Visit with the Garde's and in Sanremo, Italy

This posting has no picdtures because somehow the settings of my download from my camera got changed. I have the pictures in the camera but I can't seem to get to download properly. That is disappointing because I have great photos of the Garde's and I at table, the spectacular coastal land and seascape of Marseille. I will try to get these posted somehow.

Saturday, I checked out of the hotel and drove to Auriol to visit M. and Mme. Garde. It was good to see them again. Their hospitality continues to be so gracious. I arrived and Mme. Garde had hoped to visit Notre Dame de la Garde. But they had read my blog as they have been faithful followers. They saw the pictures I posted the day before. So they were now switching to plan B. We left for the waterfront section of Marseille that I had only seen from the small tourist "train" that took me up to the basilica the day before.

While Marseille is a very large city, there are sections of it that you would swear were miles away in remote areas. East of the city is a rugger coastline that has small fishing villages, intlet, and coves with crashing waves, caves, and rocky islands.

After touring around the coastal road, we stopped in a little fishing village to one of the Garde's favorite pizzeria. We had a table right at the edge of the dock. You would never know you were within the boundaries of a city of nearly 3 million.

More later. Hopefully I can get those photos up on line.

Visit to Notre Dame de la Garde

Today, I visited one of the great Marseille landmarks, the Basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde. I have seen it years ago, but since then all the mosaics have been restored. When I was at La SAinte-Baume, you may recall that I met two people working on the restoration of the HOtellerie refectory floor. They had worked on the mosaics of the Basilica.

The cornerstone of the basilica was laid in 1853. It is a memorial for sailors lost at sea and a call to the Blessed Mother to protect sailors. It stands on a rocky hill overlooking the whole city.
Here are a few views.

View of Notre Dame de la Garde from the Old Port. It is about a mile away.

Closer view.

From the terrace in front.

View of the old port.

View to the north.

View to the south-east.

View of the nave and sanctuary.

The ceiling vaults - all mosaics

Sanctuary

Models of ships hanging from the ceiling

More ship models

Detail of the Apse mosaic.

The mosaic floors.

View into the dome.

This evening I will take myself to the Old Port. There is a square that is filled with restaurants.

I will be driving into Italy again this week. Destination is Turin to see the shroud. I will then turn west over the alps towards Grenoble and the LaSalette shrine. More to come soon.

And for all of you who may be following the blog and don't know about the St. John Neumann Lakeside Family Festival, go to http://www.sjnfreetown.org/ and click on Lakeside Festival. There are many pictures of past festivals. See what I am missing this spring.

A bientot.

Today is blog catch up.

I am in Marseille.
Tomorrow I am visiting overnight with the Garde's. Then I hit the road.
In the meantime, I am thinking about everyone with the Festival. Praying for nice weather because I understand that its been a rainy spring back home. Good luck everyone!

So let me backtrack a bit. I had a great 5 days with Bob and Inez Roy and their friends in Pernes-les-Fontaines. It seems like the Roy's are meeting people on their own and introducing them to the other people. So now because of Bob and INez, it appears that there are French people who did not know each other before the Roy's came along and now they are good friends. Is anyone surprised?

Here are a few pictures from the days in Pernes.

The Paella that Max prepared for all of us.

Bob and Inez and I headed out one day on a field trip. North of Pernes in Mont Ventoux. WE visited a little village, Brante,  perched on the side of a mountain facing Ventoux. This is the view from the terrace of the little place where we had lunch.

The terrace at La Poterne in Brante.

Another view from the terrace and towards the slopes of Mont Ventoux.

A typical house in this area of hillside towns.

In the center of the little twon of Bannon is a bookstore, 3 stories of books. It is a destination for people all the way from Paris. I'm standing next to terrific sculpture of books carved out of a tree trunk.

Nothing like a cold one on a steamy afternoon. It's even more fun when the name of the place is "La bar de la paroisse", or, The Bar of the Parish.

Years ago, Bob's interest in cars took him into a small car museum. The owner, Pierre, and his family have become good friends. The museum has expanded to include a wonderful little cafe with an automotive theme. Bob and Inez hosted a party there on the last night of their 2011 France stay. Julie and Gregoire are to Inez's left. They are a couple who staff the tourist office in Pernes-les-Fontaines.

Right to left: Georges, and Jeanine, who have visited in East Freetown, and Marie-line, the proprietor of the "gites" where the Roy stay.

On the left is Max, Marie-line's husband.

Suzette and Patrice, relatives of the Museum and Cafe owner.

One morning, we were taught by Natalie, Marie-line's sister to make fresh mayonnaise. So delicious! Another recipe to add to the repertoire.

Mayonnaise class going well

Success!

Preparing dinner for Max and Mari-line - Traditional New England Fish chowder.

At table for traditional New England fare in France.

I left Bob and Inez at the airport. I figure they must be home by now.

Wishing everyone a great time at the festival. SJN at its best.

Blessings everyone



At Pernes-les-Fontaines with Bob and Inez

After a great week of cooking and touring in Siena, I am now in the village of Pernes-les-Fontaines with Bob and Inez doing what do you think - cooking.

I have very limited internet access, so this will be very brief.

Our hosts, Marie-line and Max Hermann are gone for a few days to a family reunion. We expect them back later today and they are expecting dinner.

Yesterday and again this morning, Bob and Inez and I hit a few of the local daily markets and purchased what we need for dinner. I will be making a big pot of traditional New England Fish Chowder (clams are not available). This is a combination of flavors the french are not accustomed to.

So in the meantime, it is back to the kitchen.

Ciao         Oops, I mean, bonne journée!

Two more great days in Siena

Here are some more pictures of two great days in Siena.

Yesterday was market day. I was sitting at breakfast and two women were talking about the town market that was taking place today. I am talking about Wednesday. Every town in Europe - well at least Italy and France - have their market day. The museum ticket I bought is good for three days, so I will be going to the market today.

The town market sell everything under the sun.

It's a haven for anyone who likes to shop. I ended up buying two pairs of shoes. I saw the same shoes at an Italian store at the Prudential Mall for $100 more. What a bargain.

The lady is cutting slices of meat from a roast pork, Called "porchetta" in Italy. It is about 4 feet long and roasted with hebs and cheese. She sliced several slabs of this delicious meat and made a sandwich for me. A shady spot under a tree with a half bottle of red wine. Heaven!

This is porchetta

Only in Italy would I buy food from a market with this ad.

And don't forget the cheese.

The market was located around the base of this 16th Century fortress. At the top of the walls, and inside the fortress are a great park with sonderful views of the city.

View of the Duomo from the fortress.

The canopies of the market from the fortress walls.

After a morning of shopping and sight-seeing at the fortress, I returned to the hotel for a late afternoon reposo.
Wednesday night was another evening of cooking classes.

Who doesn't like to start with desert? Dough for almond biscotti prepared for the oven. 

Cutting the hot biscotti to prepare them for the second baking.

Egg dough ready to be shaped and rolled into raviolis stuffed with spinach and mozzarela.

Making raviolis from scratch.

Enjoying our dinner.

After dinner, there was the long climb back up to the hotel. As you can see from pictures, Siena is built on the crest of a mountain. All the side streets are very steep, some of them are actually stairs up to the top. After dinner, I walked up the 100+ steps back to my hotel

Thursday morning was another gorgeous day in the town. Today was a visit to the museums that I had not seen.

The Pinacoteca, or the painting museum, was great. It was mostly religious art taken from abandoned churchs, confiscated churches, or churchse destroyed in earthquakes, fires, wars, neglect, or outright confiscation by civil authorities. It was an amazing display. I'd estimate that 90% of the art was religious. I was able to learn many of the symbols which are included with various saints. When looking at art from the middle ages or rennaisance, it become easy to identify particular saints because they are usually depicted with specific symbols. Some of the symbols are the instruments used to torture of martyr them, or symbols associated with thei ministry. For example, Stl Paul is usually protrayed as bald, holding a book and a sword. St. Peter is always holding keys. St. Catherine of Alexandria hoking a book and the wheel with knives used to execute her. St. Cecilia is usually shown with a small pipe organ. The list is endless. Seeing these in the all the art of this museum helped me to learn all these symbols. By the end of the tour, I was able to identify the saints without reading the labels.

I visited the "Opera di Duomo". this museum is dedicated to the construction of the Duomo and all its subsequent improvements and renovations. There is a tower nearby that offers a spectaculare view of the city and wurrounding areas.

Looking down onto the Duomo.

View across the rooftops of Siena into the distant hills of Tuscany.

Looking down into the Piazza di Campo

Another view of the duomo with a bright blue Tuscan sky.

Cooking class tonight. Are we sipping the wine or pouring it into the food?

Grilling vegetables.

My job was sauteeing chicken with mushrooms and onions.

A baked caprese salad with tomatoes, mozzarela, bread, and arugula.

Feasting on our creations.

Tomorrow morning, Friday, I leave Siena and return to Rome for one night. On Saturday, I fly to Marseille to meet Bob and Inez Roy. I will spend 5 days with them. When they leave to return to the states on Thursday, May 26, I will leave for my 35 days of travelling through France.

So for tonight its, pack bags again, get a good night sleep and head to the train station in the morning.

Buona notte a tutti.