then small yachts then large yachts.  The really large yachts rested offshore, and small sailboats that glided among them resembled the toy boats we had seen at Luxembourg Gardens in Paris.

After our sojourn to the sea we headed back to La Condamine, caught our breath and then drove to Vence where we had our dinner in an outdoor cafe.  A French couple seated next to us struck up a conversation and we compared our impressions of France(crowded, beautiful, historic and with horrible parking) with their impressions of America (big, beautiful, young and easy driving).  We were home by near midnight and went to bed for a restful night’s sleep.

The past two days we’ve visited some nearby towns, nosed around for a couple of hours, and then returned to La Condamine to cool off in the pool.  Temperatures have been somewhat cooler than in Paris, but still around 90 or above.  On Monday we went to the nearby town of Vence, which is only about 12 kilometers from La Gaude.  For such a short distance it is a harrowing journey down narrow “two” lane roads at best, and single lane roads at worst, with switchbacks and steep grades constantly a challenge to my skills with a manual transmission; I think the ride is worse for the passengers. Vence is an old walled city, with the former moat now a road, and with houses built into the walls. After wandering the cobbled streets and visiting typical tourist shops for a while we had lunch at a shaded cafe in the central square.  In the nearby cathedral is a mosaic by Marc Chagal that overlooks the baptistery.

The central square of Vence

The following day we drove to Eze, which is a tiny town just northwest of Nice perched high on a hilltop. Eze is a beautiful village with very narrow cobbled streets filled with flowering bushes and vines.  As small as it is, it attracts throngs of visitors, and we discovered one of the most difficult problems in these small villages is finding a place to park; although our Renault Scenic is small by U.S. standards, it is a large car here and fitting it into a parking space takes patience and luck. After touring Eze we headed back down toward our car and discovered a small trail called the Chemin Nietzsche, named after the German philosopher.  Nietzsche stayed in Eze for a time and would take this trail from the village down to the sea as he contemplated.  It is said he composed portions of “Thus Spake Zarathustra” on these walks.  We weren’t really prepared for a hike, but set off down the path anyway, shopping bags in hand.  Matt and Sam scouted ahead and found the trail went on for a great distance and became more rugged as it descended.  We met a couple coming up the trail from below and asked if they had reached the bottom, which they had.  The woman looked at us exhaustedly and said “It gets much worse!”

Below Eze on the Nietzsche trail

At that point we decided to turn back, having covered about a third of the descent.  I would learn later that the trail is 6 kilometers long, described as a moderate hike, and takes 50 minutes down to Eze sur Mer and 90 minutes for the return.  If we had come prepared it would have been a great hike.  Once we regained the town, sweaty and tired, what else to do but stop in a perfume shop.  As I stood there in the air conditioning I felt notably out of place in my dusty shoes and dripping shirt. A quick lunch in a nearby cafe, and it was back to La Condamine for a swim.  What a pleasure!

Following our arrival in La Gaude we spent a restful Sunday swimming in the pool and exploring the house and grounds of La Condamine, which is the name of our vacation house.  Our host Dominique and his family have owned the house since 1933 when his grandfather bought it from a pair of Russian opera singers who fled here after the Bolshevik revolution.  His grandfather was a French playwright, Denys Amiel who also was sent to America in 1916 to promote the French and Allied cause in WW I.   Among Dominique ‘s possessions is a  48 star U.S. Flag his grandfather was given before his return to France.

La Condamine is a sprawling stone house built in the 19th century, with massive windows that let in the cool night air. Each morning as the sun starts to heat things up we close the windows and drapes to keep things cool inside.  There are trumpet vines climbing the columns along the outside colonnade, and the buzz of bees is constant as we sit and enjoy the shade.

Outside, the property is planted with columnar cypresses, lavender, roses, jasmine and laurel bushes.  The constant call of doves is heard throughout the day and into the night.  A short walk to the garden leads to the saltwater pool, which is small but incredibly refreshing on these hot days(continued highs in the 90’s).  Our plan for the rest of the week is to make short trips to nearby towns, spend a day at the beach, and relax!

Waking early this morning for our drive to La Gaude, we finished our packing, ate some hard boiled eggs and cheese and set off for the Europecar office.  Our plan was to use a GPS brought from home to guide us, but alas it was nowhere to be found; fortunately Europecar had a car with GPS, so we paid the fee, and headed out of town.  Our car is a gold Renault Scenic with a 6 speed Diesel engine.  I haven’t driven a standard in a while, so there are a few near stalls until I get the hang of it.  Having seen the French roads and drivers I opted to buy the full insurance on the car.

La Gaude is a small town outside Nice where we’ve rented a home for the upcoming week.  The drive is about two and a half hours from Avignon, but our early start would allow us to visit some hilltop villages along the way.  Our first stop is the village of Gordes sitting atop its rocky perch.  These small hilltop villages were isolated for centuries and that isolation meant little modern development. Roads are still cobbles, driving near impossible, and views spectacular.  After strolling around Gordes for a couple of hours we found a shaded spot for lunch; too hot for anything else we all had delicious salads (except Matt who ordered the charcuterie plate).  The cold water was especially welcomed.

Next brief stop, and near Gordes, was the Abbeye de Senanque, a 12th century Cisturcian monastery whose livelihood is lavender and honey.  The monastery is surrounded by lavender fields, all in full bloom on our visit.

Our final mountain village was the town of Rousillon, called the red city for the ochre cliffs and the color of the buildings.  Ochre was used as a pigment in the textile industry, and there are old mines outside town, now abandoned.  The author Samuel Becket hid from the Germans in Rousillon during World War II.  After our brief stop in Rousillon we resumed our drive toward La Gaude, still over two hours away.

Once we hit the superhighway the kilometers flew by, but we were shocked by a highway toll of €14.50 for about a 90 mile drive. Finally we arrived in La Gaude.  Unfortunately, GPS proved almost worthless in finding our house – directing us to several wrong locations until we stumbled upon the house almost by accident.  The GPS indicated we were in the middle of terra incognita, but there was our house, and our host Dominique to greet us.  Looking out over the terrace the Mediterranean shimmered on the horizon.

Our restful day in Avignon proved anything but.  After a fitful night’s sleep due to the relentless heat and the constant parade of revelers outside our windows, we awoke to another blistering day.  Melissa and I set off on a short walk through town and returned with bread, cheese, eggs and croissants for our breakfast.   Our only destination for today is the Pont du Gard, which is a Roman aqueduct built in the year 50 A.D. The goal seemed easy enough, since Pont du Gard is only 20 miles away.  But without a car we had to rely on the French bus system.  That didn’t seem a problem, since there are normally 6 buses daily to the site. As we checked the bus information however there seemed to be a problem on that particular bus run and there was only a single bus, leaving at 4:30 p.m. With the return bus at 6:45.

We decided to check with the tourism office in Avignon to see if we were misunderstanding the bus information.  The woman at the tourist office was not encouraging; there was only the single round trip, and she wasn’t sure we would have time to see the Pont DuGard and make the return bus.  “If you miss the bus there is no way back” she said in an ominous tone.

Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. We boarded the bus for the forty minute ride to Pont du Gard.  The bus was air conditioned, but we noted a curiosity of French culture – they leave the windows and vents open, thus rendering the air conditioning nearly useless.

We arrived at Pont du Gard, and what a spectacle.  Below us the river, and towering above the massive three level aqueduct, still intact after 2000 years.  Many people came to view the aqueduct, but just as many or more were there to swim in the river. It was a pleasure to note the absence of lifeguards or roped off areas for swimming, and the freedom the swimmers had to enjoy themselves.  But we had a bus to catch, and no time to give it a try.  Back we marched in the swelter to the dusty bus stop; we made the bus, returned to Avignon for dinner at an outdoor cafe shaded by massive Plain trees, then home to pack for our morning departure for Nice.