Paco de Lucia and the Pantheon

We did round two on the pancakes this morning and then faced the difficult task of deciding where to go on our outing this morning. The winner was the Pantheon. First, after parking at Largo Argentina, we examined the excavations which also serve as a cat sanctuary. How many cats can you count? Then by kids request we stopped at Feltrinelli, the bookstore, where everyone was able to pick up an English language volume of their choosing. Finally, we meandered over to the Pantheon. But first, the kids noticed the obelisk in Piazza della Minerva that sits on the Bernini elephant (1667). Apparently, not everything from Egypt was lost on them, and there is now a keen appreciation of obelisks (which are scattered all around Rome) and where they come from.

As expected, The Pantheon was busy today. A Sunday morning mass was taking place so much of the enormous monument was inaccessible. We walked in and around and out, and then it was time to contemplate lunch. Poor planning had us going to a place not too far from the Pantheon. That meant it was over-priced although the food was pretty tasty.

After lunch we rushed home so Charlotte could pick up her swim bag and get to her meet. We could seriously get used to this style of swim meet ie. the type that is 5 minutes from our home so we don't have to spend all day devoted to it. This is how it goes:

15:00 Josh drops Charlotte off for warm-ups, picks up a heat sheet and comes home

17:20 We all get in the car to watch Charlotte in her first race

17:35 Charlotte swims the 100 fly; not a good race. She hardly swam faster than the first leg of the 200 fly yesterday.

17:50 After giving Charlotte a snack and a pep talk, Olivia, Avery, Josh and I go home.

19:00 Morris comes over

19:20 Josh and I go back to Aniene for her second race -- the 400IM

19:44 Charlotte guts it out and has a decent swim in the IM (if only she could improve her turns!?!?)

20:30 We drop Charlotte off at home (after her leisurely warm-down, and locker room primping) and head over to the Auditorium

We had tickets to see the Spanish guitarist Paco de Lucia tonight. It was our first time at the Auditorium Theater and we were very impressed by the place. The sight lines are great, the seats comfy, the design pleasing. I'd like to see something there every week, if I could. Paco de Lucia was an interesting musical experience. It was less varied than I would have hoped, but enjoyable. Of course, there were "clappers" and in this case a male flamenco dance artist. Very interesting, indeed.

22:45 We bolt from the Auditorium in order to catch the last period of the USA vs. Canada gold medal hockey game. We are disappointed as the game goes into sudden death overtime. Alas, this was not to be the year of the dream team for America. Canada won the gold on their home ice.

La Bocca de la Verita

The day started with a pancake breakfast. It was another beautiful day, Olivia and Avery played in the garden while I organized a bit; Josh was out for bike ride with Stefano. I took Avery on a quick errand to the store. He is always so well-behaved when he's on his own. I was still getting used to his cute, new haircut. He looks totally different -- such a boy!

When Josh returned, we went on an outing to visit La Bocca de la Verita at the Chiesa de Santa Maria de Cosmedin. For some reason or another, this old, marble, man-hole cover with man-like features placed in the portico of the church has become world renowned. It dates back to the 1st century AD which, of course, is impressive. Legend has it that if you put your hand in its mouth, it will bite it off if you've told a lie. As such, there was a long line of people waiting to have their picture taken with their hand in La Bocca de la Verita. That's the thing about living in Rome; if the line is long, we'll just come back another day. The kids weren't happy though -- so much had been made of the legend that they wanted to wait and try it out for themselves. We'll make good on our promise to return.

Still, we went inside the church (no line for that), and then crossed the street to visit the Temples of Forum Boarium. These homages to Hercules and Portunus are some of Rome's best preserved Republican temples. The square is a park-like setting with a fountain and grass with lots and lots of wild daisies. Olivia and Avery began picking the flowers (weeds, really) and then fighting over who had more daisies. Just as Josh warned them both to watch out for dog poop, Avery starts walking towards us, crying, with dog poop all over the knees of his pants. We were trying not to laugh, but no one wanted to get near him. He was stinky yet we still crossed Lungotevere for a minute to see the Ponte Rotto. This arch in the Tiber is the remains of a 2nd century B.C. bridge and has quite a bit of detail. Then, we went straight back to the car to take Avery's pants off.

It was such a gorgeous day with the sun shining and temps in the 70's. I had a special lunch planned, and the kids set the table outside with our new seat cushions while I cooked. First, the kids ate a contorni of broccoli. Then for the primi, I served gnocchi with ricotta and tomato and fresh basil. Finally, for the secondi, I brought out two huge beautiful branzino cooked on a bed of sea salt with white wine and garlic. Unfortunately, our lunch was spoiled because Charlotte and I became embroiled in a spat when she wouldn't slide down and give me room to sit down at the table. Sadly, it escalated beyond any reasonable level of a disagreement. Charlotte finished her lunch inside.

Outside, it was so hot (and not just due to the arguing) that I had to take my shirt off. Here I was, sitting outside, on February 27th, in Rome, in just my tank top. Josh was talking about getting an umbrella for the table, but then we realized that not all the leaves on the trees had come in yet. We are so looking forward to enjoying this lovely garden over the next several months.

Charlotte has a swim meet this weekend. It could be the last of her short-course (25 meters) season depending on whether the appeal to swim exhibition at Nationals is approved. As a U.S. citizen, she is excluding from being able to compete at the Italian Nationals, never mind that she has qualified in all her events. However, earlier this week Josh received a call from her coach who said that the director of C.C. Aniene is going appeal to the Federation on Charlotte's behalf. The request is for her to be able to compete just on an exhibition basis -- she would not score points for her team nor would she be eligible for a medal, but her time would count. We took it as a foregone conclusion that she would be excluded from the National competition -- and the likelihood is that she still will -- but it's so very kind of the folks at Aniene to take a personal interest in her and make this effort on her behalf.

For this weekend's meet, Charlotte has been nervous all week because she's swimming some tough events. Today she swam the 200 Fly. She died on the second half and was very disappointed with her performance. It did look very painful, but she finished, and in fact the time wasn't such an embarrassment. She did improve 12 seconds over her swim in this event last year.

Josh and I went out for a quick bite after we dropped her off at home. It was our third try at a Prati sushi place, but we struck out. We never feel like waiting for a seat at the sushi bar. So we went to the restaurant where we ate the last time we couldn't get in to the sushi place. It's called Tre Quarti and the food is really very good. Then we rushed home to catch the second heat of the men's slalom event -- where an Italian won!! Not since Alberto Tomba, 22 years ago in Calgary, has an Italians won another Olympic skiing gold. Guess what we'll be reading about in all the newspapers tomorrow?

Charlotte's grades, Avery's haircut and Olivia in Italy?

This morning Josh dropped me off at the gym, then I had my legs waxed, and hit the grocery store before returning home for lunch.

This afternoon, Josh and I headed over to RIS for Charlotte's parent-teacher conferences. We met with four teachers in succession: Mr. Anstis her homeroom and English teacher; Mr. Murray for Math; Mr. Powell for History and Geography, and for Music; and Ms. Smriti for Science. No surprises, they had all given Charlotte "A's" and said they enjoyed having her in class. A couple of the teachers mentioned she had a lull a couple of months ago when she seemed a bit disinterested, but that it righted itself. She was also accused of being a bit too chatty from time to time, but she clearly has a command over the material. In fact, we asked her English teacher to recommend some books since she could be reading more at home. Sadly, in this course, they read books together in class because some of the Italian students would have too many questions otherwise. Her math teacher offered to give her additional coursework that might help her be better prepared for 8th grade back in the States. Lastly, we asked the Science teacher (who Charlotte dislikes) if she thinks Charlotte could be bored? Most interestingly though, we asked Mr. Powell about Charlotte's "C" grade in music. It was the only non "A" she received on her report card, and it was confusing because the comments written by him for music were all positive. Mr. Powell said that it must have been an error. He said there were some problems with the computer program -- how Italian is that!! -- and that her grade should've been a "B+" Funny, asking him about it was almost an afterthought, yet it turned out to be a very useful question.

After school, Charlotte went home with her friend Valentina. Avery had a appointment, at the salon where I had been earlier in the day, for a haircut. His first in Rome. So we all went together. I thought it might inspire Olivia to get hers cut but we agreed that she would go next week. Avery did a great job of sitting still in the chair, and we can once again see his shining face.

When we came home, it was still so nice outside that Josh hit whiffle balls in the garden with Olivia and Avery while Morris cooked up some dinner. Then Josh and I took the opportunity to visit friends of ours for a cocktail. We caught up on our respective ski vacations and talked about the merits of living in Rome versus living back in the States. Truthfully, there is so much to see and do here that I wonder why we are rushing back. On the other hand, all of the history and art is more meaningful to us than to the kids. At the same time, I'm certain there are aspects of living here that Avery will never forget: the "trippy" fountain chief among them. And, he can't wait to get back to St. Peter's and climb to the top again. When we drive by various sites in the centro, Avery will call out "we went there." He has an incredible memory. Charlotte too is having a great time living here. She has embraced the culture, the language and has made great friends. I think Olivia misses Chicago most of the five of us. She is the most reluctant to speak Italian. She does enjoying visiting places of artistic and historic significance -- especially in limited doses. But, she does not have great friends here. That is mostly because she limits herself to other Americans. I get the sense that Olivia feels that she does "not belong" here. In any case, she is happy because she is with her family. Of the three kids, I have grown much closer to her while here.

After leaving our friends' place (with our parting gifts of teriyaki and soy sauce, and peanut butter), we had yet to pick up Charlotte from swimming. We were late and she had been waiting a while. Yet, she was in a good mood and very talkative on the drive home. Once home, she continued to chat over her (late) dinner. It was such a nice evening talking to her; I was hoping that perhaps her dismissiveness towards me was over -- or at least I could glimpse the other side.

We watched the women's olympic slalom from Vancouver before going to bed.

Palazzo Altemps and Crypta Balbi

It was another sunny, gorgeous day in Rome with temps in the high 60's again. After my Italian lesson with Ivana and Charlotte, I hopped on my bike and rode into centro. The ticket I had purchased on Tuesday for visiting the Museo Nazionale Romano at Palazzo Massimo with Nancy's group was valid for three days at the other three MNR locations. So today, I took the opportunity to visit Palazzo Altemps and the Crypta Balbi.

While the Palazzo Altemps did not contain the same density of ancient artifacts and sculptures as the Palazzo Massimo, the Palazzo itself, it's design, it's courtyard and porticos were much more special. The fact that it was a beautiful sunny day only enhanced the experience of taking in the garden frescoes painted on the second floor loggia. The ambience of 16th and 17th century noble living was readily felt. Uniquely, Palazzo Altemps also contains it's own church and a private chapel. The church is quite large and richly decorated and is called Sant Anicento, dedicated to the memory of Robert Altemps (the Cardinal's son), who was sentenced to death by Pope Sixtus V.

The Palazzo itself is a Renaissance palace that was originally built by the Riario family beginning in 1477 although several pre-existing structures dating back to ancient times stood on the site. The mix of architecture is evident in touring the rooms. Additions were made by Cardinal di Volterra Francesco Soderini in 1511, and then the church and other features were built by Cardinal Marco Sittico Altemps in 1568. The Cardinal used the palace as a residence and to display his extensive collection of sculpture. Much of the Altemps collection has since been dispersed and is on display at varous museums around Europe.

The National Museum of Rome bought the Palazzo from the Vatican in the early 1980's and began to restore it. Many of the Palazzo's original frescoes were rediscovered. At the same time, for much of the last century, the State had in storage the lovely sculptures from the Ludovisi collection -- the Ludovisi originally had their own palace, but it was demolished. Palazzo Altemps which lost it's collection of art, would serve as the perfect setting to display the Ludovisi collection, which lost it's Palazzo. The Palazzo Altemps was opened to the public in 1997.

After visiting the Palazzo, I rode over a block or two and sat in the sun-drenched Piazza Navona and had a snack of pizza bianca. The central fountain by Bernini is undergoing it's annual cleaning, but the Piazza still has its charms. Then, I rode over to another of the Museo Nazionale Romano locations, the Crypta Balbi. The site of this unique structure takes it's name from Lucio Cornelio Balbi, who was a famous soldier working first for Julius Caesar and then for Ottavius Augustus. He brought riches to Rome following his conquests of Africa and decided to build a theater which was inaugurated in 14 B.C. This was the third theater built in Rome after Pompeii (remember we had a mediocre dinner one night in restaurant located on top of this excavation) and Teatro Marcellus (where there are nightly concerts in summer). This Theater had an arcade area and within it, a crypta (in latin meaning hidden) named after Balbi from which the museum takes its name.

Excavations begun in 1981 at the Campo Martius have indicated that this very site has continually been used and re-used from ancient times. Two churches with their attending monasteries, one from the medieval period and another from the Renaissance were erected on top of what was once a grain market following it's original use as a theater. The museum undertakes to display the various uses of the site and its artifacts from over 2000 years. Parts of the excavation which lie underground can also be visited. The Crypta Balbi opened to the public in 2000.

Upon leaving the museum, I made my way home by bike, riding through the Villa Borghese. It's as if there were no school in Rome today -- there were so many children and families in the park. Perhaps its the opposite of having a "snow-day;" instead it's a "sun-day" in Februray. I was very happy. It was a very satisfying day of living in Rome.

More travel planning...

I enjoyed my morning at AquAniene, although as I would discover later, apparently my knee didn't. It was another gorgeous day here in Rome where the temps hit 68degrees. I stopped at the fish market on my way home, and then picked up some other necessary items from the grocery store.

We debated eating lunch outside in the garden, but given our limited amount of time, we opted for a yummy meal around the kitchen table.

Back from Chamonix, we were now on to planning for the next excursion. We will go to Florence and the Lucca region of Tuscany with the kids over the Easter break in April. But first, Josh and I are trying to get away for a few days in March. Now that we've ruled out going back to Egypt, we thought we'd return to the site of our honeymoon in Positano and Capri on the Amalfi Coast. Sadly, all the hotels there are closed until April. Suggestions are welcome.

Charlotte and Olivia had their piano lesson today... a little rusty they were. Josh took Avery out to run some errands before to prevent him from destroying the entire house with all of his excess energy. I made the fresh fish from the market: one Branzino and one Orate. We had a taste test and decided we prefer the Branzino.

We watched the Olympics.

Museo Nazionale Romano - Palazzo Massimo alle Terme

It was another Nancy tour day. Today we met at the Museo Nazionale Romano - Palazzo Massimo. The entire National Museum of Rome, an archaeological museum, is housed in three different locations. This Palazzo is located on Largo di Villa Peretti just next to the Termini train station. There are several of these "new" museums that sprang up in Rome that in recent decades. With the continual excavations in the City of Rome, so many wonderful sculptures, statues, busts, mosaics, frescos, etc were being recovered, and there was no place to display them. The government embarked upon a program to restore and redesign several (now state-owned) villas in order to create museums in which to house the vast collection. It took 10 to 15 years to restore and convert each of the Villas but by the mid 1980's, new museums started opening.

This particular Palazzo had originally been constructed as a Jesuit seminary in the 1880's. It was acquired by the State in 1980, restored, and inaugurated a part of the National Roman Museum in 1995 -- even though the restoration was not completed until 1998.

The archaeological artifacts in this museum are from the period of the Roman Republic, the Empire, and late-Empire -- so 2nd century BC to 2nd century AD. We learned how to discern the dates of sculpture based on the hairstyles, and the realism applied to the face and body.

There was much to see in this museum but the piece de la resistance was up on the third floor. There, the museum had placed the original frescoes, stucci and mosaics from fabulous Roman villas. The most special was a room from Livia's Villa outside of Rome at Prima Porta. Livia was the wife of the Emperor Augustus (from 38 BC until his death in 14 AD), and a very important woman in the empire in her own right -- the first Roman Empress. Before air-conditioning, Romans would descend to a room in their villa that was built underground during the heat of the day. This particular room in Livia's villa was frescoed on all four sides, from top to bottom, to appear as if one were actually outside. The fresco was discovered in 1863 and dates back to the 1st century B.C. The painting, that of a luscious garden, with actual species of various types of trees, flowers, fruits, and birds encircled us. It was very fine work. What's more, it wasn't a busy day and we had this room all to ourselves. Nancy said this work was on her "top 10" to see in Rome list. We learned about the colors used. Anyone who would have entered this room at the time would have known that it was incredibly costly. The use of blues and greens is most prevelent. This at a time when black, white and yellow were the usual decorative colors used. Producing blues, greens and reds was 15 times more expensive.

Did you know that marble statues carved during the Roman empire were never white? All the statues of emperors and nobles were painted to resemble the person. For example, the hair could be blond, the eyes brown, the toga blue. Years later when the statues were found, the colors had worn off and in the middle ages there was no way of knowing that these sculptures had once been painted. More recently, with improved scientific methods of testing the surface, scholars have been able to reproduce the color palate that would have been used on many of these artworks.

Also in this museum are a few bronze statues. When Nancy described the process required for casting a bronze statue, they became all the more impressive. There are two bronzes on the main floor which are so life-like they almost take your breath away.

We finished by 1pm and I took a cab over to Via delle Coppelle to meet Josh for lunch. It had turned into a beautiful day -- Josh was right, I should have ridden my bike as he had. We ate at Maccheroni, a restaurant we had been meaning to try. We weren't disappointed. It was good food with a great, local vibe. Since we were just around the corner from Piazza di Sant Agostino, I took Josh over to the Angelica library after lunch to show him what I'd discovered on one of my earlier Nancy walks.

Then, since it was so nice out, I walked home...it took about an hour but I made it just in time to go get the kids from school.

Tonight I took Charlotte and her friend to swim practice, so I could take my -- still sore from skiing five days -- body into the hot wet sauna to hopefully work some of the kinks out. What I discovered on the scale in the locker room was just what I suspected: five months in Italy and I don't gain a kilo (in fact, I think I lost 2 kilos but I have no accurate data to support that); one week in France and I gain 3 kilos!!! What on earth are they putting in that sauce?!?

Palazzo Corsini and Villa Farnesina

Back in Rome and back in action (but just barely; I could've titled the Chamonix skiing blogs "Celebrex days" instead), I joined Nancy's tour today of the Biblioteca Corsiniana and the Villa Farnesina just across the street in Trastevere. The library resides in the Palazzo Corsini, bought by the Corsini family of Florence in 1736, and enlarged in order to accommodate their vast collection of books. The Palazzo was redesigned by Ferdinand Fuga in the late-baroque style for the prior owners, the Riario family. When the Riarios lived in the palace, they hosted Christina, Queen of Sweden, who abdicated her throne, converted to catholicism, and moved to Rome. She lived in the palace for thirty years until her death in 1689.

The Palazzo Corsini also served as the meeting place for the Accademia dei Lincei (literally translated as the Lynx-eyed Academy) which was founded in 1603 as a society in pursuit of the sciences. It's membership included Galileo. Naturally, the Catholic Church did not support Galileo's research...but that's another long story. Many years later during the fascist regime in Italy, the Lincei was suppressed since its director was a Jew.

Back to the 18th century, Lorenzo Corsini became Pope Clement XII in 1730 and purchased the Palazzo for his nephew, Neri Corsini. Neri was the bibliophile in the family and it was he that had the library constructed. The biblioteca is divided in to several well decorated rooms with beautiful ceiling frescos. The original rooms of the library are each devoted to a discipline: history, literature, philosophy, the sciences and then the largest room of all dedicated to books of religion and religious history.

Overall, this library did not appear as "dusty" as the Angelica (the oldest public library from 1608). Later we learned that every one and a half years, each volume is removed from its shelf and its pages dusted. The Italian librarian that accompanied us was very well-informed about the history of the library; yet he apparently had not been properly informed of our visit --despite two months of advance planning and five emails. As a result, he apologized that he did not prepare any books for our viewing pleasure. "Non e' culpa mia, e miei director," he said in that typical "pass the buck" Italian way. However, persistence always pays. In the end, since we had now engaged him for almost two hours, he was able to pull a few things off the shelves for us to peruse. Really, a very Italian experience.

We turned the pages of an original manuscript from the 1400's with gold leaf applied to colorful, original etchings. He also pulled the first edition of Dante's Divine Comedy. This is always a crowd pleaser, but I had already seen one of the first editions at the Angelica. There are apparently 30 copies printed in the first edition.

We stepped outside onto an enormous terrace and took in the view of the amazing Corsini gardens. The property is so vast that the private gardens originally extended all the way up to the Gianicolo.

After concluding our visit at Palazzo Corsini and the Biblioteca Corsiani, we strolled across the road to the Villa Farnesina. This pleasure palace was built for Agostino Chigi. Chigi came from a banking family in Siena and he became the financier to Pope Julius II (1503-13). He and and the Pope maintained a very close relationship and the Pope bestowed upon him all types of riches. Chigi became the richest man in Rome and a patron of the Renassaince arts. The Villa is now called Villa Farnesina because the Farnese family purchased the villa after Chigi's death.

Villa Farnesina was not were Chigi resided, it was his refuge across the river. It was the place where he coddled courtesans and threw massive parties. Everyone tells the story of the dinner parties that Chigi held along the banks of the Tiber where he instructed his guests to toss their silver dinner plates into the river at the conclusion of each course -- just to underscore his supreme wealth. What his guests didn't know is that he had nets placed in the river and his servants later fished the silver wares out from the Tiber. Similar to Villa Giulia, Villa Farnese was also able to serve as a theater for dramatic performances. It was all about entertainment and otium.

This Villa is well-known for the incredible frescos which decorate its rooms. It is a great example of high renaissance style -- the best money could buy. The Villa itself was completed in 1509, and built by notable architect Baldassarre Peruzzi. The entrance to the Villa is called the Loggia of Cupid and Psyche as the fable is frescoed on the vault by Raphael and his workshop in 1518 (actually, only a small part was painted by the master). To one side is the Loggia of Galatea which is the room that introduces the owner of the villa by way of his astronomical signs. This gallery was frescoes by several artists including Peruzzi who laid out Chigi's horoscope in 1511, and Sebastiano del Piombo who painted mythological scenes in the lunettes. Raphael was said to have frescoed the Galatea.

Upstairs in the Villa is a large banquet room called Hall of the Perspective Views where Chigi at the end of his life finally married Francesca Ordeasca by whom he'd had four children. Pope Leo X officiated the ceremony. This room was frescoed in 1519 by Peruzzi with urban and rural views between fictive columns, and with divinities above the doors and windows. The final room on view was Chigi's bedchamber. Again, this was not his principal residence, but the man clearly needed a place to enjoy himself privately from time to time. The bed itself (which was not on display) was said to have cost more than the land on which the Villa was built. In this room, he commissioned a fresco from Sodoma.

It had been quite a full morning in Trastevere. Afterwards, and for my first time in Rome, I got on the bus. Josh had a busy morning too. He unpacked everyone's gear and had gone to the covered market and paid a visit to the butcher. He had prepared a delicious lunch of roasted potatoes, salad and pork chops -- I was so thankful! By the time I got home it was after 2pm and I was starving!

After lunch I walked over the grocery store. Josh drove to collect the kids from school and then me and the groceries from the store. Before I knew it, it was time to cook dinner. Olivia was "too tired" to go to swimming, so she laid in bed and listened to music. But Charlotte toughed it out and went to practice. It's a good thing too, because she found out she is swimming the 200 Fly AND the 400 IM in the meet this weekend. She'll have needed a little practice.

Chamonix -- last day

We slept in this morning – that meant until 8:15. We packed up most of our stuff before heading down to our last breakfast. It was a beautiful clear, sunny, blue-bird day; too bad we didn’t have days like this while we were skiing! After breakfast we took a walk in the town of Chamonix. It was nice to get some fresh air and see what was on offer before our long ride back to Rome. We made the obligatory stop at the pastisserie and everyone chose a pastry. The views of the surroinding mountains in every direction were majestic.

Upon returning to Hotel Les Aiglons, we loaded up the car and checked out. The entire staff at this hotel were truly exceptional. Everyone knew us and the kids by name and couldn’t have been nicer.

I’m certain that after reading the blog of our ride up from Rome six days ago, that all my readers are curious as to how the return trip went. So here goes:

12: 48 Depart Hotel Les Aiglons

12:50 We take the wrong turn at the roundabout and start heading for Geneva

12:54 Turn around; going in the correct direction now

12:59 Breathtaking views of the Augille du Midi; Josh stops to snap a photo. It is truly an impressive panorama of the Alps

13:02 We’re at the Mont Blanc Tunnel

13:07 We’re still at the Mont Blanc Tunnel behind a BMW seven series from GB that can’t find his tunnel ticket

13:09 After backing out and changing lanes, we finally enter the tunnel

13:20 Exit the tunnel; we are in Italy

13:22 Avery announces he is hungry

13:25 Breakout the sandwiches

13:35 Avery wants a cookie

13:45 Avery starts bothering Olivia

13:51 Avery spills water on his blanket. There is mayhem

13:55 Olivia wrote a story about Mt. Vesuvius which she now gives me to read

13:58 Avery pulls Olivia’s hair

13:59 Olivia and Charlotte are singing "Tik Toc"

14:01 Olivia reads Avery a story

14:11 Charlotte reads Avery a story

14:14 We are a leaving Val d’Aosta and entering Piemonte

14:22 We miss the A26 exit - Josh has a fit - we go 4km before we can turn around. Avery has to pee.

14:26 We have to exit the Autostrada in order to turn around. We pay the 12.50euro toll

14:33 Avery is yelling for another cookie

14:37 We get back on the Autostrada. Lola now estimates a 20:49 arrival time in Rome. We take the wrong turn and are going the wrong way again. We make an illegal U-turn to exit in the same place a second time. Josh has to explain why we've only travelled 200 meters and there is no toll to pay. Who knows what would have happenned if he wasn't fluent in Italian?

14:49 We are on the Autostrada, on the correct course!

14:56 Charlotte has to pee

15:01 Avery is intolerable; he won't listen; he keeps kicking my seat and hitting Olivia; I smack him and he stops

15:02 We stop for gas and windshield wiper fluid. Josh gets a coffee.

15:17 We are back on the road: 20:58 expected arrival

15:20 The kids put on a movie -- Flushed Away

15:30 I relax and take my shoes off

15:35 Josh realizes that Lola is sending us through Genoa instead of Bologna. He resets GPS. We have to exit Autostrada again to redirect. Pay euro 16.20

15:45 We're driving through Spinetta -- it's ugly and gray

15:50 We get back on the Autostrada; expected arrival now 21:10

16:05 Charlotte's fart starts to stink

16:22 Piacenza

16:49 The movie is over -- we've had an hour and 29 minutes of relative calm

16:50 I hand out the potato chips

16:59 I hand out the cereal bars

17:00 Charlotte starts her Italian homework. Avery starts screaming; he obviously needs a nap

17:10 Avery is kicking my seat; he can't get comfortable

17:13 Modena. Olivia starts her homework.

17:15 Avery has to pee

17:25 Avery is kicking my seat; and annoying everyone

17:30 Avery pees at a rest-stop. We all get out to use the bathroom. There is the usual maze of the Autogrill. What's the idea behind putting a bar (people are having beers) off the highway?!?

17:44 We are back in the car; 21:06 estimated arrival in Rome. We start driving through tunnels again; we are in the Appenines (that mountain range I forgot the name of on the drive up)

17:53 Starting to lose the light; Avery falls asleep

18:00 Dusk

18:30 Firenze

19:08 We take the Arezzo exit; pay euro 22.90. Charlotte needs to pee. Olivia is hungry. We decided to take a pause for dinner. Not only to eat, but hopefully avoid traffic re-entering Rome. Avery is still sleeping but we drive into town and find a dinner spot.

20:22 We are back in the car after a good Italian meal

20:54 Josh farts

21:37 I fart but no one notices because my farts don't smell

21:47 Avery "I'm hungry"

21:58 Exit Autostrada; pay 11.50 euro toll. Our total in tolls for the return trip is 63.10 euros -- I guess there's a 6.70 euro penalty for all the times we had to get off?

22:20 We are HOME.

Overall, I would say we had a more pleasant drive back home with the exception of a few tantrums on the part of the driver early on. What do you think? However, I give kudos to Josh for driving the entire way in both directions. It's not easy driving on the Autostada and he did a great job.

The house was cold, everyone was tired. We all went to bed.

Chamonix skiing -- Day 5: Le Tour and Domaine de Balme

Today would be our last day of skiing. We enrolled Avery just for the morning session of ESF so we could ski with him in the afternoon. Ideally, Josh, Charlotte and I would have skied right out of Chamonix in the morning so we'd be close by for Avery's pick up. But, we had decided that Les Grands Montets in L'Argentiere was the best area to ski in these part so we headed down the road.

The weather today seemed to change every 15 minutes. It was clear, then cloudy, then an inversion layer developed so it was sunny at the top of the mountain, and then we'd ski down into the cloud where the visibility was poor. However, the snow conditions could not have been any better. Much of yesterday's snow was still untouched and fresh on the mountain ... up to 30 centimeters in some areas ... making for great powder skiing. We had a couple of great runs.

Josh drove back to Les Planards to pick up Avery while Charlotte and I took the gondola up one more time.

We ate our sandwiches in the car. We were heading for Le Tour which is the next town over from L'Argentiere. Le Tour is located at the very end of the valley, just before the Swiss border. Everything we had heard about Domaine de Balme - as a more intermediate mountain - indicated it would be great place for us to ski with Avery. Someone I spoke with even told me about the Foret Vert (Green Forest) where you can ski on wide runs in between the trees.

The bizzare weather continued. It was sunny and beautiful when we arrived in Le Tour; the mountain -- Domaine de Balme -- looked unspoiled and boasted a wide open area. We certainly didn't see too many trees let alone a forest. We boarded the gondola with Avery. It was the "newest" gondola we'd encountered here in Chamonix Valley -- skiis stay outside and there were seats inside!

Josh and I were both so impressed by Avery's balance and skiing. I don't think he fell at all the entire afternoon. We followed signs to the Foret Vert -- it was a long way over onto the other side of the mountain. All was going well until we decided to continue on the trail past the chair lift. The run turned into a boring cat track and we ended up all the way down in the valley in a another town called Vallorcine. There is a gondola in Vallorcine that takes you back up the mountain, BUT it's on the other side of the railroad tracks! So, we had to walk through town, past the train station, shlepping our skis all the way. What a completely bizarre and unskier friendly set-up. I think Josh was ready to strangle the person that suggested the Green Forest.

After we reached the gondola and took it up the mountain, we had to ski back down to the chair we'd passed the last time in order to get high enough to ski down to the other side where we'd parked. Unfortunately for us, the weather took a dramatic turn for the worse. The visibility vanished and the wind began howling. It was one of the most miserable lift rides I'd had in all my life. Josh and I tried to shield Avery. Charlotte was left out in the cold (pun intended). We could not wait to unload this thing! For the first half of our descent, conditions were not too much better. Today was by far the coldest day we'd skied so far. In fact, it was really the only cold day.

Nonetheless, we survived. We downloaded the gondola on the Le Tour side. Even in good weather, the terrain would have been too tough for Avery. But he really demonstrated what a champ he today. There was no complaining on his part. He skied extremely well, and it was fun to see him having so much fun.

Once back in Le Tour, we had to race back to Chamonix to pick Olivia up from ski school. When she got into the car, her nose was so red she could have been mistaken for Rudolph. It was a cold day indeed.

It was our last night at Hotel Les Aiglons; the girls enjoyed the pool and made some new friends. Once again we had an excellent dinner. The restaurant is clearly a destination for guests outside of the hotel; and being a Saturday night, it was full. Last night, I had enjoyed venison with a succulent piece of foie gras on top. Tonight, I tried the slow-cooked veal and wasn't disappointed. Josh's veloute de champignon (mushroom soup) was outstanding as was the ribeye. Each night after dinner, we were well-sated and ready for bed.

Chamonix skiing -- Day 4: Back to L'Argentiere

Today we woke up to snow. Olivia decided she wanted to ski with us today, so we only had to prepare Avery for ski school. Avery has been such a champ as it relates to ski school. Never a complaint; he seems to really have a good time -- from the first day I put him on the bus in the morning. He goes, marches to the back of the bus on his own, sits down, smiles, and waves! Every day he gets dropped off at the hotel at 5:30pm (after leaving at 9am in the morning), he is in a great mood with a smile on his face.

We didn't really have a plan today. The lack of visibility makes it very difficult to ski here since much of the terrain is bowl-like. Josh drove down the road to visit Avery in the morning, and to check in with his instructor to see how he was doing. According to Pierre Manuel (PM for short), Avery has been a star. He's already moved up a group. Josh said he looked so good on skis that he didn't recognize him at first.

When Josh returned from Les Planards (site of Avery's ski school), and without any better ideas, we headed out for L'Argentiere again. But not before Charlotte almost back-talked her way in to spending a day in the hotel room. In the end, I'm not sure what the turning point was for allowing her in the car and onto the slopes, but needless to say she was on serious probation.

As we suspected, once at Les Grands Montets, it was difficult to see in the snow cloud. But we took the tram up, and took a run before taking a lunch break. Having Olivia with us added another dimension (of cuteness) and it was fun to ski with her -- even if she did her share of complaining. We hoped it would clear up a bit during lunch like yesterday, but no such luck. Because it had been coming down all day, the snow conditions were amazing; if only we could see, we could have really enjoyed oursevles. This way, we were all a bit tentative, but enjoyed the challenge nonetheless.

Today we had a taste of French incompetence. Olivia slipped getting on a lift (the entry point was completely icy because the lift operator had prevented it from becoming icy by scraping or shoveling snow on to the area), the lift operator hadn't slowed the lift down for Olivia in the first place, and then Josh and I had to yell for him to stop the lift before it knocked all of us over. I think he was sitting comfortably in his hut having a cigarette. I have definitely noticed the laissez-fare attitude of the Chamonix resort employees. No one offers to help if the lift pass (which opens a gate electronically) is not working. None of the lift operators are EVER outside actually helping skiers on the lift so that the chair doesn't slam into the backs of their legs. Of course, that means no one is repositioning the seat of the chairlift (up and down) to minimize snow and rain accumulation (so that your ski pants don't get soaked through from sitting on wet chairs all day). None of the care and responsibility demonstrated by U.S. "lifties" are on display here. In fact, there is nothing LESS that the Chamonix lift operators could do unless they somehow kill you. On our next lap around on the same chair, Josh made sure the liftie slowed the chair down first. Then he came out of his hut to let us know that he'd been working at this job for 16 years. My point exactly - incompetence prevails.

Instead of improving, the conditions grew worse after 3pm, so we made our way down...all the way down... from the top of the mountain.

Again, the kids swam, Josh took a sauna, I took a bath and we enjoyed a snack (chips and sesame sticks) in our room before going down to dinner at our hotel.

Chamonix skiing -- Day 3: Brevent and Flegere

Today we woke up to...RAIN! That's one of the problems with staying at a lower elevation. It had snowed up on the mountain -- or so we heard, because we were socked-in; we couldn't see a thing. As such, after Olivia and Avery were off to ski school, and the rest of us were not in such a hurry to hit the slopes.

After a relaxing morning, we started skiing from the same spot as the first day: Brevent. From there we took a tram over to the Flegere side of the mountain...in case a few more trees over there might improve the visibility. Nope. Once again, we might as well have been skiing in the dark. We were in a cloud of flat light. We decided to go in for a lunch break and hope that in the meantime, the sun would break through. Well, our wish came true...almost. After lunch we took a gorgeous run down the back side of Cornu in the sunshine. Then the clouds rolled in again. Josh was not feeling it today -- his knee was bothering him and he wisely decided to head down and give it a rest. Charlotte and I skied a few more runs together before we too decided to call it a day. Again, the sun came out and the vistas afforded from the top of the tram were breath-taking.

Today, Avery was dropped off at the hotel without his skis again; but this time, they forgot the helmet and goggles too. Later they would tell us that they keep the kids' equipment intentionally to make it easier for the next day. In reality, it's hard to get a straight story out of anyone over there at ESF.

It's been so wonderful and easy to stay in the hotel in the evenings and enjoy a good meal in their restaurant, that we decided to extend our half-board option. Avery and the girls can play on the computer in the bar, or with some of the other kids in the lobby/bar thereby minimizing the amount of time spent sitting at the table and waiting for food. In an ideal world, we'd really like to be able to sit around the table as a family for an extended period of time and discuss the events of the day. And, with Olivia and Charlotte we could. But, Avery is just not there yet. Someday.

Chamonix skiing -- Day 2: Les Grands Montets

Today, after Olivia and Avery went to ski school (the bus picked Avery up at the hotel this morning as promised) we drove down the road to the neighboring village called L’Argentiere. L’Argentiere boasts Les Grands Montets which is one of the highest skiable pistes in the Chamonix valley (I believe it’s second to the cable car at Augille du Midi). Unfortunately, once we got there, Josh realized he left his ski boots at the hotel so he had to circle back. Can you imagine how happy he felt at this moment?

 Charlotte and I went up the mountain and took a run while we waited for Josh to get back. We also figured out that in order to take the tram all the way to the top of Grands Montets, we needed to upgrade our Le Chamonix Pass. But with the exception of that one run, we could ski the rest of the mountain. So we did. The terrain and the snow conditions were fantastic. If only we could see where we were going?!?, it’d be really great! The low light was creating very poor visibility. As such, the visibility on the top would be even worse and so it wasn’t worth taking the tram to the top.

Today, I packed hand-made sandwiches, chips, fruit and cookies for our lunch – provisions I had picked up during our outing into town yesterday. Plus, I had some help from the hotel breakfast buffet. Josh carried our lunch and some water in his backpack. We stopped at a picturesque chalet restaurant; and to our surprise, everyone was eating sack lunches inside. It seems this is just the thing to do here in Chamonix. Later, I noticed a posted sign that indicated that this part of the restaurant was reserved for those bringing their lunch. There was another section with table service, but it was empty.

Just as we finished eating our delicious sandwiches, along with the crepes that Josh ordered from the stand for dessert, the sun came out! We took a few more runs off the gondola – 2000 vertical feet each time – with great visibility. All the elements came together to make it a phenomenal afternoon of skiing.

I was reminiscing fondly of the days when I used to ski “bell to bell.” By 3pm today, we were all spent. We drove the 15 minutes back to Chamonix, and I made a bee-line for the steam and sauna. Avery was taking the bus home today and wouldn’t be back at the hotel until 5:30. That’s a long day for the little guy. I was expecting a tired soul. On the contrary, Avery arrived full of energy and very talkative about his day. It wasn’t until a few moments later that HE realized he was never given his skis when getting off the bus. (The skis would make it back to the school where they would remain until the morning).

While Olivia, Charlotte and Josh were playing in the pool, Avery took a (much needed) bath, and shortly we were all ready for dinner. Another delicious feast at Restaurant “A” including all the baguette you can eat.

Fat Tuesday in Chamonix

As Josh put it this morning: “the French are making the Italians look good.” Everything surrounding the Ecole du Ski Francais (ESF) was complete chaos. It was hard enough getting Olivia and Avery enrolled in to the ski school in the first place – from Rome, three weeks ago. Then, this morning, the mini-bus that was supposed to pick Avery up at our hotel, showed up over 45 minutes late despite repeated calls from the concierge during which she was told they were on their way. Josh had taken our car to drive Olivia to the meeting point for her group. Apparently, her group was leaving the meeting point right on time, and Olivia almost missed them because of two snafus relating to food! Olivia needs to bring her own lunch for these lessons – a new concept for us since it is always included in U. S. ski schools. So we ordered a lunch box from the hotel, and put it in a small backpack that we brought especially for this purpose. First, Josh left the hotel without her backpack and needed to circle back to pick it up. Then when he took her to the meeting point, he left the backpack in the car. Charlotte had to run back and get it while the group was waiting to go up the mountain. Then, he got the call from me saying that the bus hadn’t come for Avery, and I was putting him in a taxicab with another family (whom I’d met in the lobby also waiting for the ski school bus) and could he please drive directly to Avery’s ski school location to check on him. It was very nice of this Hungarian family, with a son Avery’s age, to offer to take him and check him in.

Needless to say, after the morning run-around, Josh, Charlotte and I got a late start. The problem now was – no parking remaining at the spot that we wanted to ski from. Then there is the slight issue that Josh is not able to walk a long way in his ski boots (after parking the car far away) without a lot of pain in his recovering leg. Fortunately, he hitched a ride with a Frenchman who told him “no problem, the Americans are great friends of the French.” Clearly, the gentleman was of a certain generation.

So, it was almost noon before we got up on the mountain! It was a beautiful, sunny morning. The vistas of the Alps were stunning. Mont Blanc had a dreamy look to it. As I would soon find out, skiing here is all about the mountain that you choose. After that, who knows where you are because there are no trail signs. There are poles places around the “piste” and that’s about it. Today we were skiing at Brevant; which is the South facing mountain right out of the center of Chamonix.

We took a few runs before stopping for lunch. We wanted to make it a quick stop – hot sausage or a sandwich and go – but the lines everywhere were extensive. Several folks told us we wouldn’t eat well in the French Alps, and I didn’t believe them. I always thought the French take their food just as seriously – if not more so – than the Italians. And, perhaps that’s true; but not in this part of France. Apparently, Chamonix is known for great skiing, but not for great food. We walked out of the first restaurant we went in to because the food looked so horrible – especially for the prices they were charging. Then we waited on line for a long time, for crappy hot sandwiches. What a disappointment.

We took only a few more runs today after lunch before we pooped out. The sun disappeared and the snow pack became hard. Charlotte and I headed for the town center – acute pedestrian only area – to go shopping for snowboots (for her; she came in canvas sneakers), and snacks. Of course we made the obligatory stop at one of many creperies that line the streets. The town itself is nice although of course you now have the major brands all represented: Helly Hanson, Columbia, La Coste, etc.

Josh went to pick up Olivia from ski school, and then circled around to get Avery. Unfortunately, the traffic turned his outing into a longer one than he expected. Driving around a ski resort is new to us. In fact, you technically don’t need a car in Chamonix because there is bus service. But, judging from how full the buses are; I’m glad we have a car here. Still, it’s a whole new concept of having to drive from one lift area to another. As one local explained to us on the gondola today, Chamonix was a real town before it was a ski resort so it’s just not set up like a ski resort. Well, I still can’t help but compare it to the resorts we know and love in the US. Telluride was a "real town" before it became a ski resort – they were just very thoughtful about how to set it up as a ski resort when they did it. Plus, you get tissues at the lifts, free (tap) water is readily available, as is sun-block at designated dispensers. And, most importantly, there is only ONE ski school, in one location where reservations are not required. Oh yeah, and the food is great. If you’re already paying “resort” prices, it might as well be tasty. Then there’s Jackson Hole where we routinely stay a 15 minute drive away from the ski mountain; of course, the hotel provides shuttle service so you don’t have to think about parking.

Another major difference is the elevation. While Mont Blanc is the highest peak in Europe at about 4000 meters. The town of Chamonix sits at just 1000 meters. Denver is higher! While this is good for those who suffer from altitude sickness, it’s not good for those that like to ski all the way down the mountain to town. Because the base is so low, the mountains at Chamonix are effectively un-skiable ie. icy and rocky at the bottom. So you have to take a gondola to get down the mountain. That’s new. We rode down with an Italian woman from Rome who lives in Milan now for many years. She prefers the skiing in Chamonix to the Italian ski resorts, but she doesn’t eat the food “it’s so heavy one serving could kill you.” She cooks in with her family and friends.

Overall, we’ve found it to be extremely international. While French is predominantly spoken, Chamonix seems to be popular with the British, some Italians and Americans as well.

Olivia seemed to have fun with her group – there were 12 kids with the instructor. They skied the whole mountain. But she said she didn’t make any friends. In fact, she said some kids were mean and kept telling her to “hurry up.” It’s true that eight is the minimum age for this group (we fibbed about her birth year) so all the kids would be older. But she is excited to ski tomorrow, so that’s good news.

Avery too had fun. He really likes it. We were worried that he’d be bored because he had to start with the beginners again. But with longer skis this time around, he needed a refresher so it all seemed to work out well.

Charlotte skied with Josh and I. Josh was in some pain from time to time as a result of his injury last year, but he won’t give it up.

Dinner at the hotel was very good – they do seem to take their dinners seriously at Hotel L’Aiglon. I wish I could say the same for breakfast.