Today I report on something that did not happen.
After I graduated high school I participated in the Young Judaea Year Course in Israel. The group of 56 young Americans stayed at the San Remo Hotel at the intersection of Rehove Strauss (named for the owner of Macy's) Street and HaNevi'im. That is an odd conjunction of people/events. The Prophets; an American Jewish retail magnate and the city along the northern Italian Riviera where the conference was held that lead to the signing of the Balfour Declaration calling for a Jewish national home in Palestine.
I had hoped to go to San Remo, but, in the end, it did not work out.
In my life doing technical support for Nisus Writer Express I had correspondence recently with Michael Kruger, who lives in Sospel, France. I mentioned to him that we would be in his general area. He made some wonderful suggestions of what to do and see (the calanques of the Cassis area just east of Marseilles, Hyeres, and Menton) and invited us up to his village for a cup of espresso. One thing led to another and once we were in the Alps, he encouraged us go the prettier route through the Alps to Turin.
And, anyway, what would I see or do if I drove past the hotel in which the conference was held in San Remo in 1922?
Going the more scenic route over the alps to Turin was definitely a good decision in terms of the beauty. But it was hard driving for Mark--all curvy and cliffy, with too many people from the other direction not staying on their side of the road. Phew--he needed a rest after that. As soon as we crossed the tunnel into Italy, we found a lot of snow; at least it was not on the road. Then, almost immediately, to my delight, we came upon the first chocolate of Italy, a huge store called Venchi Chocolate, their specialty, a "rhum" ball made with Cuban rum.
We continued on to camp that night in the small city of Cuneo.
We found the camp site in Cuneo only because a man led us by car, a couple of kilometers, to the camp site; we would not have found it on our own. Also, the first two nights in camp sites in Italy, we were given wine and cheese and wine and pizza by way of welcome. Very nice!! Outside Nice, we also had had trouble finding the campsite, finally drove into it after the office closed; couldn't get the electricity to hook up but stayed anyway, though we feared that someone would wake us at night. But when Mark went to tell the manager the next morning about our experience, he told us it would be free. In Lyons we had "free camped" because the campsite was closed and locked, so we spent the night in the Auchon (supermarket parking lot) [add photo] but the campsite the next morning allowed us to shower and pee without charge--I didn't sleep as well as I could since I thought someone might wake us in the night to make us pay. Then a guy at the port of Marseilles told us where it was ok to park and then even saved us a better spot for the van when we went there for dinner Saturday night.
In Nice we wanted to go to the Chagall Museum but it was closed to construction, opening, as the museum in Paris, in just a few days. So we hiked up the hill to the Matisse Museum and learned that he had lived in the Regina Hotel just across the street, (wowee) elegant and large and on the very top of the hill at the end of his life. Interesting frame for our time in France-- two Matisse museums. I also like to think about the several stages of his work, copied old traditional painting style first, moved into impressionism, pointillism until he came to fauvism and his own style.
For a day or two, "Gerdy" wasn't speaking to us: Was she needing a rest? Was she angry with us? Had we just accidentally turned the volume down? We missed her "go right on the rotary, first exit, then take the highway."
Tuesday in Turin. A chocolate fest! Mark indulged me once more in making the trip to Turin, a couple of hours out of the way, but certainly a pretty drive through the Alps as his Nisus Mike had suggested. I wanted to go especially for the chocolate drink and the hazelnut chocolates, specially and only found in Turin. We parked easily and for free, asked people how to get to the chocolate place I had read about in the NYT. People knew of it and gave us decent directions but then we could not find the piazza. A good walk through some downtownish parts of Turin, and found it across from a church in a small piazza not marked on the map. Turned out to be a small seemingly old, candle lit shop with a small store next door you see in the public website Al Bicerin. They serve food and pastries, but mostly coffees and. Italians were in and out for espressos. We shared the becerin drink of hot chocolate, coffee and cream/milk foam on top,a drink found throughout Turin, but supposedly best here. We also shared the warm chocolate sauce soup with hazelnut cake served in a big bowl. What a great Pesach desert.. Turin also specializes in hazelnut creams, using the best hazelnuts right there in the region. We had told the folks that we had read about them in the Times and and they gave us some hazelnut chocolate drink in chocolate cups from the chocolate fountain. Wow. More than sated with our chocolate lunch, we intended to wander a bit more and head back to the car. However, while Mark looked for a map, we learned about the chocolate festival not far away. Wow wow wow! Lots of chocolate makers from Turin and others set up in a big piazza, like a food fair, with much for sale and some to taste.
It's a several day festival with entertainment, tastings and classes. I believe that Paris also has a chocolate festival. Apparently Turin has a lot of artisanal chocolate makers, maybe 20 -30 and a couple of really big ones.
Cinqua Terra--another highlight and another lovely day. It would be great to be able to get back sometime and see more of this area which has been made into a National Park and speaks of itself in terms of sustainable tourism and agriculture.