Archive | December, 2015

Ahhh, Paris!

23 Dec
The City of Light certainly enhances its reputation at Christmas. Unabashedly celebrating the season, the city is bedecked with myriad trees, dangling lights, kitschy windows and shooting stars. Shopping bags and parcels adorn the arms of many as they hurry to prepare for the coming days of merrymaking.
Hardly needs a caption, does it?

Hardly needs a caption, does it?

We took a 3-night stop on our way to London, indulging in a few fine meals and thankfully about 37 kilometers (22 miles) of walking to atone for the excesses. We were also fortunate to meet Portland friends who know Paris well for lunch one day at the elegant and festive Vagenende on Boulevard St. Germain. If you get to Paris and want a romantic splurge, skip the places you find in the tour books and go here. If you want a fine meal in a low-key bistrot, dark and romantic yet casual, the best Boeuf Bourguignon ever is served at La Cave Gourmande in Montmartre. (During our last trip, we had a lot of marginal meals and only a couple of really good ones. This time we had several winners, I am happy to say.)
I am told the after effects of the terrorist events are being felt in some quarters. I understand some of the clubs and fancier places are not very well attended. There are announcements on French TV with actors telling people to join them and go out, as people are apparently staying home in fear. But we saw young people out enjoying the terraces even in the cool weather of December (which for December was not too cold) and the bistrots we ate in were busy, although skewing to the younger market (30-to-40-year-olds). The streets on Saturday were chockablock with shoppers. Security is high and omnipresent.
Publicis drugstore at Étoile, Champs-Élysées. Constantly changing display.
Publicis drugstore at Étoile, Champs-Élysées. Constantly changing display.
Cartier store, Champs-Élysées. Note the “jeweled” tiger overlooking the scene.
Crowds and lights on the Champs-Élysées. See the huge ferris wheel at Place de la Concorde?
The Roue de Paris.
The 7th Arrondissement celebrates its most famous landmark.
Star Wars influence even on the Champs Élysées.
Millenium Falcon model at Galleries La Fayette.
Store windows at Galleries La Fayette had a space/robot theme that played out in a mid-twentieth century style. Sort of “Lost in Space meet the Jetsons.”
Store windows at Galleries La Fayette had a space/robot theme that played out in a mid-twentieth century style. Sort of “Lost in Space meet the Jetsons.”
Store windows at Galleries La Fayette had a space/robot theme that played out in a mid-twentieth century style. Sort of “Lost in Space meet the Jetsons.”
Store windows at Galleries La Fayette had a space/robot theme that played out in a mid-twentieth century style. Sort of “Lost in Space meet the Jetsons.”
Even in Paris, there is kitsch.
More kitsch.
Pere Noel with his donkey cart, giving rides in the Montorgueil area.
On the Blvd. St. Germain, in front of a lovelty chocolate shop.
Beautiful chocolate tree ornaments.
I love Beouf Bourguinon, but this vat of the stuff in a street market made it seem a bit less special.
Many stores had a Christmas tree outside the door rather than talking up preceious indoor space. This one required no decorations.
Christmas tree market, Paris.
Chocolate Moose anyone?
Three nights and two days is not enough to “do” Paris, but as we spent a week there last March, we did not feel we had to cram in a dozen museums. Instead, we took long walks through the city, two escorted Paris Walks tours (fabulous!), and simply soaked up the atmosphere, viewed the lights, and enjoyed the city. We treated ourselves to a nice boutique hotel in the 7th, and from our room could see the top bit of the Eiffel Tower. As we usually stay in apartments or little B&Bs, this we a holiday treat with daily maid service, a lovely breakfast, and top notch service in a convenient neighborhood.
We are now in London, also unusually warm, but buzzing with holiday activity. More to come, but probably after Christmas. So for now, let us wish you a simple but heartfelt Happy Christmas! 

Tags: , , ,

Christmas in Rome: Lighter on the lights but heavy on the meaning

22 Dec

Fellow blogger John Henderson has done a wonderful job describing this year’s Christmas scene in Roma. Ric and I did not get to tour lights a lot before leaving for Paris and London, so I wanted to share his impressions and lovely photos. I was pleased to see that Via del Corso did indeed get decked out.

The wonder of Christmas lights

18 Dec
When we were kids, our parents used to take us out at least once every Christmas season to look at the lights in various neighborhoods of St. Paul, Minnesota. We so looked forward to those drives, wondering if the house on Snelling Avenue had the Santa, sleigh and reindeer up again this year (very special in the late 1950s/early 1960s) and marveling at the “rich people’s” houses where there were so many lights you knew they did not have any concerns about electrical bills. Our house always had a few strings of lights, but somehow the other neighborhoods seemed more exotic.
Ahhh, the Milano Duomo and its magnificent tree!

Ahhh, the Milano Duomo and its magnificent tree!

When my son was small I’d do the same thing with him although eventually these viewings became what he called forced marches through neighborhoods in Omaha and Portland as we took to our feet instead of the car. Ric and I have continued the tradition everywhere we’ve lived and traveled, with fond memories of wandering down Peacock Lane & strolling through the Grotto in Portland. In Italy the private dwellings are not the focus, it is the public lighting.
Wednesday night we traveled through Milano, stopping for one night on our way to Paris, and made a point of taking a Christmas Lights Walk. Subtle, like Roma, nothing really garish, but people were out in droves enjoying a crisp-but-not-cold night, taking the kids to see Santa, shopping, and gawking at the tree in Piazza del Duomo.
Adding to the festiveness, a live orchestra was performing in a building overlooking the Piazza del Duomo. Christmas songs done in a swing style with a proper chanteuse singing in slightly accented English (‘Ave you-self a merrrrry little Chris-mas.…) blared out through open windows and over a magnificent sound system. People were paying rapt attention even though one could not see the musicians. It truly was festive!
Click on any photo for a slide show.
Babbo Natale takes his break at a cafe, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.
The lighting in the dome in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele is almost painfully blue.
Swarovski’s tree dominates the center of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.
The mob in the street outside La Rinascente, Milano. There is a nice Christmas market in the streets around the Duomo area.
Figure skater with apple, Piazza del Duomo.
Tree in a bar in Milano. Molto elegante!
Presepe in the window at Dolce and Gabbana, Milano. This is 1/2 of the giant Neapoletan-style creche.
Porta Venezia lights. Origins go back to Roman times, but this sructure is from the 19th century.
Milano has a theme called “Yellow Christmas” near Porta Venezia. Un po’ strano.
Holiday lights in public garden, Milano Porta Venezia.
Children’s Christmas village in Milano near Porta Venezia.
Babbo Natale receives kids in a very low-key style in Milano Christmas Village. Note the parents taking their own photos!
I am looking forward to the French experience in Paris where I understand the lighting is far less subtle.

Tags: , , , ,

Holiday lights in Roma

15 Dec
Tomorrow we head to Paris then on to London for Christmas. I am told by Italian friends that the Christmas lights in Paris are fantastic. I am excited to see them as Roma just is not as sparkly this year as it has been.
The tree in Piazza Venezia is grand, and the one in Piazza San Pietro certainly is grand, although we have not been able to get over there at night yet. (We have until January 6 to do so.)  Many of the lights in Roma are sweet, subdued, befitting Roma’s usual level of lighting, soft and amber. 
I am disappointed that Via del Corso is lacking lights this year. For the past four holiday seasons, lights have been strung from Piazza del Popolo to Piazza Venezia. This year — at least as of last Thursday — nothing! I guess that goes along with the scaled-down mercatino in Piazza Navona. We haven’t made it down there since it opened late last week, but it is supposed to be more about games for kids and Christmas decorations and artisanal items, instead of the junky atmosphere of years gone by. That sounds nice because it has been pretty cheesy in the past, though the children loved it.  I hope to get down there at New Years.
So before we skip town, here are a few holiday scenes from Roma. At the bottom of this post, you’ll see four years of lights in Via Del Corso, from 2011-2014. Sad the tradition has not continued.
 Auguri everyone! I’ll write from Paris in a few days.

 

Love the tree juxtaposed against the Colosseo.
More lights in the historical center. Nothing too garish.
Looks like they used the 2012 lights from Via del Corso on this street a couple of blocks away.
Sparkling ball, one of a series hung above one small street.
Giant Menorah in Piazza Barberini.
Umbrellas floating over a street near the French Embassy.
A side street in the historical center.
Tree in Piazza Venezia, nearing completion.
Piazza San Pietro. The tree is large, but dwarfed by the basilica, as is everything in Roma.
Tree in Piazza San Pietro.
Close up of the creche in Piazza San Pietro.
The entire creche at San Pietro is huge.
Pilgrims arriving to go through the Jubilee Door at San Pietro. The Jubilee started along with the Christmas season on Dec, 8.
Tree and nativity in the lobby of our building. Traditionally the portiere puts up a tree.
Nativity scene in the lobby of our apartment building.
Via del Corso 2011, 150th anniversary of the Italian State.

Via del Corso 2011, 150th anniversary of the Italian State.

Via del Corso 2012

Via del Corso 2012

Via del Corso 2013

Via del Corso 2013

Via del Corso 2014

Via del Corso 2014

Tags: , , , ,

Signs

12 Dec

So many interesting and amusing signs. Thought I’d share a few.

Add for an English-language school. What does this have to do with learning English?

Add for an English-language school. What does this have to do with learning English?

 

Gives new meaning to multilingual. The Italian word "lingua" means tongue.

Signboard advert: Gives new meaning to multilingual. The Italian word “lingua” means tongue. 

 

Fleece Navidad...Get it? American Christmas music is huge here, considering there is not a lot of Italian seasonal music, but I don't know if non-Englosh speakers would really understand this pun. In Italian fleece, as in a jacket, is "pile."

Fleece Navidad…Get it? American Christmas music is huge here, considering there is not a lot of Italian seasonal music, but I don’t know if non-English speakers would really understand this pun. In Italian fleece, as in a jacket, is “pile.”

 

I know this was a favorite from a blog I posted recently. Worth another share.

I know this was a favorite from a blog I posted recently. Worth another share.

 

Tags: , , ,

← Older Entries