Roman Holiday

Rome was amazing. The city has a very particular atmosphere that is unlike anywhere else I have been to so far. While being a big, bustling city, it retains a certain relaxed quality; perhaps it's la dolce vita. Having now been there, I feel I can now understand how some people fall absolutely in love with Italy. I, too, have fallen in love with Rome, if not Italy. It didn't take me long, just the walk from Termini station to our Bed & Breakfast at Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore. It was the combination of seeing nuns and the vibrant and warm shades of golden yellow, peach, and terracotta orange buildings accentuated with green or brown shutters that charmed me. Having watched Roman Holiday just before leaving on this trip, I understand why Audrey Hepburn's character could not stop exclaiming

Santa Maria Maggiore
After checking into our bed & breakfast, we set out to explore Rome. Heading to the Terme di Caracalla, the Roman baths, we made a left turn and there was the Coliseum just ahead.

Rome has a very layered feel; ruins seem to be scattered pretty much throughout the city (many of which were discovered during excavation for construction) so they can be seen among buildings built at anytime in the last two millennia.

These are the ruins of what are thought to be ancient temples located just off one of the busiest streets in Rome, which cats have made their home:

Where Am I? Rome!

You guessed it: I was in Rome for the holidays!

Legend has it that Rome was founded in 753BC by Romulus, who along with his brother Remus, was raised by a wolf. In fact, the image of two baby boys suckling a wolf can be seen all over Rome.

It is into the Trevi fountain that tourists toss an estimated 3,000 euros every day. According to legend, if you toss a coin with your right hand over your left shoulder into the fountain you will come back to Rome one day.

Congratulations to Jocelyne, the lucky winner! I will pop this postcard in the mail for you tomorrow. Also, thank you to everyone who played!

Where Am I? Postcard Challenge #5

Today I am leaving on my next trip. I will be gone one week over the holidays. Here are the clues for the postcard challenge:

1. It is one of the oldest cities in Western civilization, its history stretching back at least three millenia.

2. Legend has it that its founder was raised by a wolf.

3. An estimated 3,000 euros are thrown into this city's fountain every day thus ensuring continued tourism.

Where am I going? If you think you know, leave your answer in the comments below. Again, props to you if you can answer each of the three clues(but don't worry, it will not put you at an advantage for a postcard). I will draw the lucky winner once I am back on December 27th. This means you have until 12:00pm (Noon) Central European Time (CET) on December 27, 2010 to guess and leave your answer. If you are commenting anonymously, please remember to leave your name in the body of the comment otherwise I don't know who your are.

Good luck and Merry Christmas!

Looking a lot like Christmas II

I just thought I'd share a few more Christmastime photos with you:

I strung string between these two wall lamps in our living room and hung the Christmas cards I received as they came in. If you look closely you'll notice that the second one from the right is actually a Hallowe'en card. Although my friend mailed it to me in October, I did not receive it until early December.

This card is from my dad. It's super neat. Not only does it pop-up into a three-dimensional winter cottage, but if you press a button on the card, it actually lights up!

Merry Christmas!

Looking a lot like Christmas

Just thought I'd share a few photos of Saint Etienne at Christmastime:

Santa's sleigh

A polar bear and Christmas tree

Le marché de noël

Where Am I? Paris!

You guessed it: Peter and I were in Paris!

Paris was lovely. I am truly convinced that there is no bad season to visit, having been in spring 2006 and this past September. No matter the weather, the sights are beautiful.

While Peter had the amazing opportunity to tour Europe with Siskiyou, he didn't really get the opportunity to be a tourist in the towns they played. So in Paris we did touristy things like see the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame, Sacré Coeur, Montmartre, the Moulin Rouge, and the Mona Lisa. We also visited the Opera house, which was really cool and something I might not have done had I not been visiting Paris with a musician.

The trip was somewhat bittersweet because it mean that our visit was ending and Peter would return to Canada. Even so, I am so glad he came to see me.

Congratulations to Kit, the lucky winner! I will pop this postcard in the mail for you tomorrow.

Thank you to everyone who played! Just a reminder to please leave your name in the body of the comment if you comment anonymously, otherwise I don't know who it is that is playing.

The next set of postcard challenge clues will be posted on Tuesday.

Where Am I? Postcard Challenge #4

Peter and I are leaving on a short trip before he returns to Canada on Friday. Here are the clues for this fourth postcard challenge:

1. It has consistently been a top--if not the top--ranking tourist destination.

2. Thirty-two bridges link the two sides of this city divided by a river.

3. It is home to a structure weighing 7,000 tonnes but that exerts about the same pressure on the ground as a person sitting on a chair.

Where am I going? If you think you know, leave your answer in the comments below. Again, props to you if you can answer each of the three clues(but don't worry, it will not put you at an advantage for a postcard). I will be back on December 17th and will draw the lucky winner once I'm home from work that day. This means you have until 5:00pm Central European Time (CET) on December 17, 2010 to guess and leave your answer.

Good luck!

I did it!

I ate escargot! Peter and I went for dinner tonight at the Escargot d'Or, the nicest restaurant in SaintÉ, and I ordered Escargots de Bourgogne as my appetizer. It was actually super yummy, all covered in butter and pistou. The escargots were actually a lot firmer than I expected them to be and I found that I didn't actually think too much about what they actually were (snails!) and so I wasn't grossed out at all.

Nanaimo Bars

Every Monday the teachers get together at recess to share a dessert, or douceur du lundi as they call it. I signed up for December 13th, today. I wanted to bring something Canadian and so I decided to bring Nanaimo Bars, which were invented just outside of the city for which it is named.

In 1986, the City of Nanaimo held a contest to find the "ultimate Nanaimo Bar recipe". I used this "official" recipe, but strayed from it on a few points:

1. I approximated the amount of coconut and almonds I used in the bottom layer (mostly because of the size of my baking dishes).
2. I could not find graham crackers in France so I used baby/digestible cookies.
3. I cut the amount of sugar I used in the middle layer and used regular white sugar instead of icing sugar and added a splash of vanilla extract to the middle cream layer.

The recipe calls for vanilla custard powder, which from what I can tell is just to add vanilla flavouring so in the future I would probably omit it and just use vanilla extract (it was not easy find in SaintÉ, but I ended up finding it hidden on a bottom shelf in Auchan).

It was super easy to make. The hardest part was creaming the butter by hand with a whisk (women baking without appliances must have had great arms).

They were well-received by my colleagues, many of whom just helped themselves to a small square because of all the butter involved--I don't blame them; this is my second time baking in France (not that I baked often in Canada) and I am starting to realise how much butter is frequently involved.

Peter is Arriving

Peter's train journey from Fulda, Germany to Lyon, France
In a few short hours, I will be meeting Peter at Lyon Part-Dieu train station. Peter finished his month-long European tour with Siskiyou last night in Fulda, Germany. Early this morning he boarded a train to make the several-hours-long trip to visit me before he returns home to Canada for Christmas. Schematically, Peter's journey looks like this:

Fulda, German → Frankfurt, Germany → Bern, Switzerland → Geneva, Switzerland → Lyon, France

With transfers in Frankfurt, Bern, and Geneva.

As tonight is le 8 décembre, it's the first day of the fête des lumières, and Peter and I are staying in Lyon to see the festival.

Dijon

Our motive was mustard...

The Maille boutique in Dijon. Me with lots of Dijon mustard.
And oh there was mustard. Lots of mustard. The Maille boutique in Dijon certainly had dozens (if not hundreds) of varieties. There were several mustards to sample in store, the most interesting of which I tried was the chocolate Spéculoos mustard; it had a subtle chocolatey-cinnamony taste that was followed by a more traditional spicy dijon flavour. I picked up a bottles of Pétales de Violette et Pousse de Radis Rose and citron harissa mustard.

(Photo of me with mustard by Kathleen Campbell)

Where Am I? Dijon!

You guessed it: I mustered up the energy to catch a train Saturday morning and went to Dijon! (I have been looking forward to using that pun.)

Congratulations to the lucky winners, Andrew and Mandy! I will pop this postcard in the mail for you tomorrow.

Thank you to everyone who played! There will be at least two more postcard challenges this month, which I will post next week and the week after.

Where Am I? Postcard Challenge #3

Tomorrow morning I will be taking a day-trip. Here are the clues for this third postcard challenge:

1. This city was once the capital of Burgundy.

2. It is the home of a popular sauce sharing this city's name.

3. Kir was invented here; or at least, it was named after a former-mayor of this city who popularized it.

Where am I going? If you think you know, leave your answer in the comments below before 5:00pm Central European Time (CET) on December 5, 2010.

Good luck!